The concept of prom started from the tradition of the rite of passage. This is a ritual celebrated to symbolize the transition of a person from one status to the other. Prom marks the transition of a child to a teenager. From the perspective of teens, prom serves basically three purposes. The teenagers feel empowered when they plan and organize an event independently, without the assistance of adults. Secondly, proms symbolizes that the teenagers are not children and they can get romantically involved. Thirdly, it offers opportunities to the teenagers to achieve status in their class and among friends. Despite being a day and occasion to celebrate, it has been seen that proms are being associated with drinking and drug abusing. These activities lead to accidents and crimes. For parents, it is important to take measures to guide children celebrate a safe prom. There are several tips and tricks that can enable parents to ensure that their teen children celebrate a healthy and safe prom. Few of these are listed here.
1. Celebrate other rites of passages: The culture of rites of passage in America is disappearing fast. But if considered analytically, it is evident that there are some enthralling and significant elements in the rites of passage that can help you in bringing the essence and the main objective of prom in front of your teenage children. There are rites of passage performed in families like arranging dances for teenage girls, Debutante Balls or Quinceaneras. These rites of passages can be created in the resemblance of prom. The benefit will be that the event will be organized, managed, and supervised by adults. These alternate methods of enjoying an environment of prom will enable your teens to understand that prom is just a ceremony and to be taken too seriously. This will instill confidence in the teen and they will be able to resist the pressure of drinking and abusing drugs.
2. Spend time with your teenage child: Another way of helping your child is by involving the teenager with family and friends. You need to make your teen self reliant and confident. One of the best ways to do so is to make your child travel extensively. When the teen will travel he/she will see the world and then their prom of the high school will appear to be just a drop in the ocean.
3. Involve the teen in community events: One of the ways to prepare the teens to become confident is by instilling leadership skills in them. This can be done by making them involve in lead roles in community and professional events. This will make the teens smart and confident to face the spotlight and then they will not have to take the help of drugs and drinks to calm their nerves when they will have to face the spotlight during the prom.
4. Develop a healthy and friendly relationship with your teenage child: Teens are not children. So it is necessary to be friendly and not judgmental with them. By way of discussions and sharing you can develop a healthy relation with them. Encourage them to disuses issues like dating with you. If the teen goes on a few dates before the prom then he/ she will be under less pressure while going for the prom.
5. Follow these tips for a sober Prom: Teens do not like lecturing. So asking them to have a safe prom might not work. At times even the confident teens indulge in drinks and drugs as they feel it fun. So to ensure that the teens have a safe prom you need to take into consideration some tips. Get to know the friends and the date of your child. This can be done by inviting his/her friends and date for a gathering with your family during traveling, camping, or on meals. This will help you in knowing whether your child’s friends are sober or not . These gatherings will also give you a chance to know the plans of your teen for the prom. Plan an outing with your teenager. During this outing you and your child will get the chance to talk to each other and discuss the prom plans.
6. Make the prom safe: Apart from knowing the people with whom your teen will be going for the prom, it is also very necessary to know the place where they will be going and the activities they will be doing there. Take the parents of the other teens in loop. Suggest a place, which has a pool or hot tub as this will be safe as well as fun. Avoid hotel rooms as the place for prom. It is important that you check the place before the prom if you are not aware of it. Ensure that the company from where the teens hire cab has the no drinking policy. If they are not hiring a cab then ensure that they have cash to return home. Do not rely on a friend or your teen’s date to drive back, as you can’t ensure that they remain sober. Another good idea can be to contact the police and find out from the places that are prone to drinking and drug using by teens. If these places are a part of your teen’s plan, then you need to stop him/her. Ensure that either dinner is served after the prom party or your child has had a filling meal before. This will ensure that even if they drink more it will not affect a lot and the chances of alcohol poisoning will be reduced. It is possible that the plans of the prom might change. Ask your teen to inform you by text message or phone call about any change in the plan.
7. Always Keep the Help Line Open: Instill a feeling in your teens that whatever happens they can fall back on you and you will be there to help them. You need to be considerate and understanding so that your teenage children trust you.
