teenage drinking

[spiderman6]

Hi 

I have a daughter turning 14 this month and she has just started to drink alcohol she has been honest and open with it. There are so many views on teenage drinking I'm pretty relaxed and believe you are better of knowing what your teen is up too rather than being lied to. Some advice would be helpful.

Cheers Lea

[Janine-RO]

Hi @spiderman6 , 

Welcome to the ReachOut Parents community forums, it's really nice to have you here. 

You're right when you say there's a huge amount of different views about teenagers and drinking alcohol. It's great that you and your daughter have an open and honest relationship and that she feels safe telling you what she's been up to. 

This page has a lot of evidence-based information about how to deal with risky behaviour in teens, along with some ideas of how to talk to your teen about setting acceptable boundaries, and most importantly staying safe. Though it is really common, it's also important to remember that alcohol use does carry a lot of risks for teens, both in terms of the damage that can occur to their body if they drink too much, and risks that come from having lowered inhibitions and taking place in other high risk activities when affected by alcohol. The second page I've linked to also has a lot of information about why teens drink, and how to set reasonable boundaries with them around them drinking if it doesn't seem likely that they will abstain altogether. 

 Risky Behaviour in teens 

Alcohol use and teenagers 

I hope you find the information here helpful - this is a really common concern for parents of teenagers, and it's fantastic that you have a strong relationship with your daughter where she's been honest with you around what's happening. 

I'm also going to tag in a few of our parent community members - you're definitely not alone in questioning how you're going to deal with teenagers drinking and hopefully some more input from other parents can be helpful too  

@Dadof4kids  @compassion  @sunflowermom