Whether it’s a question your child has at a baseball game, observing a friend or relative at a BBQ, wondering why certain drinks are off-limits in the cooler at the beach or even something mentioned during a road trip, here are some lessons about alcohol and responsibility to incorporate into summer.

School counselors are such an important part of the Ask, Listen, Learn community, and we love seeing and learning from their passion for student well-being—both in schools and from afar. They are truly making a big difference in students’ lives. School counselors help parents, students, and educators everywhere see that we are certainly better together.

For your classroom, we are pleased to launch new Social-Emotional Learning resources created in partnership with Discovery Education—the leading provider of standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms. These two classroom activities focus on what it means to be responsible and how students can make responsible choices in their everyday lives. We know that not every conversation or lesson is about alcohol, but learning about responsibility and making healthy choices builds the foundation for good decision making in the future.

One essential partner in schools that can tie these efforts together is school administrators. These educators are such an important part of establishing a school culture that fosters development. So from all of us to you: THANK YOU, PRINCIPALS.

Recent data shows that the conversations that parents are having with the kids about alcohol have increased. Compared to levels from 2003, more kids and teenagers report talking to their parents about underage drinking in the past year. This means more parents around the country are engaging in these conversations and keeping these conversations going. This is especially important since parents have been found to be the leading influence on kids’ decisions about drinking (and NOT drinking)– even more than their friends and peers.