Teens and alcohol
Teenagers all over admit they have experienced alcohol. In Canada, one in four teenagers have consumed alcohol on some level by the time they reach the age of 15. They often give in to peer pressure or think it is cool or mature to drink. Some come from homes where they grew up watching their parents drink socially or are alcoholics.
In the case of teenage drinking, some parents wonder if it is okay to have them do so at home. One mother remembers the kids all being at her house for her son's eighteenth birthday. She had overheard some of the kids say they were going to party hard at the lake. Not wanting that, she gave him a big party and insisted that the girls “crash” in her daughter's room and the boys “crash” in her son's room or the den. This is frowned upon by some, but not one teenager left that night and not one casualty was caused. Her son now goes to a high-ranking university with many of those same friends and she feels strongly to this day that she made the right call because they were going to “party” regardless. She did not buy one single product involving alcohol but the kids brought in nevertheless because they knew exactly how to get it.
Teenagers can find alcohol. Strangers, older siblings, fake identification, all can provide access to alcohol easily for a teenager. It is heart wrenching to wake up to a morning paper or breaking news story on television that a teenager drank and got behind the wheel of a vehicle and accidentally killed someone on a bicycle or ran off the road and killed himself. Yet, teenage drinking is on the rise and it is only by having open and honest communication with your child or students that you can provide a gate for that child to be able to come to you.
The mother who gave the party also remembers how that same child called her one night from a junior high dance. He was suppose to go to a sleepover and when his friend's dad came to pick them up, he had been drinking. The boys asked if they could switch the sleepover to his house. The dad happily agreed and went off to join his buddies back at the club again. The mother picked the boys up and they stayed the night at her house.
Some teenagers never try alcohol and are to be commended. The truth is, however, that many more do than don't. The key to helping a teen successfully handle questions and decisions regarding alcohol involves open communication. It works.
