Teen Drinking and How To Handle It

As parents many of us go through a whole gambit of phases that our teenagers go through. It's one of the toughest times of raising children, and it doesn't matter whether its boys or girls.

They each present their own special circumstances when it comes to getting through the teen years.
One of the issues that is most difficult for parents to have to deal with is alcohol and drugs.
They are two separate issues though, and sometimes it may be one or the other that becomes a problem, or even both. Dealing with the teen drinking issue has to be addressed as a problem of its own. The age will vary when it comes time for the young teen to start experimenting with it.
How you handle it is going to be critical in the final outcome. That doesn't mean to say that if the young person ends up with a drinking problem that its your fault.

You do have to face the issue though, and your approach can have an impact. Legal or not If your youngster is of legal age to be drinking, then you will have to rely on their good judgment to prevail. Hopefully you have raised them to be responsible in their decision making. Just because they are of legal drinking age, if this is something you do not allow in your home, then you should stick to these rules.

Sometimes non drinking parents will allow the kids to drink in the home, for fear that if they do it elsewhere and become intoxicated, they could be personally injured or drink and drive.
The solution is to encourage responsible drinking if the legal age is not the issue here.
Underage drinking All too often this is the bigger problem with teen drinking.

They start at a young age and it is amazing at just how easily they can gain access to it. The frustration sets in on how to deal with it.

What you don't want to do The first rule should be that you don't accept it as being a teen thing and they will out grow out of it. The second rule should be that you don't allow them to drink at home even though they are under age because this way you can keep an eye on them.
The third rule is never give up on actively tackling the problem.

Often parents become so frustrated with this problem they just give up trying to rectify it. It is a problem that can escalate into a habit, and you need to put forth every effort possible to get it to stop where it becomes an addiction and you end up with even bigger problems. What you do not want to do: Don't let them by pass the consequences.
Make it a point that they are breaking the law. Breaking the law has consequences.
If they are picked up by the law for drinking under age, let them face the consequences. If they have a fine that has to be paid, then make them pay the fine.

If they aren't working then make them earn the money. Many times the courts will give them a certain amount of days to pay the fine.
Do not pay the fine for them and then allow them to pay you back.

Make them earn the money within the time frame the court has allowed.
If they do not earn the money, then they will have to face the consequences of the courts actions for non payment. If you stick to this then you are making them face the full consequences of their actions.
Do not encourage them to drink at home or supply them with alcohol.

You are only showing them that the law means nothing, and if you do not respect it that why should they. Do your best to find out who is supplying them with the alcohol then have this individual charged.
If you do this enough times then it may not stop your youngster from drinking, but it will make it a lot more difficult to get it.
These are just a few of many steps that you can take to try and get your youngster out of the drinking mode.