Mission
At BTI, we’re here to support parents in raising happy, healthy, teens. Our mission is to reduce the use of alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, and other drugs among youth by sharing reliable information and practical tools you can use every day. Together, let’s create a future where teens feel empowered to make safe choices and truly thrive.
We believe that by setting clear expectations for our kids and not allowing substance use in our homes, we are giving our kids the best shot at a bright and healthy future. Here are a few key tenets that drive us.
Our Philosophy
Delay, Delay, Delay!
We now know that the longer kids delay using alcohol and other drugs the better off they will be later in life, i.e., the earlier kids start, the more likely they will have substance abuse and other problems as adults. Accordingly, our program is designed for parents to do what they can to delay substance use by their children for as long as possible. With each year of delay, the chances of addiction decrease. While we can't completely control our teens, we can control what we do as adults. See this article.
Not Allowing Home Use
The research tells us that kids whose parents allow them to drink in their homes are more likely to drink elsewhere, drink more and drive drunk. Many parents cling to the notion that allowing kids to drink or use cannabis at home "keeps them safe" or teaches them how to drink or use marijuana "responsibly". While this may do so in the short term, it is counterproductive in the long term. There is no evidence that allowing teens to drink under adult supervision teaches them to drink responsibly. See 2014 NIH paper examining 22 studies on the issue here.
Parent Modeling
Finally, our program is about parenting teens and not policing adults. However, because parents are such an influence on their teens, it is important that parents model appropriate behavior and responsibility and with healthy coping skills. Kids' behavior mirrors that of the adults around them. In order to make it easier for parents to communicate amongst each other, we’ve developed scripts to help you know what to say when other parents resist.
Our sister program Raising the Bar is 100% focused on parent modeling and keeping youth-events substance-free.
Parental Influence
Studies also show that parents are their teens' number one influence in their lives — as much as they would like us to think otherwise. Accordingly, now is not the time to "check out", but to "lean in" and be an engaged parent with clear rules — and consequences — relating to underage substance use. Protective factors against teen substance use are bonding, boundaries and monitoring. An excellent discussion by the NIH's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Academy on the effectivenessof an "authoritative" parenting style is here. Also see this article.
Risk of Developing Substance-Use Disorder by Age of Drinking Onset
The chart below highlights that people with alcohol use disorder generally started drinking younger. Over 40% began drinking by age 13, showing a connection between early onset and later dependence.
Source: HIngson RW, Heeren T, Winter MR. Age at drinking onset and alcohol dependence. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006; 160:739-746.