Tips offered to parents, teens<\/b><\/p>\n
Sharelle Claiborne started to drink alcohol at age 11 when she had a beer at a friend\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hung around people who used alcohol and smoked and I got fed up being the only one sober,\u201d Claiborne, 18, of Kent, told the audience at a Town Hall meeting April 2 at Kent City Hall. \u201cOnce I drank, from then on, it was all downhill.\u201d<\/p>\n
It took several arrests, auto crashes, rehab clinics, group and individual counseling before Claiborne gave up alcohol. She shared her story as part of a panel of experts who gave advice to parents at the meeting about how to prevent children from drinking alcohol as well as tips on where to turn if a child already has a drinking problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hear bad stories about teens and alcohol and act like that\u2019s the way it is,\u201d said Kent Police Chief Steve Strachan, who moderated the town hall meeting sponsored by the police department, the Kent Drinking Driver Task Force and the Kent Police Youth Board. \u201cIt\u2019s not the way it is. We can make a decision as a community and individuals to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strachan told of studies that show children who drink alcohol before age 15 are five times more likely to have alcohol problems as adults than those who<\/p>\n
start drinking at the legal age of 21.<\/p>\n
Parents were advised to stay involved in the details of their children\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave the courage to ask questions,\u201d said Deborah Solatka, coordinator of special service for the Kent School District. \u201cYou need to be involved even if doors are slammed on you. If communication is not working, go to your faith group, a neighbor or resources in the community to help you child with their choices in life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claiborne had good grades in elementary school until her family moved and her parents split up. Claiborne lived with her single mother, and started to host drinking parties after school when her mother was at work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked the feeling,\u201d Claiborne said of her drinking. \u201cI was always polite. But when I would drink, I\u2019d become loud and talk to everybody. I was 10 times funnier.\u201d<\/p>\n
That fun led to stealing cars and other problems before Claiborne finally kicked the habit of drinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was having fun and didn\u2019t want to stop,\u2019 Claiborne said. \u201cYou have to want to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
The experience of counselors at Kent Youth and Family Services helped Claiborne give up drinking, she said. She still goes to group sessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe counselors there help because they\u2019ve been through it,\u201d Claiborne said.<\/p>\n
During a question-and-answer session at the meeting, a teenage girl asked the panel about the struggle she\u2019s going through to stay away from best friends who now like to spend a lot of time drinking alcohol. She wants to avoid the drinking, she said, but has a tough time letting go of friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cHang out less and less with them and try not to be in a big group,\u201d Claiborne told the girl. \u201cIf you\u2019re with one friend, tell them \u2018I\u2019m sober, be sober around me.\u2019 If they\u2019re not sober, stay away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The panel also told parents to make sure their children know they can count on them if they end up in a spot where they do not want to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially with prom season coming up, it\u2019s important to let them know, no questions asked, just call and we\u2019ll come get you,\u201d Solatka said.<\/p>\n
Contact Steve Hunter at 253-872-6600, ext. 5052 or shunter@reporternewspapers.com.<\/p>\n
Underage drinking resources<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 www.StartTalkingNow.org<\/p>\n
\u2022 wwww.drugfree.org<\/p>\n
\u2022 Kent Youth and Family Services, 253-859-0300<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sharelle Claiborne started to drink alcohol at age 11 when she had a beer at a friend\u2019s house.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-17874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/212"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17874"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=17874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}