KIDS THESE DAYS:

When my kids were in elementary school, I initially opposed DARE, or Drug Abuse Resistance Education, because I thought a public school was not the proper forum for this type of teaching.

I also believed the program did not focus enough on alcohol abuse.

In the middle of the public debate, a parent who liked DARE said to me, “You know, Steve, not all kids have the same type of environment at home that yours do.”

It was true. The DARE program was not meant as much for kids in a home such as ours but for kids who come from homes where the instructions and examples of good behavior are not as clear.

DARE’s results appear to be mixed, but I believe if it is doing some good for some kids, it is worth the effort. For without DARE, those kids would get little, if any, drug-abuse education.

But now there is another local program that on the surface would appear to be one that is doing the job that parents should do.

The program is called TeleParent and it has been instituted in my son’s school this semester.

Here is a summary of the program from the TeleParent website:

“TeleParent is an automated parental notification system that allows both school teachers and administrators to send student-specific and general messages home whenever necessary over the telephone or Internet. The service is sold to school districts or individual schools, and meets the need to send messages to each parent concerning their child’s school experience.”

The website listed three other uses for TeleParent but the one I’ve related is easily the most important.

In short, parents can expect a phone call home with a recorded voice advising them of good and bad behavior, future or missing assignments, upcoming tests, and more.

Upon hearing about the program, my initial reaction was that parents are the ones who should be finding out what tests are coming up, how their kid was behaving or what homework has not been turned in — all services provided by TeleParent.

Then I realized the world has changed; this is not so much electronic baby sitting as it is a valuable set of eyes and ears that can help parents keep their kids on track.

TeleParent is giving even the most involved parents information they may otherwise not have known.

One day, for example, one of my son’s teachers sent a message that he was behaving well and contributing in class. I would not have known without TeleParent.

So, that night we let him eat meat.

As you may expect, TeleParent can be used as a proactive tool, too.

For example, when we received a TeleParent notice Wednesday that my son had a test on the following Friday, I played the message for him. No escaping the studying this time.

Now he and thousands of other kids know the days of skating through the school week and reporting only the good news are gone.

Parents are now empowered with TeleParent.

TeleParent will not take the place of face-to-face meetings and parent-teacher conferences. But as an everyday tool that supports busy parents, it is fabulous.

And instead of enabling busy parents, that is, instead of condoning a lifestyle that does not allow them to spend enough time with their kids, I believe it will help parents and students work out their schedules so that school comes before everything else.

Now all we need is NintendoParent.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Send story ideas to dailypilot@latimes.com.