Tips for Parents - Parents can Help Kids Stay Alcohol-Free

Parents who want to prevent their children from drinking. Many kids and teens try alcohol. Most children have their first alcohol at an early age, as young as 10 or 11 or even younger. This is dangerous. alcohol can cause special problem for kids and teenagers because many parts of their body are not fully grown yet. They are also more likely to develop problems with alcohol later in life. Many kids to get the wrong message about alcohol. Children are receiving powerful messages about alcohol from the media, their friends, families and from your own attitudes and behaviors. So it’s important to start discussing alcohol use and abuse with your kids at an early age and keep talking about it as they grow up. So it’s important to start discussing alcohol use and abuse with your kids at an early age and keep talking about it as they grow up. The effect alcohol abuse Alcohol is a kind of drug and you can become addicted to it. alcohol slows the brain’s activities and the activity of the spinal cord. alcohol also changes the way people feel. A small amount of alcohol often makes people talk more or makes them feel happy or relaxed. But drinking too much can make a person feel angry or unhappy. The more they drink, the worse their behavior can get. Many accidents are caused by those who decide to drink and drive cars, boats, ships, planes or trains. Driving is a big problem when alcohol is involved. Even small amounts of alcohol can reduce coordination, slow reflexes, and lead to overconfidence. Alcohol is a factor in half of all highway fatalities and one-third of all highway injuries. Steps to help children stay alcohol free: 1. Talking to Kids About Alcohol. Children benefit from healthy, open communication with their parents and other significant adults. Shutdown or failure to communicate leaves children isolated and vulnerable. 2. Listen carefully. Parents who listen as well as speak—and when they speak, do so with respect and kindness, instead of preaching and ordering—have a stronger rapport with their children.rnTeach them to say “no, thanks” when the drink offered is an alcoholic one. 3. Bonding. Children who enjoy a strong sense of bonding with parents and siblings will be more inclined to communicate with them and rely upon them for guidance and support and to discuss the topic of peer pressure and their own thoughts, questions, and concerns about alcohol use. They will be more concerned about pleasing their family because of the love that is shared. 4. Establish a clear family position on drugs. Parents who transmit to their children—in a consistently loving and respectful way—a sound set of moral values help ground their children against a complex, confusing, and shifting world. Teaching a child a standard of obedience by personal example as well as precept, and by emphasizing it, helps internalize important values. 5. Be a good example. Children will do what you do much more readily than what you say. 6. Get involved with your child’s activities. Encourage your children to participate in supervised groups, clubs, and events that are challenging, fun, and alcohol free. 7. Buid Self-esteem. Children who possess high self-esteem and good social and life skills are more likely to thrive in a social setting and are less likely to become involved in delinquent behavior and alcohol abuse. Parents, teachers, clergy, and community leaders should teach and provide opportunities for children to develop these important skills. 8. Discuss what makes a good friend. Teach your kids to choose friends wisely and how to form positive relationships. 9. Set the rule. Parents who engage in active rule setting and consistently fair discipline give their children a clear signal that they are valuable and that certain things are a high priority. 10. Role modeling. Parents and siblings who do not drink or drink very discreetly and modestly are set up to be stronger influences and role models for their teens for abstinence. 11. Spirituality. Parents who bequeath upon their children a strong spiritual and religious orientation and a belief system that encourages faith and hope and trust in things higher and more powerful than themselves give their children a power that is superior to any other. This faith will strengthen the spiritual resolve that controls physical appetites and helps them overcome serious challenges in their lives.