Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson visited Western Oaks Elementary School in late October to announce a statewide initiative to fight underage drinking in Oklahoma.

The initiative, Ask, Listen, Learn: Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix, was developed by The Century Council in partnership with Nickelodeon.

The program is based on the concept that the key to stopping underage drinking is communication early and often between parents and children. The program provides both kids and parents with information and strategies to help jump-start the conversation about the dangers of underage drinking.

"According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, most kids try alcohol for their first time at the age of 12. The conversation needs to begin earlier than most parents think – as early as 9 years of age. I believe that Ask, Listen, Learn is an effective tool to reduce underage drinking and facilitate effective conversations between parents and their children," Edmondson said.

According to the 2003 Omnibuzz survey conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, 65 percent of adolescents identify parents as the leading influence in their decision not to drink. The statistics make it clear, Thompson says, that parents have an important role in decisions children make about alcohol.

"Parents’ involvement in their children’s lives, especially during the middle school years, can make a difference in preventing their children from consuming alcohol. Since it is also clear from research that parents have the most influence in a child’s life, in middle school relative to health behaviors, parents are on the front lines to keeping our young people alcohol-free," Thompson said.

Ask, Listen, Learn is unique in that it gives both kids and parents the tools to initiate the conversation about alcohol. The program includes:

• A parent’s booklet, detailing how to begin the conversation, sustain the conversation and make an impact on kids. It presents effective questions, data, conversation starters and answers to typical objections kids raise.
• A kid’s booklet, with interactive games, trivia cards with questions and answers explaining the facts about alcohol (over 7 million trading cards are expected to circulate), addressing issues including how to avoid peer pressure, and creative ways to say no. It also includes an Action Against Alcohol Agreement that both kids and parents can sign.
• www.Asklistenlearn.com, produced by Nickelodeon, is a website for kids with information on the dangers of underage drinking including monthly polls, information interactive games and videos, as well as more information on how to say no.
• www.Asklistenlearnparents.com, also produced by Nickelodeon, is a website for parents with additional information on how to have the conversation and links to additional national and local resources related to underage drinking.
• Television advertising, produced by Nickelodeon, to encourage discussions about the dangers of underage drinking between parents and kids.

Edmondson and The Century Council will distribute Ask, Listen, Learn materials to middle school principals across the state. Additionally, the Council will distribute public service announcements discussing the Ask, Listen, Learn program and the need to talk to teens about the dangers of underage drinking to television stations across Oklahoma.

Recognizing the important role that teachers, counselors and administrators play as role models and purveyors of information, The Council will also begin work on a teacher-focused component to the program for distribution nationwide. Also, in an effort to provide Spanish-speaking parents and kids with culturally sensitive resources to help them fight underage drinking, The Century Council will release program components in Spanish.