Parenting Tips to Keep Teens Safe During Prom

What a delightful, exciting time, Prom. After tickets are bought, the clothes are chosen, and attendance is confirmed, it’s prom time. What next? There need to be some conversations about that age-old issue, safety. This topic is more important now than ever. This little conversation can possibly save you and your teen several years of heartache and pain if the teen heeds the information. So there may be a hundred tips that could be given, but let’s only deal with five.

1. Know all of their plans for the night. Discuss the details of the evening. What is their curfew, will they attend after parties? Know who they are riding with, and the parents of the teens they are with. Emphasize to your teen to stick to the plans. If they want to change the plans, instruct your teen to call you and discuss the changes.

2. Don’t ride in cars with drunk or high teens. This is self-explanatory, but just in case your teen doesn’t understand why this is important, go into details about why folk who are drunk, judgment is impaired. Grown people can’t manage alcohol and driving, it is even more probable that teens will have fatal car accidents. Make a plan. If the people your teen is riding with are drinking and driving let your teen know they can call you to come and get them.

3. Watch what you drink and eat. Remind your teen that it’s against the law for them to drink, and you don’t, under any circumstances, want them drinking alcohol, or taking any drugs. Instruct them that if they leave their nonalcoholic beverage unattended on a table, don’t drink it, buy another drink, or go with water. Don’t allow anyone they don’t know or trust, to get their drink or their food. Don’t drink from a punch bowl, it could be spiked. If they feel unstable, or sick after eating or drinking anything, please call home, and you pick your teen up.

4. Don’t run towards violence. If a fight gets started, don’t run towards the fight. If possible get out of the vicinity. Unfortunately, there is rarely a clean fight anymore. If someone pulls a weapon, your teen may accidentally get wounded. Move away from violence, don’t participate in violence. If someone wants to fight them, tell them to avoid the situation as far as possible.

5. If you see someone with a weapon tell an adult. Instruct your teen not to attempt to take a weapon from anyone. Either tell an adult or call the police. This simple act may save several lives.

6. Finally, tell your teen, not to allow their pride to get in the way of following your instructions. Teens are notorious for thinking they are immortal. You can’t be with them everywhere, but your instructions will be with them for a lifetime.

Agree with them, that your suggestions are lame, but remind them, that these instructions could very well save their lives, and they will live to tell about their prom.