Calling all Cortland County parents of 7th-12th graders! Upstream Parent, a Cortland Area Communities That Care project, is spearheading an initiative to help reduce underage drinking and promote teen health and wellness in Cortland County, but we need your help! According to our survey of over 2,000 Cortland County students, the number one place teens in Cortland County access alcohol is at home with or without parent permission. As parents, you can play a key role in reducing teen access to alcohol by taking our Cortland County Parent Pledge today.
We want you to know that you are not alone in your decision to limit your teen’s (and their friend’s!) access to alcohol. While home may be the number one place teens in our community are accessing alcohol, the majority (90%) of 7th-12th graders DID NOT report accessing alcohol from home with their parent’s permission last year.
What is the Cortland County Parent Pledge?
The Cortland County parent pledge is simple; you are pledging to not allow people under 21 years old to consume alcohol on your property or under your supervision, to be present at any gatherings involving people under 21 to make sure alcohol is not available to people under legal drinking age, and to spread the message to friends and family that parents can prevent underage drinking by limiting access to alcohol in their homes.
Why should I sign the Cortland County Parent Pledge?
Parents are the most influential people in their children’s lives. By signing this pledge, you are reinforcing what most parents in the community are already doing—creating an environment where alcohol is not easily accessible for people under 21. Based on our survey data, teens who think it is hard to access alcohol are less likely to report drinking in the past 30 days or report risky drinking (like drinking three or more times in the past 30 days or binge drinking in the past 30 days).
Sharing with your teen that you signed the pledge can also help you ease into a discussion about family rules related to alcohol use—which can sometimes be a tricky topic to bring up naturally. The pledge takes the focus off them and their actions and onto you and your actions!
Will people know I signed the Cortland County Parent Pledge?
While we encourage parents who sign the pledge to allow us to post their name on our website, you can choose to keep your pledge “anonymous.” By sharing your name, and the number of parents who signed the pledge, we can help create a community culture that highlights parental concern for youth health and wellness and encourages other parents to join in the initiative to limit youth access to alcohol in our community.
Once you sign the pledge, we will also send you magnets and stickers (everybody loves getting mail, right???) that you can display at home, or on your vehicle, to show your support. This will highlight your commitment to limiting youth access to alcohol to your teen and to other parents in the community.
While the pledge works best when you share your commitment with others, please do no let that aspect discourage you from participating!
How long does the Cortland County Parent Pledge last?
Since your teen won’t be a teen forever, we will require that parents resign the pledge every year so we can keep our records of “pledged parents” accurate. If you sign the pledge today, you are committing to it until December 31st, 2021!
How many kids in Cortland County report drinking alcohol?
All this talk of underage drinking and limiting access to alcohol may have you wondering how many kids drink in our community. You might even be thinking, gosh, it must be most of them if we need to sign a pledge???
However, according to our 2019 youth survey, about 80% of 7th-12th graders did not report drinking alcohol in the past 30 days. Even when looking at individual grade level, most teens did not report drinking. Limiting teen access to alcohol, and signing the Cortland County Parent Pledge, is one of the best ways we can continue to keep most teens in Cortland County from drinking.
