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Advice on Talking to Your Child About Alcohol

What Do Teens Know About Alcohol?

Young people are bombarded with messages about alcohol every day. Unfortunately, many of these messages do not include the real facts. The reality is that underage drinking can lead to car crashes, drownings, unplanned pregnancies, and school failure. Simply put: Alcohol ruins many young lives.

Even if you try to give your children the right information about alcohol, you are up against the mixed messages they receive about drinking out in the world. Also, studies from the U.S. Public Health Service show that teens do not understand the concept of alcohol content; they think they can sober up by drinking coffee or getting some fresh air, and many teens cannot even differentiate between alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages.

How Do Teens Get Alcohol?

The 21-year-old drinking age is the law in all 50 States, and where it is strictly enforced it saves lives. However, in too many communities the law is simply not enforced. The statistics tell a frightening story. Many studies have shown that underage drinking is prevalent and starts early-as early as sixth grade. By 10th grade, nearly 90 percent of youth have had a drink. Six out of 10 high school seniors are regular (at least monthly) users of alcohol. Many young people (about two-thirds of those who drink) simply walk into a store and buy it without ever being asked for identification. Others use fake IDs or ask fiends or siblings to make the purchase for them. A popular source of alcohol for young people is the family liquor cabinet or at parties, usually at fiends' homes, sometimes without parental supervision. To put the size of the underage drinking problem in perspective, each year junior and senior high school students drink 1.1 bi1lon cans of beer and consume 35 percent of the wine coolers sold in this country.

What Can I Do About My Child?

Survey research has shown that young people often drink to cope with the pressure they feel to be accepted, to make decisions, or to perform in school. Providing teenagers with an alternative outlet for these pressures and fears any help. Be available to talk and, most important, listen to your teenager.

When you talk to them about alcohol, it's important to remember the following:

• Young people are very concerned about being accepted by their peers. This need to fit in with the group is often the reason for their first experimentation with alcohol. Remind your children that their true friends encourage their individuality, as well as healthy lifestyle choices. Good friends respect your right to be you.
• It's never too early to prevent underage drinking because some youth start experimenting in childhood.
• Correct the assumption that all young people drink. In fact, half the 20 million teenagers in the United States today do not drink alcohol.
• Correct the assumption that alcohol helps people cope. In reality, the use of alcohol and other drugs leads to more problems.
• Control, physical abilities, and independence are particularly important to young people, as are their driver's licenses. Remind them that drinking is a good way to lose all of these.

The message to communicate to our children is that alcohol is a drug, and that drinking can lead to serious, even fatal consequences. Emphasize to your teenage children that no use of alcohol by anyone under age 21 is acceptable. Set and communicate to your children clear policies and consequences concerning the use of alcohol and other drugs, and enforce them.

What Can I Do in My Community?

One of the best ways you can help create a healthy environment for your son or daughter is to be an advocate for such an environment in your community. Entire communities need to work together to ensure that young people receive the right messages about alcohol. Any program to prevent underage drinking should include the following:

• Education - Too few young people understand alcohol and its intoxicating effects.
• Media literacy - This provides an understanding and ability to analyze the powerful images and words in our media-rich world. Young people can be trained to judge the message and the messenger and to separate fact from fiction.
• Resistance and problem-solving skills-Young people need to be able to recognize the subtle and not-so-subtle pressures designed to encourage them to use alcohol. Once they have the facts about the serious consequences of alcohol consumption, they can weigh information and make healthy and safe decisions.
• Community norm and attitude changing - A young person's attitude about alcohol is often created by his or her "community" - family, friends, neighborhood, and school environment. If the verbal and nonverbal message of that community concerning alcohol is a mixed one, young people see options that should not be there. An important step you can take to prevent your son or daughter from drinking in your community is to work with others to create a protective environment in which the pressure to drink is minimized and adolescents can avoid experiencing the consequences of alcohol use.

If you would like to talk to someone about your child's use of alcohol , you can call one of our prevention specialists and discuss the situation. In Guilford County call (336) 812-8645 and ask to speak to a Prevention Specialist. In Alamance or Caswell County call (336)532-0500.