Decision-Making

Do you remember the first time that you did this?

And do you remember those days when you couldn’t wait to get home and do this?

Remember doing this?

or this?

The BIG DAY…

The Decision-Making Model

“Life is the sum of all your choices.”

~Albert Camus

1. Identify the problem2. What are your choices3. What are the potential consequences of your choices4. Decide and act5. Evaluate your decision

Step 1: Identify the problem

Step 2: What are your choices?

Step 3: What are the potential consequences of your choices?

this…

and this…

or this…

You decide…

References

1. http://www.baqmar.be/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/decision-making-processes11.jpg2. http://www.redletterdays.co.uk/Client/Images/Products/Large/BUCKA_1.jpg3. http://familyfunscape.com/images/img_go_karts.jpg4. http://www.officialticketcenter.com/Images/logo/Go-Kart1.jpg5. http://www.fatbmx.com/uploads3/200704/wk17/bike2.jpg6. http://www.transalt.org/files/newsroom/streetbeat/e-bulletin/2006/Aug/images/kidsonbikes.jpg7. http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1566/X0505/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1566-0195732.jpg8. http://z.about.com/d/familyfitness/1/0/Y/0/-/-/SB_washing_car.jpg9. http://kellyasphalt.com/Jaida_Dad_01.JPG10. http://www.momadvice.com/blog/uploaded_images/IMG_4181-775212.jpg11. http://beautifulbiblicalwomanhood.com/father%20and%20son%20fixing%20car.jpg12. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2413/2497754551_42dd21abc8.jpg13. http://www.neilfletcherracing.co.uk/rebuild/double_help.jpg14. http://www.life123.com/bm.pix/teen-driving3.s600x600.jpg15. http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/uploadedImages/News/Chicago/Images/Business/Hydrolic%20BM

W.jpg16. http://s3.images.com/huge.67.338357.JPG17. http://www.buzzle.com/img/articleImages/277192-9815-23.jpg18. http://www.candgnews.com/Homepage-Articles/2009/3-18-09/images/MADD-rally-four-teens.jpg19. http://passaicnews.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/drunk-driver.jpg20. http://media.therecord.topscms.com/images/a8/e6/851dd0734789aaa3207eb2404daf.jpeg21. http://media.photobucket.com/image/teen%20killed%20in%20drunk%20driving/silverbeam/blog/cal_fa

mily_van_crash_san_fran_chron.jpg22. http://www.wpimg.com/pk/landing/graduate_landing.jpg23. Alcohol Alert: Intervention at the Point of Consumption @

http://www.alcoholalert.com/teenage-drunk-driving.html

ReflectionHEALTH is your current state of well-being. Health is affected by four (4) major factors. These include your regular behaviors;

heredity; environment; and health care. Your regular behaviors are the things that you do everyday like smoke, eat healthy, wear your seatbelt or drink too much soda. Heredity is the genes that are passed on from parents to offspring. Is there a history of diabetes or cancer in your family? Are you white or black or are you athletic or artistic? Your environment is your immediate surroundings. Do you live in the city or the suburbs? Is there a park or safe area to play nearby? Your health care , the final major factor of your health, is your ability to go see a doctor or to get medicine. Do you and your parents have adequate health care?

However, when you die, fifty-percent (50%) of the reason why you died is a direct result of your regular behaviors. What does that tell you about the importance of your everyday or regular behaviors? It tells you there is nothing as important to your health as making positive or the “right” decisions. You make decisions everyday. What are you going to wear? What are you going to eat? Where are you going to go and who are you going to talk to? When should you leave and when should you arrive? Perhaps one of the more important decisions that you make in the future is whether or not you drink alcohol and drive a motor vehicle. Or, whether or not you get into a car that is being driven by someone who has been drinking alcohol. Because that decision could very well be your last…

Peer pressure forces teens to make difficult choices on a daily basis, but providing them with concrete educational information about teenage drunk driving can help them reach adulthood, safely, alive and without a criminal record. Statistics on teenage drunk driving are frightening. Many resources compile stacks of data annually to help us understand how serious this problem has become. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of youth deaths, aged 15 to 20 years. In the United States, 12.8% of all fatal traffic crashes were alcohol-related, and 40% of that number involved teens driving while drinking alcohol (Teen Drunk Driving Risks, 2009).

Young, inexperienced drivers should not be drinking in the first place, but they do it all too often and many of them drink either before or while driving. Statistics show one out of every ten teens between the ages of 12 and 13 drink alcohol at least once a month. These same young adults get a driver’s license when they turn age 16, and if they are still drinking, it may well be more than once a month. Couple their impaired vision, inattention to their surroundings, a loud radio, with alcohol and a fast car and the result is a recipe for disaster (Teen Drunk Driving Risks, 2009).