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Aug 2016Myths About Underage Drinking That Most Adults Believe In
Posted by Drink Responsibly / in Underage Drinking / No comments yet
At an age when three out of five children have drank alcohol at least once in their life, adults have lots of queries about how underage drinking takes place and remedies for what can be done to prevent it from happening repeatedly. Our demographics and facts in place, the research community also has been trying to form a socio-psychologically construct about why and how underage drinking runs in families. Here are some common myths parents or adults believe in which may have ill influence or be of no consequence to underage drinking.
- “If you’re drinking, I’d rather have you do it at home”
Many parents try to be the first ones to introduce alcohol to their children, expecting that would stop them from drinking out alone or with bad company. This is, however not the most expected result of giving your children drinks. Research suggests children tend to drink more and sometimes irresponsibly even when their parents are the ones who guide them to drink responsibly. In addition to this, children drink more in their parents’ absence thinking they have their approval. Teens binge drink 90% of the time which being uncontrolled or unsupervised can result in accidents, sexual assaults, drunk driving or even death.
- “Kids are kids and they are going to drink!”
Well this is just bad philosophy. When three out of five children are drinking, two are still not drinking, which is to say peer pressure is a strong influence but some of the strong ones stand up against it. Parents do not have to give into peer pressure for their kids, because the results of underage drinking are profound and definitely not worth it.
- “Kids with protective kids drink the worst, because they never know how to drink and when to stop.”
Keeping your child safe and away from harmful things can never make them more vulnerable to the big bad world when they get there. Unfortunately, there is little evidence to this claim, except a research that suggests children who get reminders and claims that their parents strictly disapprove drinking alcohol have an 80% lower chance of drinking than children who have parents who never had a talk with them about the dangers of underage drinking.
- “Kids in Europe are allowed to drink at 18, so why should they wait to be 21 or 25?”
Let us get the facts straight first. It is true that kids in Europe are legally allowed to drink at 18 years of age, whereas in the US, the legal age for drinking is 21. This discrepancy has a lot to do with the European and American way of life. For instance, Europeans use public transport much more than Americans do, which gives us insight into the number of drunk-driving accidents in America versus those in Europe. As a biological rule, the decision making power of the brain (the one that says, “hey! This isn’t a good idea) doesn’t develop fully until mid-twenties, and that is really the part we want to set right before drinking.
There is an overwhelming amount of information about underage drinking that is available online which should be able to help you find a way out of the evils of underage drinking, and we hope you’d find what is perfect for your child.