By: Alex Urbina

One night Dave and Cyndi from Saugus are awoken from their sleep to a doorbell ring at 2 a.m., there standing on the porch is two police officers. Soon after Dave and Cyndi open the door they quickly find out that their 16-year-old daughter has been arrested for involuntary manslaughter.

Immediately after the emotional breakdown Dave composes himself long enough to asks the detective what happened, the detective tells Dave that his daughter’s best friend was killed as a result of a dangerous new teen trend called trunking.

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Trunking is when teens drive their friends in the trunk of their car to get around the new provisional driver’s license restrictions of driving other teens.

Apparently their daughter and her best friend have been trunking for months until the fatal night when they were rear-ended and the friend was killed.

Both Dave and Cyndi were not only devastated by the tragedy but they were stunned that they were both so clueless to the idea that their daughter was driving around her friends in her trunk.

Months following the event, Dave and his wife start doing their own investigating on the internet, they wanted to see if they could find more information about trunking and to further their surprise they realized that there are about two dozen more disturbing teen trends that they had no idea existed.

Dave and Cyndi both wish now that they had taken a more pro-active roll as parents, they regret not growing and developing with the times and with their kids to be more conscious and effective parents in the 21^st Century.

Police officers in our community take an oath to protect and serve, and one of the ways that the LA County Sheriff’s Department serves it back to the SCV, is to educate parents and properly inform them with feedback and insight from the front lines of the street; promoting and prompting effective parenting in the home.

One of the issues that law enforcement faces when dealing with parents, is that most parents don’t always jump at opportunities to be updated with new information, nor are they excited to gain the kind of insight that can be key to causing a profound change in family relationships.

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Why is it that most parents don’t always jump at these opportunities?

From my experience, some parents hide behind the phrase, “my kids are fine.” Meaning that as long as their kids are currently getting good grades, appear to be happy, involved in sports, open up from time to time or don’t have any real blatant behavioral issues, they don’t really see the value big enough to take time out of their schedule to sharpen their parenting skills; until it’s too late.

Some parents hide behind the phrase, “I’m not the one that has the issue; it’s my kid that won’t listen, won’t share, or thinks they know it all.” Meaning that it’s much easier to blame the child for the result rather than re-inventing themselves as parents to create the kind of heartfelt result that they desire most; to continue to be responsible for guiding, influencing and empowering their kids to make better choices in their life.

Some parents are just flat out not interested or exhausted; they’ve lost hope or are disheartened by the constant arguing, fighting, failures and defeats.

Some parents are distracted by other things in their lives like making more money finding another mate, Facebook, watching television, an addiction or maybe dealing with their own stresses and or depression.

Whatever the reason is and whether parents justify that the reason is valid or not, at the end of the day based on results, you have parents that are still committed to causing and creating extraordinary family relationships, those that are not, and everything in between.

And one-fact remains that if you live in the Santa Clarita Valley and you are a parent, there are so many organizations that are committed to better parenting and support than most cities offer in the entire country. The more important question for parents is, are you willing to commit to continue to learn and grow?

If you answered yes to this question, we have a new opportunity for you.

The Los Angeles Country Sheriff’s Department here in Santa Clarita has an incredible youth intervention team that is committed to teach, learn and grow with our community.

The J-Team is a special unit that is committed to improve the quality of life for the youth in the Santa Clarita Valley and to prevent delinquent behavior. The J-Team takes a pro-active and preventative approach to juvenile law enforcement issues.

The J-Team is made up of two veterans of the Sheriff’s Department, Sergeant Bob Wachsmuth and Detective Bill Vellik, the team’s goal is comprised of four main components; Enforcement, Intervention, Education and Prevention.

On Wednesday June 26^th, The Action Family Foundation, a non-profit of Action Family Counseling will present the J-Team for an hour and a half panel and discussion, free for all parents about teen issues in our community.

Let’s face it; teens today are much more advanced than their parents were when they were teenagers. To really be an affective parent, parents have to figure out how to stay 10 steps ahead their child; if they don’t, their child will figure out how to be 10 steps ahead of them.

The event starts at 7pm, doors will open at 6pm and a special media presentation will start at 6:20pm to highlight 20 of the most disturbing trends that teens are engaging in 2013. Only 130 seats are available, please be there early to get your seat.

Some of the topics to cover will be underage drinking and the consequences, Juvenile records, curfew, the newest teen trends, the hangout spots and drug issues.

If you are a parent of pre-teens or middle school age kids, this is a crucial time for you to learn as much as you can to be ahead of the curve, please join us.

The “Keep Me Informed” event will take place at The Action Family Zone 20655 Soledad Canyon Rd. Santa Clarita, CA 91351. For more details please call The Action Family Zone at 661-467-2714

Alex Urbina is one of the leading experts on Teen, Parent and Family Relationships. His vast experience in human potential and personal development has made him one of the premier Family Life Coaches in Personal Transformation and is part of the team at Action Family Counseling. Alex has a radio show called “Life Leadership” on KHTS every Monday at 1pm. You can also tune into Families in Action with Cary Quashen for more teen and family insight every Monday at noon on your Hometown Station AM 1220 KHTS.

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