Returning back to school can be a challenging transition for new and returning students

Parents are influential in helping kids deal with pressures of school, life

Returning to school has significant risks that often times parents and students alike forget about when the academic year begins in the fall.

Tomorrow, more than 6,000 children in the Moses Lake School District will walk back into the classroom, where they will face the pressures of making friends, extracurricular activities, and responsibilities at home, as well as the influence of drug and alcohol substances.

"I do worry about grades and drugs because the kids here are older," freshman Monique Webb said as she stood outside Moses Lake High School for orientation.

"These transitions back into school are tough and are a higher time for drug use," Mike Lynch, the safe and civil schools coordinator at the North Central Education Services District, said.

Every school year, the education services district sends representatives to work with students in the MLSD, three of whom are appointed for this year.

According to Lynch, there is a positive response from MLSD administration, students and parents in combating substance abuse problems.

The administration and community at large are excellent, and parents seem willing to work with the representatives, Lynch said.

There are school-run programs that include life-skills classes, as well as community youth mentor sessions sponsored by the Prevention and Recovery Center (PARC) in Moses Lake.

In the mentoring program, adult mentors are screened and then paired with a child whom they will spend six to eight hours with every month. Activities vary from going out to dinner, a movie or simply talking about issues that are of concern to the child.

While there is community support, the latest county-wide results from a 2002 Healthy Youth Survey report conducted by PARC, show that youth and school-age children in Grant County rank slightly higher for substance abuse than other students statewide.

Of 836 sixth-grade students surveyed in Grant County in 2002, 3.1 percent reported using marijuana or hashish, in contrast to the 1.3 percent reported by students of the same age statewide.

Published results from the 2002 PARC survey indicate that as students get older, those results doubled.

Out of 603 10th-grade students surveyed from Grant County, 18.6 percent reported using marijuana in comparison to the 18.3 percent statewide.

"We do see some experimental stuff going on, predominantly in the seventh and eighth grades," Chief Moses Middle School Counselor Celia Guzman said.

Guzman is quick to point out the change between children and their parents as they get older.

Some kids begin to pull away from their parents at a certain age because the needs that they had before have changed, Guzman said.

However, there are those who would argue that parents should never underestimate the effect they have on their kids.

Vicky Rosenow, mother of freshman Danielle Rosenow, said her hopes for her daughter are that she does the best she can with what she has, and not to allow new people and places to hold her back.

PARC Preventionist Wendy Hanover said she agrees parents are the most important influence in helping their children to maintain balance and make healthy life choices, and that if clear guidelines are set there will be a relationship of mutual respect.

"We really do trust our kids," parent Ralph Combs said.