Forum unites adults, youths to battle drug use, peer pressure

Thursday, Nov. 2, 2006

A newly formed Laurel nonprofit last week held the first in a series of quarterly ‘‘community chats” aimed at uniting young people and adults in the battle against illegal drug use, teenage sex and other pressures.

Organizer Catrice Alphonso of the Institute for Interactive Instruction, whose organization has focused its efforts in Baltimore since forming six months ago, said the group is working to increase its presence in Prince George’s County.

‘‘This is our way of finding out what the community needs, what the community wants,” said Alphonso, a Laurel resident and former executive director of the Maryland Governor’s Council on Adolescent Pregnancy.

Youth advocate LaMarr Darnell Shields, moderator of the Oct. 26 talk at the Phelps Senior Center, encouraged a back-and-forth between youth and adults, allowing each side to respond to what the other had said.

Shields, president and co-founder of the Urban Leadership Institute in Baltimore, said adults too often do not seek out youth input and tend to underestimate young people’s capacity to grasp complex issues.

‘‘Discussions like this will give them some encouragement and give us old folks some strategies on what we need to say to people in power,” he said.

Midway through the 90-minute talk, Shields instructed the 16 youths in the audience to challenge their elders with that ‘‘one burning question” they always wanted to ask adults.

‘‘Why do adults think that they can boss any kid around?” asked 12-year-old Tiara Terry, a seventh-grader at Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School.

The eight adults in the crowd sought to assure young people that it’s not a matter of being bossy but of community parenting, invoking the maxim that ‘‘it takes a village” to raise a child.

A large part of the discussion revolved around the view that today’s young generation has an unhealthy sense of entitlement. They own cell phones and wear designer clothes, which are so-called important status symbols among their peers.

Parents said many families who were underprivileged growing up feel they should give their children whatever they want. They added that the rise in dual-income families means more parents are spending less time with their kids and may feel obligated to give their kids material items to fill the void.

Shields took adults to task for avoiding or ‘‘candy-coating” discussions with their kids on difficult topics such as drug use or sex.

Parents owning up to their own experiences with drugs or teenage sex can help them achieve credibility with their children and, presented in the proper context, serve as an effective cautionary tale, he said.

‘‘These stories save lives,” Shields said.

Alphonso, the Institute for Interactive Instruction founder, acknowledged that the families her organization should be most worried about are not likely to seek out meetings such as last week’s forum.

Roosevelt High School freshman Cameron Butler, for one, would have liked to see more parents at the chat.

‘‘More people should know about these problems that are going on,” the 14-year-old said, ‘‘especially the parents.”

E-mail Steve Earley at searley@gazette.net.