Before Blaise Brooks joined Five Moms, she'd never heard of cough medicine abuse. "I was not familiar with it before but the more I dove into it, the more I discovered it was more common than I'd thought," Brooks says.
Brooks is an accountant and a Los Angeles mother of a five-year old who also cares for her two nephews, both in their teens. The potential for cough medicine abuse is very much on Brooks' mind, as she says it should be on the minds of all parents.
The Five Moms campaign, launched May 9, is a grass roots campaign to promote awareness of the dangers of cough medicine abuse. (August has been namedNational Medicine Abuse Awareness Month). The Five Moms campaign is comprised of five moms from across the country - a pediatric nurse practitioner, an accountant, a D.A.R.E. officer, an educator, and an author - who've come together to raise awareness to stop teens from abusing cough medicines.
The Five Moms are encouraging every parent to visit their web site, click on Tell a Friend, and tell five people they know about cough medicine abuse. Cough medicine abuse is the abuse of dextromethorphan, the active ingredient in many common cough medicines.
Developed by the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), which is the trade association that represents the leading makers of OTC cough medicines, Five Moms is an important step to raise awareness and promote prevention of cough medicine abuse.
Gather also has a group dedicated to this purpose, http://fivemoms.gather.com To join the Gather Five Moms group, click HERE.
This article is part of a series on the Five Moms campaign. In the first article, I spoke with Christy Crandell Christy Crandell Speaks Against Cough Medicine Abuse.
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As Blaise has stated on the Five Moms website, it is important for parents to be strong and vigilant.
"I grew up in a home surrounded by very strong women. Everyone took care of each other's kids--it was always "call your aunt for help" or "call your grandmother," Brooks says.
"So it seems only natural for me to be a part of this campaign full of strong women and mothers. We need to take care of each other and our kids... My aunt always told me, 'Everything you do needs to be food for the soul.' That's exactly what Five Moms is about for me."
Brooks says that it is very important to establish a dialogue with your teens, as an important step in preventing cough medicine abuse.
"Talk with your kids - have they heard of cough medicine abuse - do they know of people who have done it?" Brooks says that in many cases, kids will know of many other teens that have abused cough medicine or have tried to abuse cough medicine.
I spoke with Blaise recently. In our conversation, she shared a few tips for parents to prevent cough medicine abuse.
1. "Be sure old medicines in the cabinet are thrown away. Keep your own medicine in a separate place, away from the kids' medicines. If I have [cough] medicine for me, I will make sure it is not all over the house. I keep my own medicine in my room.
2. "Talk with your kids - make sure they know you are aware of what they are doing. Parents will walk into a room and see cough medicine, and they will think nothing of it. By my being aware of cough medicine abuse and by making my kids know I am aware, I've made sure my kids know they can't pull the wool over my eyes.
3. "My kids and I have a dialogue all the time. They tell me how they feel about cough medicine abuse. When I am talking to my kids, you might think they aren't hearing me, but really, they are hearing me and they are listening to what I'm saying. And this dialogue leads to other conversations - not just about cough medicine abuse, but also to conversations about many things. A dialogue is really a part of keeping your kids safe in other respects. When people say, ‘talk to your children' many times kids will eat dinner, then sit down to watch TV. There is no dialogue there. You need to sit down with your kids. Find out as much information as you can about what your kids are thinking.
4. "Another way you can protect your kids is to monitor what they are seeing on the Internet. Click on the History tabs on your browser and on the URL buttons on your computer to see what they are reading and watching. This is where you start talking to your kids about what they are reading, what they are thinking. These are all things we talk about on Five Moms.
"The kids I talk to see cough medicine abuse as a ‘happening' thing because it is not illegal to take cough medicine or to buy it. (Brooks adds that some states restrict purchases of cough medicine to customers aged 18 and older.) Kidssee videos on YouTube promoting this as the new ‘cool thing.' They see each other trip out on it. She thinks that continual abuse of cough medicine, like any substance abuse, accompanies a deeper psychological reason. These symptoms tell you the kids are not as stable as you'd like to believe."
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Members of the Five Moms campaign:
Julie Bermant, pediatric nurse practitioner from Massachusetts juliebermant.gather.com
Blaise Brooks, accountant from California blaisebrooks.gather.com
Christy Crandell, California mother of a former cough-medicine abuser christycrandell.gather.com
Becky Dyer, D.A.R.E. officer and deputy sheriff from Kansas beckydyer.gather.com
Hilda Morales, educator from Texas hildamorales.gather.com
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Comments: 75
Well, he rolled up his sleeves and committed to take fathering of my niece and nephews VERY seriously.
It worked. All in their twenties now, each has a life that allow their parents to relax during their "empty nest days."
Parents have to actively monitor children's peer- connections. Intervene if necessary. And parents have to do both with strength and love.
Christy Crandell Speaks Against Cough Medicine Abuse.
10*
You can always find this information there!
It is important to get the word out.
The Five Moms are doing a terrific job.
I am also an accountant like the writer, and I have two small children. STephen
Thank you.
Please do not desist or be discouraged in any way from continuing your valiant efforts.
Love,
luckky
The Five Moms group is to be commended for their tremendous effort in this initiative.
Can someone explain?
Pastor Paul
thanx for the information
Appreciate the explanation! I can only guess how high a dose that must take! I suppose kids will find out though.
Thanks, James.
Yes, the point is to make people aware.
..
U
Michael, you must be right.
Cortney: That is the crux of the problem, all right. Yes, please tell PEOPLE !!!!
Another article in a few days.
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Thank you, Penny. Penny: The best thing is to talk to her, especially with a counselor. Tell her you worry because you have to take meds and that you love her. When she sees that you care, she will listen. The important thing is you are aware that she is seeing you take medications and that she knows you care. Taking medications for medical reasons, is fine. The best thing is to talk to her, frequently - especially if you can talk to her with a social worker, a counselor, a psychologist, anyone who can help provide emotional support to you - that you love her and are worried for her sake.
I just wanted to stop by since I am finally going through what is now listed as under 3,800 pieces of gather new mail that is sitting in my inbox on here.
With that mentioned I just came across either a mailing from you yourself, or someone else brought this piece to my attention. You or they felt that your creation should be shared with the gather community, which I am very glad that it was passed on to me to view. So I wanted to say Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to publish it here on gather for us to all view. :o)
As well before I leave you I wanted to wish you a Happy New Year... in 2009 :o)