If you have children who are graduating from high school and going off to college, it is time to give them “the talk”. It is not the talk that we baby boomers heard when we went off to school. This one is a bit more complicated. I suggest you start off with the easy topic first, eating. Then you can move on to drinking, drugs and sex. You will definitely get their attention, read on.

EATING

You have all heard of the freshman fifteen. When I went to college, I gained the freshman 15×2. That’s right. I gained 30 pounds. You don’t want your kids to do that. I had carefully watched my diet when I was in high school. It was easy because my mother was a health nut and we only had healthy food at home.

When I went to college there suddenly were so many choices. There was a salad bar, dessert bar, potatoes, bread, pizza and beer. The drinking age was 18 when I went to school, so in addition to eating a lot, I drank a lot (more on that next). I did not know how fattening beer was at the time. It is amazing how fast I put the weight on and how hard it was to take it off.

To avoid weight gain advise your children to stick with whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins and stay away from processed foods like chips and cheetos. Even though they are going to get caught up in school, suggest that they find ways to exercise. It will help keep their weight down and will help them to focus.

DRINKING

Binge drinking on college campuses has become epidemic. It is defined for guys as having more than 5 drinks in one sitting and for girls having 4 drinks or more in one sitting. A recent Harvard study has found that 51% of boys at college and 40% of girls binge drink and 44% of college students had done it within two weeks of the study. One in four students reported binging at least three times a week.

It may seem like a “cool”, fun activity to teens, but it is very dangerous and can cause a world of hurt. Here are some startling statistics. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), in a given year looking at college students between the ages of 18 and 24, binge drinking resulted in 1825 deaths, 599,000 injuries, 690,000 assaults, 97,000 cases of sexual abuse, 400,000 cases of unprotected sex with 100,000 reporting they were too drunk to know if they consented, 150,000 alcohol related health problems and 2.8 million people driving drunk. One quarter of these students suffered academically and had health issues such as insomnia. One percent reported being raped by an out of control intoxicated peer.

The bottom line is that binge drinking increases the likelihood that your children will suffer a sexual assault and get in one heap of trouble.

DRUGS

There are a wide variety of drugs out there that will be accessible. These include marijuana, psychedelics, ecstasy, and prescription painkillers and adderall. I am sure your kids have been warned about all of these. These drugs change their brain chemistry and some of these changes can be permanent.

I (along with you as parents) advise against them. Also caution your children to be careful if they go to a club or party that they always go with a friend and never leave their drink. It is very easy to slip a date rape drug into one. With a buddy and smart thinking, they can avoid becoming a victim.

SEX

When I went to college, the major worry was how to avoid pregnancy. Now in addition to not getting pregnant, there are so many things to worry about. One out of every four college students is infected with a sexually transmitted infection (STI). The most common is human papilloma virus or HPV. It causes genital warts and is the most common cause of cervical cancer. It can also cause oral and anal cancer. It has no symptoms so it is easily spread. Infection can occur with sexual and skin-to-skin contact.

Chlamydia is the second most common STI, which can cause pelvic inflammatory disease and can result in infertility. If diagnosed it can be treated with antibiotics. Many women are symptomatic but often men have no symptoms.

The third most common infection is genital herpes. One in five college students are infected. There is no cure but there are medicines to reduce the length of outbreaks.

Condoms can protect against the latter two. The Gardasil vaccine can protect against HPV. If your teens are on drugs or drunk they are less likely to use protection. This opens them up to these infections as well as HIV, hepatitis B (for the unvaccinated), gonorrhea and syphilis. These infections are less frequent among college students but they are out there and they can cause serious illness and even death.

College can be the best time of their life. By avoiding the pitfalls of overeating, drinking, drugs and unsafe sex, they can have a healthy, exciting and wonderful experience. Please talk to them about how to be smart. Knowledge is power. Urge them to use it!