Here it is June already and the countdown to summer is on. This is such an optimistic time with the great weather upon us and students on the verge of busting out of class for a summer of freedom.
This is the perfect time for parents to talk to kids about the dangers of drug and alcohol use and what can happen when new drivers take risks behind the wheel.
Any time is a good time to talk to young people about these issues but this month is particularly good because young people are getting out more now that the temperature outside is consistently comfortable.
In The Chief this week, we have articles about young people and mature adults alike using drugs and alcohol and making really bad choices in their lives.
Young Bowen Island resident Kirk Braraten, 20, came across a logging company's explosives in the Upper Squamish Valley. For some reason he and his friends decided the materials were free for the taking.
Neil Mattson, 41, of Squamish, admitted at the recent forum on crystal meth, through a letter he wrote from jail, that he made bad choices that landed him in a whole lot more trouble than Braraten is currently in.
When parents communicate regularly and sincerely with their children parents can help prevent their kids from making the kinds of choices Mattson and Bararten now wish they could reverse.
If you are a parent and you haven't talked to your child recently about drugs, alcohol and safe driving, I challenge you to broach the topic the next time you are with your child. Reinforcing the message through childhood could be the difference for your child. Choosing not to talk to your child about these things could contribute to your child starting down a path filled with bad choices that lead to drug addiction, scrapes with law enforcement or a fatal vehicle crash.
If you are a parent of young children please don't dismiss this sermon as being irrelevant to you. If your child is old enough to understand that vehicles can be dangerous then your child is old enough to be told that driving responsibly is a must every time a vehicle's transmission is engaged.
If your child is old enough to understand that cigarettes, alcohol and illegal drugs have negative impacts on growing bodies then your child is old enough to participate in a conversation about the dangers those things pose.
Even the most confident and mature of young people need adults to reinforce that it is important to make good choices all the time because one really bad choice can lead to potentially deadly consequences.
