Contents

Too Smart To Start Menu

Support Materials

The following materials, which are organized by audience, were developed to support Too Smart To Start.

Materials for Professionals

Poster for Adult Influencers and Initiative Stakeholders: This “mini” profile of youth, 9 to 13, is designed to remind adult influencers and stakeholders of their distinct identities and world-views.

Too Smart To Start Community Action Kit is designed to help community-based organizations plan, develop, implement, and promote a Too Smart To Start initiative. The kit includes all the Too Smart To Start products including the brochure, The Too Smart To Start Implementation Guide, PowerPoint presentations, and print, radio, and television public service announcements, and the SmartSTATS data book. Also included are: the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s (NIAAA) underage drinking prevention poster and booklets for parents (SAMHSA’s Keeping Youth Drug Free and NIAAA’s Make a Difference: Talk to Your Child About Alcohol.)

Reach Out Now: Talk With Your Fifth Grader About Underage Drinking: This publication, the result of a joint venture with Scholastic’s Inschool Solutions Program, supports the Too Smart To Start initiative by addressing the issue of alcohol awareness with 10- and 11-year-old tweens (fifth grade level). The publication is designed to reinforce no-use behavior, to encourage discussion of underage alcohol use in class and at home, to provide kids with current, accurate information on the harmful effects of alcohol on the body, and to help them practice the skills in critical thinking and self-expression they need to make healthy decisions. Through classroom lessons and extensive take home discussion tools, teachers and parents are provided with the resources to foster productive dialogue on the topic of alcohol use by tweens. The language arts, social studies, and health-based program curriculum, delivered via the Teacher Pages and Family Resource Guide components, are customized for use with fifth grade students nationwide.

The Too Smart to Start Web Page - (www.toosmarttostart.samhsa.gov): This section of the Web page provides professionals with instant access to resources and materials that can either support an existing program or help them with planning, developing, and implementing a Too Smart To Start initiative in their own communities.

Materials for 9- to 13-Year-Olds

You’re Smart Enough Poster: This poster is designed to encourage youth to talk to their parents about alcohol. It features a girl who appears to be in deep thought. The poster reads: You’re smart enough to talk with your parents about serious things. Talk to them about alcohol. Youth service providers and prevention practitioners can hang this poster in areas where youth, 9 to 13, gather.

Word Find Poster: This “word find” puzzle includes 10 of the most common harms of alcohol use, as defined by youth, 9 to 13, and supported by the scientific literature. Five of the harms are revealed and youth are instructed to look for more harms in the puzzle. The “word find” format caters to youths’ interest in “figuring things out.”

Underage Drinking Prevention Poster shows a vending machine with contents representing the many activities kids can choose to do instead of drinking alcohol.

Ask Why is a public service announcement available in for radio and TV. It was designed to encourage middle-schoolaged youth to question those who offer them alcohol.

What’s Cool is a radio public service announcement for middle-school-age children that indicates that cool kids don’t use alcohol.

Point of View is a television public service announcement for middle-school-age children.

The Too Smart to Start Web Page - (www.toosmarttostart.samhsa.gov): In the Kid’s Section of this interactive page, children are able to learn about the harms of underage alcohol use through the use of interactive graphics and while playing arcade-type games and word games. This section of the Web page also includes a monthly column, written by teens, that addresses questions posed by 9- to 13-year olds that are related to underage alcohol use and the positive aspects of not using alcohol.

Materials for Parents/Caregivers of 9- to 13-Year-Olds

Don’t Guess . . . Ask! Poster: This poster is designed to encourage parents/caregivers of 9- to 13-year-old children to learn what their children know about alcohol. The poster reads: Do You Know What Your Child Knows About Alcohol? Don’t Guess . . . Ask! Professionals who provide services to parents can hang this poster in areas where parents gather.

Ready, Set, Listen: Making the Most of Our Influence: This motivational, informational, and instructional board game reinforces the six guiding principles from SAMHSA’s flagship document, Keeping Youth Drug Free. The game strives to (1) improve the dialogue between parents/caregivers and tweens, (2) increase the perception of harm resulting from underage alcohol use, (3) use facts to dispel myths about alcohol use, and (4) improve the communication skills of youth, 9 to 13, and their parents/caregivers.

Make A Difference: Talk to Your Child About Alcohol is a 24-page booklet for parents of children 10 to 14 years old that includes discussion of the risks associated with young teen use of alcohol, insight into the young teen’s world, tips for communicating with your teen, suggestions for helping young teens say no, prevention strategies for parents, warnings signs of a drinking problem action check list, and resources.

Keeping Youth Drug Free covers challenges that parents and caregivers face, offers opportunities for starting a discussion with their children, and suggests what parents and caregivers can do and say to help keep their children drug free. It provides a list of resources and ways for parents and caregivers to get involved in community drug-prevention activities.

The Too Smart to Start Web Page - (www.toosmarttostart.samhsa.gov): Parents/caregivers of 9- to 13-year-olds will find resources in this section of the page that will help support them as they participate in their children’s activities and encourage their children to remain alcohol free. This dynamic and interactive section of the Web page includes information about the harms of underage alcohol use and ways for parents to prevent their 9- to 13-year-old children from using alcohol, while being entertained. This section features a monthly column based on topics of interested identified by visitors to the parent section of the page and challenging and informative quizzes that test parents knowledge about alcohol.