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A Family Guide to Keeping Youth Mentally Healthy & Drug Free

Parents, Parties, and Preventing Underage Alcohol Use

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Start Talking Before They Start Drinking

When young people drink, they tend to drink heavily. Underage drinkers consume, on average, four to five drinks per occasion, compared with two to three drinks per occasion among adult drinkers aged 26 and older.

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Activity—Make a Time Capsule

The end of school marks the end of another year in your student's life. Celebrate the year by making a time capsule! Find a waterproof, airtight container. Fill it with fun things from the year, like photos, notes, and drawings.

Encourage your child to write down things about his life, like favorite foods, music, movies, and things to do. You also may want to have him write a letter to an older version of himself!

To make sure your items don't decay, copy them onto acid-free paper and put them into individual, airtight plastic bags.

Decide when you'll open the time capsule-5, 10, or 20 years from now or as part of a big event, like his high school or college graduation. Put the capsule in a cool, dry place, but make a note so you don't forget where you put it!

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Would you let your teenage son drink beer at his best friend's birthday party? Would you let your daughter attend a graduation party where wine would be available to underage kids? What if a parent were chaperoning these events?

Kids, parties, and alcohol are never a good mix. However, in a poll by the American Medical Association, 1 in 10 parents said that it was okay for teens to attend prom or graduation parties with alcohol if a parent were present.¹ It may come as no surprise, then, that 20 percent of 16- to 18-year-olds reported that they have attended a graduation party with underage drinking and parents present.² And 15 percent of these teens had been to a graduation party where the alcohol was actually supplied by parents.³

Laws in many States call for parents to be prosecuted if minors drink alcohol in their homes. But some parents still allow alcohol at their teens' parties and, in many cases, buy alcohol for the event. This group of parents is the minority. Most parents do not allow their underage children to drink and would not buy alcohol for their kids or allow it at a post-prom party or graduation event.

During the busy prom and graduation season, your teen may be invited to a party where alcohol will be available to minors. Try taking these steps to keep your child alcohol free:

Before the party, talk to the parents hosting the party and get all the details. Where is it? What time does it start and end? Who's invited? What activities are planned? Will there be adult supervision for teenage guests? What is the ratio of adult supervisors to teenage guests? What can I do to help? You're not being nosy! Think of it as gathering information so that you can make an informed decision.
Ask the parents hosting the party if alcohol will be served at the event. If it's a party with guests over and under age 21 and alcohol will be present, ask about their plans to prevent minors from drinking alcohol. If all of the guests will be under 21, ask about their plans to make sure that no one brings alcohol to the party.
Talk to your child about what to do if he finds himself at a party where alcohol is available to minors. Let him know that even if other teens are drinking, you expect him not to. Tell him that he should call you right away and you'll come pick him up-no matter how late it is. You may want to create a "code word" that your child can use if he wants you to come get him. He may be calling you when he's surrounded by friends, and he may be unable to tell you what's going on without a code word.

During the busy prom and graduation season, you might have to make difficult choices about what parties your kids attend. It can be hard to tell your child "no" when she wants to go to the party that "everyone" is going to. You may wonder if your rules are too tough.

It's okay to be tough when it comes to protecting your kids from underage drinking. Underage drinking is a key factor in the two leading causes of teenage deaths: car accidents and fatal injuries.⁴ It also is linked to two-thirds of all sexual assaults and date rapes of teens, and it increases the chance of contracting HIV or sexually transmitted diseases.⁵ So, go ahead, be tough on underage drinking, and be on the lookout for risky situations during end-of-the-school-year parties.

Sources

Additional Resources

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Family Guide To Keeping Youth Mentally Healthy & Drug Free. Effects of Alcohol, last referenced 4/28/2006.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Family Guide To Keeping Youth Mentally Healthy & Drug Free. Alcohol Use by Children, last referenced 4/28/2006.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Family Guide To Keeping Youth Mentally Healthy & Drug Free. Alert: Teens and Underage Drinking, last referenced 4/28/2006.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Start Talking Before They Start Drinking, last referenced 4/28/2006.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Too Smart To Start, last referenced 4/28/2006.

Created on 6/12/06