How one drink could change your child forever
Make Benoni’s roads and community safer by supporting the The South African Breweries in their fight to combat underage drinking.
An alarming fact is that over half of South Africa’s teens are regularly engaging with alcohol, putting their lives at risk. While you as a parent might think that your child is safe from this, chances are high that your child has experimented with alcohol. Underage drinking is not limited to any one part of society either, and is an affliction across cultures and classes, from townships to suburbia.
While many teens seem to get away with light results, the consequences of underage drinking can be devastating.
Vulnerability and exposure
Imagine your child disappearing from a party they were at, only to turn up the next day after having been raped or brutally assaulted. How about having to pick them up from a prison cell where they spent the night after being found walking around the most dangerous part of town. It could be worse: You could be visiting them in the ICU ward of a hospital after they’d been involved in a car accident. Underage drinking makes teens vulnerable to assault, robbery, rape and in many circumstances, death. More life-changing consequences could include unwanted pregnancies, life threatening sexually transmitted diseases and HIV Aids.
Underage drinking and the link to drugs and crime
Statistics show that teens that use alcohol are more likely to be involved in violent crime and experiment with drugs. In fact, research shows that 67% of teens who drink before the age of 15 will go on to use illegal drugs. They are 22 times more likely to use marijuana, and 50 times more likely to use cocaine.
Mental development during the formative years
During their teen years, youths’ brains are still growing. Alcohol can negatively affect the brain’s development and can create long lasting damage to brain cells and neural pathways.
The teenage years are generally a difficult time as young adults struggle with issues of social acceptance, confidence, independence and their futures. While many drink to escape their frustration, anxiety and problems, the consequences of underage drinking can bring another set of troubles and leave their own emotional scars. On top of this, studies have shown a strong connection between binge drinking, school dropouts and low academic aspirations.
It goes without saying that anyone who drinks alcohol needs to be physically and emotionally mature.
But it’s not all doom and gloom
Today’s teenagers are exposed to more media messages and information than ever before, but it’s still their friends and family that have the most powerful influence on their lives and behaviour.
As a parent, the issue of underage drinking presents an opportunity for you to open up a conversation with your child. Experts recommend a good age for this is around 10 to 11 years old, though they’re learning from your behaviour from their earliest memories.
Opening up the conversation need not be difficult. Indeed, it can be a good opportunity to get to know your child better! Well known South African parenting blogger Chicken Ruby made a fun experience out of it and took her teenage son for a Segway outing at Sun City. Other ideas for such experiences could include cooking together, going for a walk in the park or visiting a museum or market together. It’s important that this conversation take place in a relaxed and safe environment where your child feels confident in sharing their thoughts.
You’ll find good advice on opening up the conversation, as well as dealing with other issues around underage drinking, on the SAB 18+ page. Their guides cover topics such as hosting social gatherings for teens, how to empower teens to deal with peer pressure and how to tackle difficult conversations around alcohol abuse.
These are all available to download for free from www.sabstories.co.za.
