"Talk. They Hear You." Mobile App

New underage drinking prevention tool, “Talk. They Hear You.” is a free mobile app that helps parents prepare for important conversations about underage drinking with their child. The app provides parents of children and adolescents ages 9 to 15 with the tools and information they need to start talking with their children early about the developmental, academic and health risks of underage alcohol use.

It can feel like alcohol misuse is being promoted everywhere – on billboards, in the shows and movies we watch and on our social media feeds. With all these exposures, having conversations early and often makes it easier to give a consistent message about your household rules and expectations. Also, starting these conversations when children are young is a way to help them understand early about keeping their bodies and brain healthy - about what you don’t put into your body and why.

With “Talk. They hear You.”, parents and caregivers can:

• Practice bringing up the topic of alcohol using avatars in an interactive simulation

• Review relevant statistics and information on brain development

• Learn age-appropriate questions

What’s the problem with permission messaging?

Current and lifetime alcohol use among Mercer Island High School students is consistently above Washington State averages (WA Healthy Youth Survey – 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018). We know there’s a good reason that the drinking age is 21 – a child’s brain is still undergoing important development and alcohol interferes with this development, potentially causing permanent changes in a child’s ability to learn and remember. It’s important you know young people who do not drink alcohol until they are 21 are more than 80% less likely to have a problem with alcohol later in life, with an estimated 90% of addictions starting in high school.

What’s next?

Over 8 out of 10 of Mercer Island High School students self-report having a trusted adult in their neighborhood or community they can talk to about something important (2018 WA Healthy Youth Survey, 90% of 8th graders, 87% of 10th graders, and 85% of 12th graders). Together, parents, caregivers, grandparents and other influential adults can model dis-favorable attitudes towards underage alcohol use.

So start talking, because they hear you.

Visit: https://www.samhsa.gov/talk-they-hear-you

Stats: https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/addiction-statistics/