Plans with adolescent children to prevent alcohol consumption
Parents are the figure in which every child looks at himself from a young age. What they do, will be imitated in one way or another by the children. A very clear example is found in attitudes such as the consumption of alcohol, which in many cases is transmitted as a fun activity to children even if they do not want to send a message.
Family meals, a drink at the end of the day, alcohol It is exposed to children as an element of fun or evasion in an unconscious way. Therefore, as proposed by this study published in The Lancet The best way to prevent the intake of these drinks from an early age is the example, making a responsible consumption of these substances at all times.
Presence of alcohol at home
This study compared several cases of alcohol consumption in adolescents and the image that this drink had at home. The data showed that those young boys that they came from houses where the parents made a moderate consumption and did not exceed their children, they had less chance of abusing it at an early age and even declared not having tried it.
The researchers highlighted that adolescents from homes where alcohol consumption was not moderate, parents usually yielded to requests from their children who wanted to try these drinks. In fact, those responsible for this research stress that the first contact of many children with these substances occurs within the family: family dinners, Christmas meals or just a regular lunch where there is a bottle of wine present.
Minors are curious about that drink their parents and that they can not, therefore they ask to try it and many adults give in to this situation thinking that nothing happens. But the message given to children is that nothing happens because of these intakes and that their parents tolerate them to drink, implying that there are no consequences.
Healthier alternatives
As the authors of this study indicate, it is always better to carry out a alternative healthier with the children than to present the consumption of alcohol as fun. This is a list of activities that can be done with children and with which to teach healthier values:
- Outings to nature. Going to nature is an excellent idea to enact values. On the one hand children will learn the importance of taking care of the environment and that other generations can continue to enjoy these landscapes, on the other hand they will also encourage exercise and the benefits of family time.
- Cinema Day. Any movie premiere? Nothing better than a day at the cinema to enjoy the seventh art and everything that surrounds it, a round day that can be used to dialogue as a family and thus decide what to see. Of course, the debate back home about what has been learned with this film should not be absent.
- Cocktails without alcohol. Not all cocktails are alcohol and the days in which the whole family meets parents can bet on them to show that there are non-ethyl drinks that can ensure fun as well.
- Concerts and theaters. In the same way as movies, these artistic expressions can be a great alternative to alcohol consumption. There are children's concerts and works for children, both original stories and adaptations of classics.
- Scape rooms. You advise especially for parents of adolescent children, at these ages that already have a greater intellectual development can be invited to participate with parents in these rooms that propose a challenge that must be solved to find the way out. An excellent idea to collaborate among all in the attainment of this end.
Damián Montero
