How should parents teach teens a responsible attitude toward alcohol?
Posted on May 20th 2007 8:10AM by Lauren Greschner
There seems to be two different camps among parents when it comes to teenage drinking. There are those who, like my parents, are completely against their kids drinking before reaching the legal age limit (21 years-of-age in the United States and 18- or-19 years-of-age in Canada depending on the province). There are also parents who feel that the trick to raising a young adult with a responsible attitude toward alcohol is to allow them to have a glass of wine with dinner and make sure that if their kids are drinking, they do so at home where they can be monitored.
As Vicki wrote in a blog earlier this year, teenage drinking is on the rise making the discussion an important one. Many school districts and parent groups out there are discouraging kids from drinking at all, citing a number of valid reasons including the fact that alcohol has a different affect on their still-growing brains, as well as the greater likelihood of teens being in a deadly drunk-driving accident.
Still, there are those that think allowing teens to drink at home is the answer and the study reported on here backs this up, reporting that teens who drink at home are less likely to binge drink. I admit that I don't know which of these is the right answer. I don't know if there even is a right answer. So what does everyone out there think? What was your experience growing up?












