In 1985, drug traffickers in Mexico City kidnapped, tortured and murdered DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. A tradition emerged from this tragedy—people started wearing and displaying red ribbons to commemorate his life and to symbolize intolerance toward the use of drugs. That tradition evolved into Red Ribbon Week®, a national event that encourages schools and communities to take a visible stand against drugs and to communicate with kids on the value of making healthy, safe choices.

Red Ribbon Week 2016 is scheduled for Oct. 23-31. As the largest and oldest drug prevention program in the United States, the Red Ribbon Campaign® has reached and positively impacted millions of young people. Here is some more information about Red Ribbon Week 2016, in which an estimated 80 million people will participate, and what teachers and schools can do to make the event a success:

Did You Get The Red Ribbon Message?

Did You Pass It On Correctly?

During Red Ribbon Week®, the red ribbon is used to symbolize the importance of a healthy, drug free lifestyle. This year’s theme, YOLO. Be Drug Free.® was created by two sixth graders in Claysburg, Pennsylvania. It reminds us to take care of our minds and our bodies.

Years ago I directed an after-school program. No matter how hard I tried to educate and set my students on a path to success, if their parents or caregivers weren’t delivering the same message at home, the work was exponentially harder. Furthermore, when our overall environment is sending conflicting, unhealthy messages, we are stressed and challenged. I do believe that one person can make a difference in a child’s life, but by partnering with parents and improving community messaging, the likelihood of raising safe, healthy, drug free kids is vastly improved.

Here’s one alcohol fact we are happy to see: Florida teens are drinking less. According to the 2014 Youth Substance Abuse Survey, past-month alcohol use decreased 10.2 percentage points in middle schoolers and 13.6 percentage points among high schoolers since 2004.

This good news is that there is solid evidence that the efforts of parents, schools and communities to prevent underage drinking are helping kids be safer and make wiser choices. However, this finding doesn’t mean we can back off those efforts. The same survey found that 1 in 5 high schoolers had reported blacking out from drinking, and another 20 percent had been in the car with an impaired driver. Here are more alcohol facts that parents should know:

Teenage drinking remains a troubling problem for parents, educators and communities in 2016. An estimated 4,300 teens die every year from alcohol, whether from excessive consumption or driving while impaired. At this time of year, concerns about underage drinking escalate—we’re in the middle of Homecoming season, which means not only getting dressed up for a dance and decorating the gym, but also high school parties afterward. And it’s not strictly Homecoming that should be on parents’ radars: Teens sometimes  view fall Friday nights as “Go to the football game, then find a party.”

Nonetheless, Homecoming is the big milestone for many teens each fall, and their goal to make it memorable may unfortunately involve booze. Protecting students at this time, as well throughout the entire year, should be a priority, and one way to do so is to encourage high school parties and events without an alcohol element. Here are some tips for achieving this objective and keeping teens safe:

Do You Eat Dinner With Your Children?

Eating dinner together sounds so simple and yet, it is not today’s norm. Why? The answer has something to do with hectic schedules, after school activities and other outside influences that interfere with dinnertime. This reality is most unfortunate because research has shown that the more children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use illegal drugs.

So welcome to Informed Families’ first drug prevention tool of the school year: Family Day.  Family Day is a national effort, developed by the Center for Addiction & Substance Abuse at Columbia University, to encourage family dinners as an effective way to reduce youth substance abuse and other risky behaviors.  Join us on Family Day, September 26^th and learn how to have fun through simple exercises.

As an Informed Families board member and the Director of South Miami Hospital’s Addiction Treatment & Recovery Center (ATRC), I’m grateful to share my experience and observations about drug trends from the “front lines” at Baptist Health South Florida. Boy, we really do see it all. On a regular basis, I see many people at their lowest point, struggling with the disease of addiction. For many who attend our programs, I get to witness a wonderful transformation back into good health. However, I am dedicated to doing whatever I can to prevent children and families from getting into drugs in the first place.  

Leading up to the start of each school year, we focus our energy on preparing kids for a success, whether by purchasing the necessary school supplies, meeting with new teachers and mapping out our fall schedule. One thing we hope to never worry about is our kids falling into the wrong crowd and adopting new negative and dangerous behaviors, such as using drugs. But, hoping isn’t enough sometimes. As parents, we need to educate ourselves and take action to protect our children. By staying involved with our children, contributing to their self-esteem, setting healthy boundaries, monitoring behavior, getting to know their teachers, knowing their friends, despite any pushback we might get from them, we are truly making a difference and reducing the likelihood that they will get into trouble.  

Family Day is a national effort aimed at promoting family dinners and building healthy kids. Set for Sept. 26 this year, Family Day emphasizes the value of sitting down and enjoying a meal with your children. The benefits go beyond basic sustenance, reaching into something much deeper: Teens who regularly eat dinner with their families are less likely to engage in risky behaviors. Here’s a deeper look at the value of Family Day and how this simple effort can lead to healthy kids:

Family Dinners, Healthier Kids

The prospect that family dinner ultimately results in healthier kids might seem odd, but research backs up this concept. One study conducted by Columbia University discovered that teens who had frequent dinners (more than five times a week) with their parents were more likely to have excellent relationships with them than those families whose dinners were infrequent (fewer than twice a week). Subsequently, the better the relationship kids have with their parents, the less likely they were to use drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

A recent New York Times blog post, entitled “How Asking 5 Questions Allowed Me to Eat Dinner With My Kids” by Charles Duhigg, offers a surprisingly simple solution to many of the problems families face in the fast paced world we are living in. Specifically, Duhigg was struggling with the issue of wanting to eat dinner together with his family and finding it very difficult due to his family’s busy schedule.  In the blog, Duhigg offered a solution that helped him resolve this problem, called the “five whys.”

Duhigg, a journalist and author of two books on habits and productivity, suggests that parents examine why they can’t eat dinner with their children by asking “why” five times.

Another school year has begun, and with it, the hope that students will thrive over the next nine months and make it to next summer safe and successful. For principals and superintendents concerned about drugs in schools, there is a ray of optimism: Usage rates among teens are generally remaining steady or slightly declining. However, this news shouldn’t be cause for celebration, but rather, a mandate that prevention initiatives are still important and effective. Too many teens are still engaging in risky behaviors, which rightfully concerns educators, parents and communities who want to keep children protected and drug-free.

The term “quality time” is often used when talking about the engagement parents have with their children. Today, quality time is more often applied to busy families—ones with crazy schedules that prevent them from much face-to-face, sustainable, screen-free interaction during a typical day.

However, we believe any and all time families spend together is important. In that sense, “family time” is a better term. If one of your top parenting goals is to raise healthy kids who make smart choices and resist risky behaviors, family time is one of your best strategies to achieve that. Here’s how: