Posts Tagged ‘Parental Guidance’

Teenage Drunk Driving – How to Handle the Situation at Home?

Posted on Apr 30, 2010

What could be terrifying than a teenager driving? Maybe teenage drunk driving or even worse, your teenager drinking and driving. Imagine this scenario: your teenager goes out for good time or a movie with their friends. They should be back home at around nine o’clock, but it is already eleven-thirty and you haven’t heard from them. You hope they’re just running late but something inside leads you to believe it is something more. Finally there is a knock on the door and it is a patrolman from the local police department, lights flashing. The patrolman is standing at your door by himself and you automatically think the worst. He then informs you that you must come to the police station to pick up your teen that has been caught driving while intoxicated.

Parental Role in Teenage DUI

What do you say to your teenager on the way home? Do you try to scare him with horror stories and statistics? Do you remain silent and wait for him/her to speak? You should get the answer to these questions now! I am not going to pretend that I am an expert and I am not going to start dishing out advice. But you should be prepared. You should start reading up on all the advice that teenage parenting gurus have to offer. Also, think about some preventive measures find out about peer pressure and what going on at your teenager’s school. As a matter of fact, don’t wait until you have a teenager. Start now! Get involved in your child’s life; not just as an enabler or hoverer.

Serious Parental Choices

The enabler becomes the child’s friend and enjoys the child’s life as if they are reliving their childhood. These are the parents that buy alcohol for their child. We all know this type parent. Remember the friend that everyone would go over his house because his Mom was so cool? She would supply the drinks for you because she thought it would be safer for you to drink at her house rather than sneak off and do it. When you were over there you knew you were in for some fun!

Then there is the helicopter parent, always hovering over their kids. Never allow them enough room to grow. You knew this kid; his mother would never let him out of her sight! That didn’t help because then he would just sneak off and drink.

There are legal ramifications of having a teenager blow a .10 on a breathalyzer test or worse, wrapping his car around a telephone pole. One of his friends can wind up a paraplegic, another dead mainly due to your choices as a parent. This is serious stuff so check into it before you get there. Be a part of their lives as a parent; you’ll have time to be a friend when they are adults.

Drunk Driving, Teenage Drunk Drivers1 Comment »Drunk Driving Parental Guidance Teenage Drunk Driving

Underage Drinking and Parental Guidance

Posted on Oct 06, 2009

Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) is a serious criminal offense that can land a person behind bars. The pity in the present society is that the number of teenage DWI offender is really increasing and parents must play a dominant part to curb it. Parental Guidance curbs Alcohol Abuse Recently, studies had been conducted on 15- 16 year old UK students to see the link between parental guidance and alcohol abuse. It has been clearly proven that parental guidance has decreased the use of alcohol directly. The parents who show a more favorable and tolerant attitude towards alcohol seem to have the most affected and high substance user children. The Media Effect Vs Parental Effect The Media plays a vital role and depicts a more tolerant society towards alcohol abuse. Alcohol ads promotes interests and desire for beer toys/ brands. However, even this negative effect can be nullified and neutralized if parents provide proper guidance. How Can Parents stop Underage Drinking? Parents play the most vital role in stopping underage drinking. The recent trend of social drinking has started among school and college kids too. Parents are starting to view it as a rite of passage or a passing phase and thus, don’t try to stop them. This is a wrong attitude and you should definitely not tolerate drink/ drugs use in your child. Underage drinking should not be viewed as a part of growing up. Some parents even permit their kids to drink at home as they feel this is much safer than getting drunk at some unsafe place. But, if you give your kid alcohol and permit them to drink at home, then you are sending out wrong signals. You need to put your foot down and oppose underage drinking. Are Parents liable for Underage Drinking? Any adult (or adults, including parents!) who supply alcohol to any person who is below the age of 21 will be liable if the under-aged person is killed /injured or kills/ injures. Apart from that, parents can be held liable if underage drinking occurs at their home when they are not at home or it takes place somewhere on their property without their knowledge. Though these laws do appear stringent, they are ensuring that the kids are enjoying intoxication-free parties. Childhood is a precious time and there is so much to excite teenagers that they definitely do not need alcohol to get high. So, parents should not tolerate underage drinking. Remember, parental guidance goes a long way towards stopping alcohol abuse in children and teenagers.

Alcohol Abuse, Underage Drinking4 Comments »Alcohol Abuse Parental Guidance Social Drinking Underage Drinking