There are a number of ways in which parents can lessen the effect of peer influence. Possibly one of the more important is for parents to correct the common teenage misperception that ‘all teenagers drink lots of alcohol’. This false belief leads some teenagers to feel they need to drink to excess in order to fit in with their peers. The truth is, although most teenagers have tried alcohol, only a small (but very visible) proportion drink alcohol to get drunk. It is important to provide your teenagers with objective information to prevent them from falling into this trap. For example, a media story that recently received a great deal of publicity around the country focused on the fact that ‘one out of ten Australian teenagers are binge drinkers’ – that means nine out of ten aren’t! Make your child aware of the fact that if her or she drinks alcohol responsibly or chooses not to drink then he or she is in the majority.
Excerpt from “Teenagers, Alcohol and Drugs” by Paul Dillon.
Editor Ramesh Manocha.
Unfortunately, the experience I have is not quite as rosey. It seems the majority of teenagers drink to excess and are very sociable beings. The lowering of the drinking age has clashed with the driving age, puberty and with our formal education stages. The fact that when it was 21 youth still fudged it meant they were more likely to be outside the critical age area but now when they fudge it, they are right in the centre and our laws covering this age group has not caught up. Hence we have all the rights without the responsibility and consequences. Parents are powerless and so is the law.
We can’t turn back the clock and find it interesting that even in Italy (Milan, etc) they are now looking to curb the anti-social behaviour and excess drinking of their youth. My children are caught in a bind in that they enjoy a drink but their friends are drinking and popping.