Protecting Your Teen from the Dangers of Alcohol

Drinking games have been around for decades. The most popular being Quarters, can even be nostalgic for 40-somethings while reflecting back on their college days. What some people may not be aware of is that these games are becoming more popular with high school students each year. These games may seem like fun to teens, but often they lead to alcohol poisoning.

An important item to focus on is just because your liquor cabinet may be locked, doesn't mean other parents do the same. Some of your children are drinking on weekends, and they're getting the alcohol from unattended liquor cabinets and wet bars at friends' homes. Children are crafty, and can conceal things from us, even if we are looking for the signs.

Tougher laws state-to-state are designed to force convenience and liquor stores to crack down on checking identification, in effort to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors, but many teenage alcoholics are getting their drink of choice at home - or making friends with older crowds to buy the alcohol for them.

The new wave of drinking games revolves around television shows we watch just about every day of the week. One of the more popular drinking games is the CSI: Miami game. Everyone participating has an alcoholic beverage of their choice in front of them, and CSI: Miami on the television. Each time Horatio Caine takes off his sunglasses, everyone has to take a drink. If you've watched a few episodes yourself, you know that's often enough to be drunk within the hour-long program time frame. Some variations include, each time Horatio makes a pun, or puts his sunglasses back on.

Another popular game is the American Idol drinking game. Each time Simon Cowell insults someone, all players have to drink. Variations to this game can be switched around to each time Paula Abdul defends someone, or makes a snide comment to Simon. Many of these games go unnoticed, because parents may be out for the evening if their teen has a sleep over, or they just don't check in on the teens during the evening.

We all like to think our teens make better judgment calls than to participate in drinking games. We think if our children make good grades and have friends that are all respectable clean-cut "good kids" we have nothing to worry about. That couldn't be further from the truth. Today's teens have peer pressures that many adults didn't have when they were young. Our children are faced with more pressures than we were, and it's time we take notice.

Talking to our teens may seem like a task worthy of body armor and ear plugs. While our children seem to live secretive lives, most are willing to give information indirectly that can give you a clear image as to what kinds of activities their age group is involved in. For example, if your teen isn't much of a talker, ask how many teen girls in their grade are pregnant or if they have classmates struggling with addictions. This will indirectly give you some idea of what things you need to be more aware of with your own teens.

Don't take for granted because you haven't noticed alcohol missing or condom wrappers in your home garbage pail, that your children couldn't possibly be involved in such activities. All teens are vulnerable to the peer pressure leading to these actions, and some pre-teens are even participating. With each passing year, children are doing things at younger ages.

Asking questions, even if they have to be about someone else will give us a much needed jump on looking into our own children's lives. As parents, we need to be more responsible with our homes and the contents of them. Make sure to be home on weekends that your teens have sleepovers and don't allow your children at sleepovers where adults will not be present.

Parents should also keep the lines of communication open between each other. Your teen knowing you are likely to pick up the phone and call their friends parents to clarify weekend plans may help prevent schemes some teens plan such as the old "I'm sleeping over at Suzie's house," when in reality she's going to Jenny's house, and Jenny's parents are out of town. Calling the parents and discuss sleepovers ahead of time can help remove any grey areas where we may wonder if the children will be unattended or if they will be supervised all night. If parents get involved and become accustomed to talking to each other, have more of a chance of not becoming another statistic.