# If you are anti D.A.R.E...



## hipumpkins (Jul 25, 2003)

and the DARE people are outside a store collecting money do you talk to managers to get them to know the facts?
Do you do anything to stop the program?


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## simple life (Apr 14, 2006)

I have no thoughts really, just wanted to ask you for more info! We aren't huge dare fans here (but also haven't really done much looking into it either) do you have any links?

But in general, I think most people see it as good, so I think talking to the manager is a nice thought, but would most likely get you a 'you are CRAZY' attitude and they won't listen for more than two seconds. But there is always the small chance that you would plant the seed in one more person!

Julie


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## fruitful womb (Nov 20, 2004)

Why would anyone be anti-D.A.R.E.?

It stands for Drugs Are Really Exciting, right?

Just kidding, he-he-he









Seriously, is it corrupted?


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## woobysma (Apr 20, 2004)

I'd like more info, too. DS1 is almost at the age when they start doing that in schools & I'd like to be informed if there's something I should be concerned about.


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## acannon (Nov 21, 2007)

I was in the DARE program when I was in 5th grade. They say a lot of things that aren't true and generally try to scare the kids out of their minds about drugs. One of the favorite things to say was that marijuana is a gateway drug and they would equate marijuana as being the same as meth or crack. In some schools, they would encourage children to tell on their parents to the police officer if they were drinking or smoking. I read an article somewhere saying that they're trying to get rid of the DARE program in some schools because it's just not working.


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## Arduinna (May 30, 2002)

I have never seen anyone collecting for DARE, but I would do the same thing I do when I see people collection for overseas missionary work to convert people. I don't give them any money. I don't protest about it at the store though.


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## beansricerevolt (Jun 29, 2005)

hmm, im curious too. We homeschool so I have no idea what D.A.R.E is all about, except for the obvious.


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## saimeiyu (Aug 13, 2007)

I remember being in D.A.R.E. years ago. I think one problem with it is that they can get REALLY insistent about getting kids to turn in 'abusive' parents and say all kinds of things that can make young kids think that their parents are evil, abusive, drug-crazed alcoholics, even if all they do is smoke cigarettes and have a beer once in a blue moon.

For some reason, at the end of like ... I don't know, three or four 'classes' of dare, when I was in 4th or 5th grade, I was convinced that the ONE beer in my parents' fridge (which had been there for AGES) meant that my parents were abusive and alcoholic. My dad yelled at me one day b/c I wouldn't go to sleep. He took the book I was reading and conked me on the head with it -- not even hard-- just a tap, and I was *convinced* that I was being abused. So of course at the end of the next D.A.R.E. class when they had that part where you're allowed to go talk to the nice officer, I told him all about how I had an alcoholic, abusive father who "beat" me with books because I was reading... Thank God I had a teacher who had half a brain back then, who knew what questions to ask, because if that had happened today, I would have been taken out of my parents home FIRST and THEN someone else would have asked questions.


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## Arduinna (May 30, 2002)

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=746588
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=163339
Might prove helpful.


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## EarthsSpiral (Nov 13, 2007)

I just had a post typed and my browser froze!









Any who I basically said I wouldn't do anything more than not give them my money.


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## hipumpkins (Jul 25, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Arduinna* 
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=746588
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=163339
Might prove helpful.

Thank you I was searching all over for that.


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## beansricerevolt (Jun 29, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Arduinna* 
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=746588
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=163339
Might prove helpful.

Thanks!


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## spero (Apr 22, 2003)

I wonder if the program varies from school to school. Over the past seven years, three of my kids have been through D.A.R.E.; and after reading all the concerns here and elsewhere, I have to say that this

Quote:


Originally Posted by *saimeiyu* 
I think one problem with it is that they can get REALLY insistent about getting kids to turn in 'abusive' parents and say all kinds of things that can make young kids think that their parents are evil, abusive, drug-crazed alcoholics,


Quote:


Originally Posted by *acannon* 
I was in the DARE program when I was in 5th grade. They say a lot of things that aren't true and generally try to scare the kids out of their minds about drugs.

In some schools, they would encourage children to tell on their parents to the police officer if they were drinking or smoking.

has absolutely NOT been an issue in our program. I have quizzed my kids extensively about the program and mostly what they are learning is self-esteem, positive reinforcement, resisting peer pressure, and respecting themselves.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Arduinna* 
I have never seen anyone collecting for DARE,

I might have come across a D.A.R.E. fundraising bake sale or two, but since I'm not really "against" the program I wouldn't protest it. I doubt that most store managers would care, anyway.

Quote:

I read an article somewhere saying that they're trying to get rid of the DARE program in some schools because it's just not working.
As far as drug resistance, I would have to agree with that statement - which is why I think they've shifted the focus of D.A.R.E. (in our school, anyway). The letters even stand for something different ... it escapes me at the moment, but I know the "E" is still Education and "R" is now Respect.


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## EFmom (Mar 16, 2002)

I just had a little encounter with this. I'm the OP in the top link posted by Arduinna above, who kept her kid out of DARE.

About two weeks ago, dh came home and told me he was solicited for DARE by a group in the lobby of a chain craft store near us. He spouted off a few statistics about the complete and utter ineffectiveness of the program to the people soliciting him, who got the predictable deer in the headlights look.

It just so happened that I had to return to that store the following day, so I took a few copies of the Government Accounting Office study that concluded that DARE is worthless along with me and was able to give the ladies at the DARE table copies when they tried to solicit funding from me. It was actually kind of fun.


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## hipumpkins (Jul 25, 2003)

Quote:

I just had a little encounter with this.
Where I live they are always outside shop rite, Staples toys R us. It isn't a little bake sale either...it's T shirts and key chains and "safety stuff" for kids.

I always tell them I am anti DARE and sometimes they know what I eman and they move along and sometimes I think they are shocked. I am not sure if the solicitors know the waste or not.


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## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

I woudln't give them any money, but I wouldn't confront them in the middle of the store either.

So far, none of my kids have had the D.A.R.E. program in school, but I've talked to them about drugs numerous times, and I would do so again ESPECIALLY if they had an anti-drug program (or any kind!) at school, to make sure that what they're being taught is accurate and meshes with my values.


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## cutekid (Aug 5, 2004)

Whoa!!! I thought I was the only Anti-DARE person I know. Actually, the day of my DARE graduation a 5th grader was caught with pot.


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## hollytheteacher (Mar 10, 2007)

maybe i'm a "loser" but i liked the dare program when i was a kid. I learned a lot about the dangers of drugs and never experimented with any of them. I remember doing a lot of fun pro-self-esteem type activities and getting to take home the "dare lion". How is teaching kids about the dangers of drugs a bad thing? Even if it's not 100 percent effective, it certainly is helping a good majority...i can't be the only one right?


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## EarthMamaToBe (Feb 19, 2008)

As my DH said he didn't have ANY interest in doing drugs until being forced to sit thru 4 years of dare.


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## annethcz (Apr 1, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *hollytheteacher* 
maybe i'm a "loser" but i liked the dare program when i was a kid. I learned a lot about the dangers of drugs and never experimented with any of them. I remember doing a lot of fun pro-self-esteem type activities and getting to take home the "dare lion". How is teaching kids about the dangers of drugs a bad thing? Even if it's not 100 percent effective, it certainly is helping a good majority...i can't be the only one right?

No, you're not the only one who enjoyed the program. However, if you read the link EFmom posted above you will see that the program absolutely is not "helping a good majority" of students.


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## crittersmom (Mar 24, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EarthMamaToBe* 
As my DH said he didn't have ANY interest in doing drugs until being forced to sit thru 4 years of dare.

It was a total waste of tax money that could have been spent on actual learning activities and things to keep us out of mischief.Drug use actually went up on campus after those drug free zones signs went up and during the assemblies that were forced on us once a month the "druggies" were smoking out on the field.I'm sure that the adults in charge felt they were really doing an excellent job and saving us from a future of naughtiness with those "band-aids".Window dressing was what it really was.







:My sister also got convinced that my mom's can of root beer was beer and mentioned to her teacher that our mom drank and drove every day.
No, they will never get any intentional money from me and I hope my kids don't have to ever sit through a testimonial from a former alchoholic.


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## spero (Apr 22, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *EarthMamaToBe* 
As my DH said he didn't have ANY interest in doing drugs until being forced to sit thru 4 years of dare.

Four YEARS?! Did I read that right?


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## EFmom (Mar 16, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *hollytheteacher* 
maybe i'm a "loser" but i liked the dare program when i was a kid. I learned a lot about the dangers of drugs and never experimented with any of them. I remember doing a lot of fun pro-self-esteem type activities and getting to take home the "dare lion". How is teaching kids about the dangers of drugs a bad thing? Even if it's not 100 percent effective, it certainly is helping a good majority...i can't be the only one right?


Holly, please read the GAO report linked above. It analyzes several of the major research studies done on DARE. DARE has been found over and over again to be completely ineffective. Kids who go through the DARE program are every bit as likely to do drugs as kids who do not. In fact, for certain demographics, kids who go through DARE are more likely to do drugs than those who do not. So, I don't think your characterization that DARE is "helping a good majority" is even close to accurate.

The General Accounting Office was under a great deal of political pressure to twist the findings of their investigation to be pro-DARE. I think it speaks volumes that they did not.

Yes, some kids find DARE fun. That's not the issue. There are lots of genuinely educational things that the kids could be doing in the time they are squandering on DARE, some of which might also be fun.


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## lindi dfw (Mar 18, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *hipumpkins* 
and the DARE people are outside a store collecting money do you talk to managers to get them to know the facts?
Do you do anything to stop the program?

I hate to sound dumb, but what is DARE??


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## acannon (Nov 21, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lindi dfw* 
I hate to sound dumb, but what is DARE??

Wow. You are so lucky that you don't know what it is. It's an anti-drug program that kids in public schools have to sit through. Here's the Wikipedia page on it.


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## ColoradanMom (Feb 17, 2008)

Wow - I didn't even know they were still doing DARE. I had a horrible experience with it growing up. The day in 2nd grade that the officer explained the effects of all the different drugs, I came home terrified. I kept picturing people on LSD jumping off buildings, thinking they could fly. I couldn't sleep that night because I was so afraid of drugs, I felt sick. I guess it may have been effective on me (but I was sorta a goodie goodie kid anyhow) I never tried drugs but it only worked based on total fear and not anything constructive. I have friends who actually became curious about experimenting with drugs as adolescents from learning about them from DARE.


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## EarthMamaToBe (Feb 19, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *spero* 
Four YEARS?! Did I read that right?

Yep years 3, 4, 5, 6 grades. FOUR YEARS


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## EFmom (Mar 16, 2002)

For those of you who haven't read the linked threads, you might be interested to know that your kid really doesn't have to go through DARE. My saga is in one of the linked threads. My kid didn't do DARE and it all worked out pretty well. You just have to be willing to push back a little, which is something I enjoy doing, so it was kind of fun and it did give the principal a little food for thought.


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## alysmommy2004 (Jun 23, 2006)

I went through two years of it, two different school systems (CA and NV), and had two completely different experiences. I remember the first one was not so bad, kind of boring, but then again I would have rather been learning something.







The second one was AWFUL! They really did try to brainwash us that if our parents drank a beer or two they were alcoholics. I remember them saying over and over again that it was our responsibility to turn in anyone who was doing drugs or alcohol, even if we loved them very much.


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## guestmama9924 (Mar 16, 2002)

DARE programs have been phased out of my community. The model of "health behavior change" they were using is antiquated. There are many more effective programs out there now.


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