Episode 24: Rebound Partying and Prepping Your Kids for College with Dr. Jill Grimes
Brief summary of show:
In this week’s episode, I sat down with Dr. Jill Grimes, MD, FAAFP, a nationally recognized medical media expert, award-winning author, and proud mom of two awesome collegiate daughters.
After two decades of private practice, Dr. Grimes now splits her time between writing, speaking, vaccinating, and seeing patients. She also enjoys speaking at American Academy of Family Physicians, Pri-Med®, and Harvard Medical School conferences.
Listen in as we talk about:
What rebound partying is
How to talk to your kids about partying and alcohol consumption
Tips to empower our kids to take care of their health
Dr. Jill’s top things every kid should know about their health
Resources mentioned in the episode
Sign Up for Natalie’s Newsletter
Connect with Dr. Jill
Connect with Me
Podcast Highlights:
[00:02:31] Dr. Jill's biggest concerns with school right now
[00:05:12] Conversations to have with your kids around partying and drinking
[00:11:15] Preparing our kids to manage their own health
[00:18:46] Why modelling behaviors for our kids is so important
[00:20:20] The importance of being mindful of the friends you hang around with
Full transcript of episode:
[00:00:00] Natalie: Hi, everybody hope you're having a great week. I get a lot of requests for more medical topics, health topics, also parenting topics. So I'm combining those today. And the topic of the podcast is on preparing our kids for a healthy future, especially our young adults. And my guest is Dr. Jill grime. She is a family position and award-winning author media medical expert.
[00:00:21] You've probably seen her on national show. Fox news, CNN, CBS, ABC radio programs as well. She's terrific. We're going to talk about things like rebound, partying. What is it, parents you need to know about this and you need to talk to your young adults about this also what's in a first date. Do your kids know, do they know how to use a first aid kit?
[00:00:43] How much are you doing for your young adults and how much are they doing themselves for themselves and for their health? A lot of great topics today. I know you're going to love this interview and I want to remind you before we get started, go to my website. You'll see more on this interview. Also some other blogs and, uh, while you're there, sign up for my newsletter where I put out a weekly newsletter with more information, I do sound a little bit stuffed up today.
[00:01:09] It's only a cold. I promise here's my interview with Dr. Jill Grimes.
[00:01:14]
[00:01:16] Natalie: Are you looking for more energy? If you're like me, the answer is always yes. Being a working mom. I do everything I can to eat healthy, get enough sleep, be more present for my kids. But you know, I've come to realize that I actually have to do even more. And I have found that taking electrolytes and immune building supplements that has helped me more than anything.
[00:01:36] I put that electrolyte powder in my water every morning. It tastes like lemonade. It's really good. And doing this first thing in the morning, it helps me throughout the day. Now the line of products that I use is from seeking health. I've tested them, I believe in them. And I now recommend them to my listeners and viewers.
[00:01:53] You can find a link in the show notes, or you can go to seeking help. Dot com that's their website and use the promo code, Natalie at checkout, you'll get a discount. I, by the way, we'll get a small cut, but this in no way will cost you any more. And you're supporting this show and my efforts to help people live healthier lives.
[00:02:12] Again, it is seeking health.com. Use the promo code, Natalie. Dr. Jill joining me now. And I've been looking forward to this conversation, Dr. Jill,
[00:02:21] let's go straight into where kids are today and I'm talking about really high school on, into college, their mindset, and what you're seeing, what your concerns are.
[00:02:31] Jill: Sure. The biggest concern I have right now is something that's always my concern at the start of any semester, but even more so in the setting of our pandemic that we've been in.
[00:02:40] And that's what I call rebound partying. So there's that urge to not just party, but party really hard. Because they haven't been able to, and that can take many forms, but really the, you know, the most common thing that we see of course is alcohol and, um, pot factors in whether that's legal or not in your state, but it's really concerned about kids that are over-drinking.
[00:03:06] Anyone going off to college, especially for the first time, whether they're freshmen or whether they just haven't been on campus yet because they were at home last year. There's always, there's always, you know, social anxiety and pressure to fit in. And a common way of coping with that when they're out at parties is of course to have a drink.
[00:03:25] But the problem is, and this is going to make me sound a little old back in the old days, it used to be, have a beer. There's that level of a little bit of alcohol in your system. The more common thing now is doing shots. And the problem with that is that people do multiple shots. It raises their blood alcohol too quickly.
[00:03:41] They don't get any of the feedback saying they're having too much alcohol until all of a sudden it hits them. And then we're in a dangerous situation. So that's one of my biggest concerns, right?
[00:03:51] Natalie: Yeah and understanding, I mean, frankly, a lot of kids, although they shouldn't be drinking in college before they're 21, they are, and they don't understand, as you just said, the level of danger in different types of alcohol, what's a beer versus what's wine versus a shot.
[00:04:07] they have no idea
[00:04:08] Jill: and quantities. College students still do drink and the cups, not, not in a nice wine glass with a four ounce pour it's. It's
[00:04:18] Natalie: interesting. You talk about this rebound though. I, I hadn't really thought about that for adults too, but especially kids who have been so confined and they are like feeling this freedom for the first time in a year, especially if they're off at college and their parents aren't around and they're like freedom friends, and there's just that tendency to just go all out.
[00:04:40] Jill: Exactly. And if going all out means that you're dancing and having fun and being safe, knock yourself out. That's great. But again, One of the big things we see is just different mind-altering substances, whether that's pot or alcohol. And again, the, especially at the beginning of the semester, new friends, new situations on their own testing, the waters, and, you know, there's the classic preacher's kid who came from a very strict family and then gets to college and goes crazy.
[00:05:12] Uh, you see all different varieties. Yeah. But I think it's really important as parents, what we can do to help our kids is to have some conversations about things like, Hey, what's your exit strategy? What do I mean by that? That, you know, do you have a code word with your friends? If you're feeling uncomfortable, if you feel like you're being pressured to drink, or if you are drinking and you drank too much, do you have something that will help you leave, in a socially acceptable way that you feel.
[00:05:41] Comfortable with, for a lot of people, that's a code word, other people, one, one strategy that I, uh, that actually came from a college student focus group that was talking about this problem. They said, uh, one girl said, I just spill a drink on myself. And I'm like, oh no, my shirt, I gotta go. I gotta go. Yeah.
[00:05:58] And so, and you can do that for a friend as well as yourself. If you see someone that is getting in too deep, there they're clearly getting intoxicated or drunk. Yeah, sure. Well, maybe not the row, but yeah, you can pass your bump into them and, But I think having those conversations is really important.
[00:06:17]