With summer vacation approaching, Montgomery County teenagers are looking forward to a few months of relaxation and time spent with their friends, free from the pressures of school. Unfortunately for most parents with teens and pre-teens at home all day, summertime is worry time. For many parents, the summer months mean spending more time on the phone, checking in throughout the day to make sure everything and everyone is staying out of trouble. Interestingly, the percentage of American teenagers who drink weekly is increasing. This means alcohol, along with other harmful drugs and substances, is a primary concern for parents. Fortunately, there are a few things Montgomery County parents can do this summer to ease anxiety, enhance summer supervision, and protect our youth from the dangers of alcohol. Consider these tips from the new Supervise Your Kids campaign, from the Montgomery County A.H.E.A.D. Coalition:

1. Make your attitude about drinking clear.

Often, teens become involved with alcohol because they have not heard enough clear signals from their parents on the subject. Even with all of the commercials airing on television urging parents to talk to their children about drinking, too often parents shy away from the situation for a variety of reasons. Sometimes parents simply undervalue the part they play in keeping kids away from alcohol. Other times parents hope that a few ground rules will do the job, or at least keep their teen out of any serious trouble involving alcohol.

Unfortunately, a few ground rules and a lot of hope just doesn't get the job done when it comes to alcohol. The best way for kids to understand parents' messages about alcohol, is for the parents to give clear and frequent reminders of their feelings about drinking. It is important for children to know that their parents take alcohol and its effects very seriously. The best way to impart anti-drinking messages is to do it in conjunction with messages that show children how caring and concerned parents are for their child's well-being. Talking to children about alcohol repeatedly and with sincerity is perhaps the best parenting technique when it comes to teen drinking.

2. Keep your child busy during the day.

With free time, comes boredom. With boredom comes temptation. In an ideal world, if pre-teen and teen-age children are kept busy during the day, they will have little time to experiment with alcohol. Here are a few tips and ideas to get your pre-teen and teenage children off the couch and/or out of the house this summer.

• Help teenagers find an activity they can do at home to keep busy throughout the day. Advocate reading a book every week, renting videos, helping in the garden, or starting a new hobby like scrap-booking.

• Look into summer camps available around Montgomery County. Local parks and programs offer a wide variety of opportunities for pre-teens and teenagers to learn new skills and refine old ones. Plus, these adult-lead activities will help you relax, knowing that your child is being supervised by someone during the day.

• Encourage teenagers to get a summer job. This will reduce boredom and increase their spending money -- a winning situation for both parents and teenagers. Parents should also encourage pre-teens to become young entrepreneurs. Pre-teens can baby-sit, pet-sit, mow lawns, offer cleaning services, or walk dogs for neighbors living nearby.

3. Get to know your child's friends and their parents.

Encourage kids to entertain at home. This is a great opportunity to get to know your child's friends and acquaintances. It also enables you to exert a little control over the environment in which your teen spends time with friends. Establish rules -- especially the no-alcohol rule -- before a party so that your teen knows the benefits and consequences to either keeping rules or breaking them. If the rules are kept, the parties may continue. If the rules are broken, future parties in your home and in the homes of others will be in jeopardy.

In addition to knowing your teen's friends, it is important to build relationships with parents of friends as well. It is a good idea to address the role of alcohol in the homes of fellow parents. Make sure other parents hold the same anti-alcohol attitudes that you do. Montgomery County children will benefit from parents creating a zero-tolerance alcohol policy throughout the county.

4. Wait up for your child to come home.

During the summer, pre-teen and teenage children don't have to wake up early for school. Plans are made with friends later in the evening, sometimes ending later than most parents prefer to stay awake. Instead of giving in to that urge to go to sleep, stay awake so that your teen understands how important it is to come home before a predetermined time. If teens know you are not going to sleep until they arrive home safely, they will have an incentive to abide by a curfew.

In addition to enforcing a curfew, staying awake until your child walks in the door at night, enables you to check for signs of alcohol or drug use. Watch for stumbling, look for glossy eyes and slow reactions, listen for slurred speech, and don't be afraid to give your child a "good night" hug to smell for signs of alcohol. A child will be less likely to drink while out with friends if a parent is always waiting up for them at home. As a means of fighting alcohol abuse, greeting your teen when they come home at night is an invaluable parenting tool.

For more information on successfully supervising your children, visit the Montgomery County A.H.E.A.D. Coalition campaign website, superviseyourkids.com.