Our Ask, Listen, Learn:Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix team is hard at work this month talking with parents, teachers and kids about saying YES to a healthy lifestyle and NO to underage drinking. Here’s how!

As the longest-standing program of its kind, Ask, Listen, Learn: Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix has reached over 21 Million parents, teachers and kids since its inception in 2004 in six countries. Since the program began, underage drinking is at record lows, while the conversations among parents and kids about the dangers of underage drinking has increased 62 percent.

For the past few years during Alcohol Responsibility Month, we’ve been lucky enough to partner with Scholastic to provide resources to 750,000 kids through 25,000 classrooms. The materials feature our Superstars: member of the US World Cup Soccer Team Lauren Holiday, Classroom Champions Athlete Mentors Paralympic medalist Lex Gillette, and Olympic medalist Erin Hamlin.

The conversation about the dangers of underage drinking is an important one to start in the classroom. Teachers, you have the power to teach your students the importance of a healthy lifestyle, instilling in them the values that will set them up for success later in life. Being the trusted adult for your students can help them feel better prepared when they’re faced with peer pressure.

During Alcohol Responsibility Month, Ask, Listen, Learn is also working with their partner Classroom Champions for Healthy Living Month! Classroom Champions pairs classrooms with an Olympian or Paralympian Athlete Mentor — people who are experts in goal setting, perseverance, team work, and giving back to the community. Through monthly video lessons, the Mentor will challenge students to implement these and other social emotional skills and mindsets to identify and accomplish their own big dreams. During April, the athlete mentors will go into why living healthily helped them to accomplish their goals and become the athlete they are today! Check out some of these Healthy Living Month videos here.

Alcohol Responsibility Month is a great time to start the conversation, but remember your students are faced with pressures all year! Find resources to help continue the conversation on Ask, Listen, Learn’s material page, including lesson plans, take home materials for parents and classroom exercises.