Addressing Alcohol Use

Alcohol use is a very important issue that you have to talk about with your children. They are taught about it at school but they need to be taught about it before then by you. You are responsible for them and need to take on that responsibility by talking to them about alcohol and everything else important before your children learn about it from someone else. There are many things that you need to bring up when addressing alcohol use with your children. Here are some tips for doing so.

First, standards should be set and taught at early ages. That way your child will know what is expected, and you can talk about how to avoid it and other adult issues when they get older. Standards should be set early on and when they are first really understanding things. Children will see alcohol on television and in the stores. If you drink, they will see you drinking and will want some. You can’t give it to them, and they will want to know why.

Let your children know exactly what you think about alcohol and what you expect from them. They need to learn to respect you and they need to be taught what is right and wrong from you. Every family has a different way to address alcohol because the standards aren’t set for everyone around the world. Let them know what you think and that other families have different rules, but that your children are to follow your family’s rules.

Tell your children about the dangers of alcohol. Tell them about the diseases and the problems associated with alcohol. Obviously this isn’t something you should do when they are too young to understand, so tell them when they are a little bit older. Many national polls say that the average age a person tries alcohol is eleven years old. It has to be done before they start getting curious. Watch your child and tell them about alcohol before they get curious. Children are extremely smart and notice things that you are trying to hide or ignore. They will just want to know about it more.

Tell your child about the diseases that people get. Let them know that alcohol is highly addictive and can really ruin a person’s life. You really need to explain and go into detail about it. They will learn things from school, but the teacher’s views might not be the same as yours. Alcohol use should be taught by you the parent and not a teacher at school. Children don’t always have the proper respect for teachers and so they may not really care or pay attention to the teacher.

Children get confused about a lot of things. They need guidance from their parents. They also need to know where to go if they are having a problem or if they need to talk to someone about a friend having a problem. Spend time with your children and really build a stronger bond with them. It will encourage communication and respect for each other.