Over the weekend I read about how, in the 1990’s, Iceland had the highest amount of youth alcohol and drug abuse compared to any other European country. It is now the lowest! I was interested in what they have done to change their youth culture. The information is, I believe, of  great interest to all parents.

‘Today, Iceland tops the European table for the cleanest-living teens. The percentage of 15 and 16 year-olds who had been drunk in the previous month plummeted from 42 percent in 1998 to 5 percent in 2016. The percentage of those who have ever used cannabis is down from 17 percent to 7 percent. Those smoking cigarettes every day fell from 23 percent to just 3 percent.’

The way the country has achieved this turnaround has been both radical and evidence-based, but it has relied a lot on what might be termed enforced common sense. “This is the most remarkably intense and profound study of stress in the lives of teenagers that I have ever seen,” says a key facilitator. “I’m just so impressed by how well it is working.”

How did they achieve this?

Laws were changed. It became illegal to buy tobacco under the age of 18 and alcohol under the age of 20, and tobacco and alcohol advertising was banned. Links between parents and school were strengthened through parental organizations which by law had to be established in every school, along with school councils with parent representatives. Parents were encouraged to attend talks on the importance of spending a quantity of time with their children rather than occasional “quality time”, on talking to their kids about their lives, on knowing who their kids were friends with, and on keeping their children home in the evenings.

A law was also passed prohibiting children aged between 13 and 16 from being outside after 10pm in winter and midnight in summer. It’s still in effect today.

Home and School, the national umbrella body for parental organizations, introduced agreements for parents to sign. The content varies depending on the age group, and individual organizations can decide what they want to include. For kids aged 13 and up, parents can pledge to follow all the recommendations, and also, for example, not to allow their kids to have unsupervised parties, not to buy alcohol for minors, and to keep an eye on the wellbeing of other children.

State funding was increased for organized sport, music, art, dance and other clubs, to give kids alternative ways to feel part of a group, and to feel good, rather than through using alcohol and drugs, and kids from low-income families received help to take part. In Reykjavik, for instance, where more than a third of the country’s population lives, a Leisure Card gives families 35,000 krona ($750) per year per child to pay for recreational activities. These activities included organised sport, Music, Arts.

The article inspired me to consider how these learnings might help shape our youth and the choices that they make. Strong school/home/community links, boundaries (laws) around what children can do and access, and direct funding to each child from 5-18 per year to pay for participation in a registered sport or Arts club.

I’d be interested in your thoughts as to whether this approach would work here in Australia?

(Information derived with  courtesy : Mosaic Science)