Never underestimate the impact your words can have on a teen

-
A couple of weeks ago I had something wonderful happen to me in a school. I've been talking about the incident at my Parent Information Evenings over the last fortnight and I now feel ready to put 'pen to paper'. What it clearly shows to me is that we should never underestimate how much impact our words can have on a young person ...

I had just finished my presentation to a group of Year 12s, the talk covering a range of issues including drink driving, 'Schoolies' and ecstasy. This was the final time I would speak to them, meeting them for the first time in Year 10 and then delivering a different session when they were in Year 11. This is my usual program of work in schools that I visit regularly and the talk had gone down extremely well - this was a great group of students. After answering a few individual questions from a number of them a young man walked up to me, hand outstretched.

"Mr Dillon, can I shake your hand?" he said.

"Of course," I replied, a little bit surprised by his request. I always shake young people's hands but I've never been asked specifically to do it. "How can I help you?"

"I just want to say thank-you ... When you came to our school and talked to us in Year 10 you told us that you were a non-drinker and really always had been. Before you told us that, I didn't even know that was an option for a man, I'd never heard a guy say that, and it really got me thinking ... That night, after your talk I made a decision not to drink and I haven't up to now. At this stage in my life I don't think I ever will! As I said I just want to say thank-you!"

As you can imagine, I was incredibly moved and quite choked up. We shook hands and I thanked him for taking the time to come up and tell me ... it was quite an unbelievable experience!

I'm not going to go on about this, and this is most probably going to be the shortest blog entry I've ever written, but really when you think that a few little words that I said to this young man ("I'm a non-drinker and I really always have been") had such an impact, it gets me so angry when I meet parents who throw their hands in the air and just give up, believing that they can't do anything in this area and it's all too difficult!

Do I believe that this young man is never going to drink alcohol for the rest of his life? Of course not and to be quite truthful is that in anyway important? He may or may not choose to start drinking in the future but to think that one sentence actually delayed his alcohol use for almost three years at the very least - that is pretty incredible! Most importantly, remember that it was a complete stranger that had the effect (completely by accident), imagine what a parent (the most important person in any child's world) can do if they really put their mind to it ...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What do you do when your 15-year-old comes home drunk after a party?

-
Image
Although we are continuing to see more young people choosing not to drink alcohol, if your child lives with you for long enough (and evidence suggests many of you will still have them living in your house until they're in their mid 20s at least!), there's still a good chance that at some point they'll turn up at your door feeling a little worse for wear. They went out with friends, had a little bit too much to drink and you've got to end up looking after them … Now if they're 18 or over when this happens, you may not necessarily be happy about it but they're 'legal' - once they've recovered, you certainly have the right to tell them that they're living under your roof and have to follow your rules, but realistically most of us make a mistake at least once when it comes to drinking (that's how we learn about our limits) and most parents help clean their drunk son or daughter up, mop up the mess, make sure they're okay and move on. But ...
Read more

5 things your teen needs to know that may cause an L or P plater to fail a breathalyzer even if they haven't been drinking alcohol

-
Image
No matter your age, your driving experience or how sober you are, that feeling of being flagged over by a police officer for a random breath test (RBT) is never pleasant. You may not have had a drink for days but as you're blowing or talking into that little machine, for many people there's still that fear that something could go wrong … Speaking to young drivers across the country, that first time that they're pulled over and asked to do the test can even be more scary. They may have watched the TV show RBT many times or been sitting in the car when one of their parents has been tested and know how the process works, but experiencing it for themselves for the first time can be quite confronting. What is so important for L and P platers (who must have a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.00) to know is that there are so many things that could cause them to fail a breathalyzer even if they haven't been drinking alcohol … Over the years I've been contacted b...
Read more

Alcohol poisoning and avoiding a trip to the ICU: Six tips parents should discuss with their teens to keep them safer

-
Image
Almost five years I wrote about Hannah Lottritz, a 21-year-old college student from the US who had written a piece titled 'Drinking Responsibly' which featured this photograph of her on life-support. When it was first published in 2016, Hannah's article went viral, with the confronting image attracting a great deal of attention. The reason behind her controversial decision to share this disturbing image was clearly explained in her opening paragraph which read as follows: "I am writing this because I didn’t realize the importance of drinking responsibly until I was waking up from a coma, and I don't want anyone to go through what my family and I went through. I ask that you share this with your friends, family or anyone who may benefit from reading this. If I can help just one person by sharing my experience, then I will be absolutely ecstatic." No-one intends to end up in an emergency department when they go out to have a good time with their friends on a Sat...
Read more