Parents often say to their children that they either don’t understand why they act they way they do, dress the way they dress, and talk they way they talk. It makes sense to the parents but the children don’t really understand. Parenting a child based on the rules and regulations of a past generation can often lead to miscommunication between parents and their kids. Understanding the world that youth grow up in today is the best way to help parent a child through a tough time or hard decisions.

Drinking is one the scariest aspects of middle school and high school that parents have to deal with. Will they drink tonight? Will they drive? Are they going to ruin their life? Or worse, will they die? These are all legitimate questions and understanding a little about youth and the troubles they face will help to stop them from making dangerous decisions.

Why Children Drink

1. Peer Pressure- Students learn about peer pressure from a very young age, but it still affects a large majority of them. It’s easy to see peer pressure when it happens to someone else, but the peer pressure can also be very subtle and is why most youth give in. Understanding that children drink and building up their self confidence and independence is an effective way to help stop the chances of them feeling pressured into drinking.

2. Depression- Middle school and high school kids have hormones that are raging out of control. Often it’s hard for them to understand or make sense of the way they feel. Shutting down and turning to drinking is one way that youth sometimes deal with that depression. Talking to them and letting them know they have a strong support is a great way to help them beat or understand depression.

Understanding why children drink can help parents give them the tools to stop.