Talking to your teen about alcohol
Research has suggested that a third of children experiment with drinking alcohol before they turn 13, but new findings by the ongoing College Life Study suggest that parents who are more closely involved in supervising what their teens get up to have more success when it comes to curbing underage drinking.
While you may be tempted to dismiss teen drinking as a harmless rite of passage, its effects can be far reaching. Younger teenagers who develop a taste for alcohol are way more likely to become dependent on it – research suggests that drinking patterns established in adolescence are likely to continue in adulthood, while people who don’t start drinking until 19 or 20 rarely become alcoholics. It’s also linked with teen suicide, high-risk sexual activity and auto accidents among young drivers.
It’s his lack of judgment and self-restraint that can get your child hooked on drinking – most kids say they do it as an experiment, for the thrill or because it helps them relax. The possible consequences are the last thing on their minds – they want to exercise their independence. Peer pressure is a big factor: you can bet that if your child’s friends are drinking he will be too. And the fact they’re doing it so early means that leaving it until the night before he heads off to college is way too late to talk about drinking with your child.
The main reason why the consequences of drinking don’t really swing it with your child is that he thinks nothing can hurt him; that he’s invincible. But he’s also curious about how his body and mind works, particularly as he goes through puberty. Capitalize on this interest by focusing on the cold hard scientific facts about how alcohol can affect his behavior and development… and don‘t pull your punches, because your child’s health and life are at stake.
1 Be blunt
Lay it on the line for your child: the earlier he experiments with drinking the more likely he is to get hooked. Almost half of all children who start drinking before the age of 14 go on to become dependent on alcohol. Less than 10% of young people who leave it until they’re over 21 to drink become alcoholics.
2 Focus on the physical
Explain exactly what excessive alcohol consumption will do to your child’s health, putting it in terms he can understand. It will reduce his liver’s ability to remove toxins, bacteria and germs from his blood and will weaken his immune system. That translates into a higher risk of illness that will prevent him from having fun with his friends.
3 Mention his mind…
Alcohol will harm his brain cells and affect his ability to remember things – oops, there go those grades… and with them that car you promised to buy him when he graduated high school with flying colors.
4 So long, sporting hero
When it comes to sports, alcohol will slow his reaction time, affect his sense of balance and steadiness, cause dehydration and play havoc with his fine motor skills. So he can forget about scoring that last-minute touchdown because he’ll either fumble the ball or be too tired and dizzy to run fast enough.
5 Beer gut boy
This is where you appeal to his body image. Alcohol won’t exactly make your child popular with the ladies once he has lost those ripped abs and grown a beer gut. Alcohol is so high in calories it’s classified as a food, not a drink.
6 Crash…
Due to its effects on reaction times and judgment, if your teen drives after consuming alcohol he isn’t just risking a DUI. He’s risking his health, his limbs, his life. And the life of whoever got in the car with him – and whoever he hits while taking that curve too fast or driving up that exit ramp by mistake…