Prom

• Talk about prom and the other festivities with your teen at the beginning of secondary 5 whenever the opportunity arises. Ask them how they imagine it.
• Talk with your teen about psychoactive substance use and how it affects young people, without trivializing it or demonizing it. Present them with various possible scenarios to get them thinking. For example, ask them what they would do if someone they knew was drunk. Does your teen think they will drink? If so, how does your teen imagine this? You can remind them that they can have fun without using alcohol or other drugs. And in fact, this perspective is becoming more and more popular.
• Talk about the significant risks associated with alcohol abuse and binge drinking: unknowingly being filmed in a video that is then posted on social media, forgetting the evening, doing things they regret, blackouts, having trouble breathing, throwing up, falling into a coma, and even ending up dead.
• Begin a conversation about sexuality with your teen, emphasizing pleasure, consent and protection. For some young people, prom night is an occasion to get closer to someone they like. For more information, read our info sheet on this topic.

• A few days before the event, prepare a little “safety kit”: at least two emergency telephone numbers, condoms, a change of clothing, water, a snack. Suggest that your teen and their peers bring a bottle with a lid to keep their drink in. Explain to your teen the importance of always keeping it near them.
• Make sure you’re available the day of the prom and the after-party. Remind your teen that they may call you to go pick them up at any time or place and that you won’t judge them.
• Have a discussion with your teen about various ways to say no to drinking and using drugs, about the importance of respecting other people’s choice not to drink or do drugs. It’s possible to have fun without using psychoactive substances.
• Encourage your teen to get help if they feel they need it.
• If your teen plans on drinking or using other drugs, come up with strategies together to reduce the risks that this choice involves and stay within the boundaries of having a good time. For example: Before the festivities, help your teen set a limit for using psychoactive substances and find a way of keeping track of how much they’ve used when the day arrives (e.g. keep beer bottle caps to keep track of how many they’ve had). Knowing the signs of having reached their limit (feeling relaxed, numb, feeling like the room is spinning, not being able to talk properly). Drink slowly (avoid binge drinking and take breaks between drinks). Alternate drinking alcohol with drinking water and eating during alcohol breaks or plan on bringing mocktails (cocktails with no alcohol). Avoid taking different psychoactive substances in the same night (e.g. alcohol and cannabis or alcohol and energy drinks). Remind your teen to tell someone what they’re using so their peers can inform anyone providing assistance if that becomes necessary. Remind them about the importance of not staying alone if they have used alcohol or other drugs and of not leaving another person who has been using alone in an intoxicated state.

Talk with your teen about how prom and the after-party will go. Check the safety measures that will be put in place. For example:

• Be aware of the sequence of events for prom night and the after-party.
• Make sure you have the full address for where prom night and the after-party will be held.
• Make sure that transportation and accommodations that have been organized are safe. Insist that your teen not get into a vehicle driven by someone who has been drinking. Offer to pick your teen up at the end of the evening. You can even offer to bring their friends home too!
• Find out whether their will be safety coordinators on site at the prom and the after-party and whether adults will be present and identified to supervise and provide help.
• Ask your teen to let you know if plans change or if the location changes.

• Be careful not to trivialize the use of alcohol and other drugs.

• Remember that alcohol, like other drugs, is a psychoactive substance and that drinking affects your faculties, your judgment and other cognitive abilities, emotions and behaviours.
• Avoid excessive drinking.
• If you choose to buy alcohol for your teen, encourage them to use strategies to reduce the risks related to drinking (see the six strategies suggested above in the Support section).