When I graduated high school I remember attending at least 5 graduation parties where alcohol was furnished to teens by parents.  To me this was unusual because it seemed like assisting young people in getting drunk and breaking the law wasn’t the most responsible send off for a group that has such a bright future ahead of them.

But, as research shows, many parents see it differently.  According to a Harris Research study, 1 in 4 parents think teens should be able to drink while at home with parents present. Additionally, new government research shows that nationwide 600,000 teens get alcohol from their parents. The belief among many adults is that since most teens will be drinking anyway, it’s better for them to do so while under adult supervision and in the safety of their own home.

However, while many parents claim that drinking is part of adolescence and this approach is merely an effort to keep teens safe and to teach them to drink responsibly, it may be doing far more damage than parents know.

According to the American Medical Association, the brain goes through dynamic change during adolescence, and alcohol can cause serious and irreversible damage to the growth of a teen’s brain. When tested, adolescent drinkers scored worse than non-users on vocabulary, general information, memory, memory retrieval and at least three other tests. Verbal and nonverbal information recall was most heavily affected, with a 10% performance decrease in alcohol users. 

In addition to the effect of alcohol on brain development, teens that have their first drink before age 15 are 25% more likely to become alcoholics than those who first drink at age 21.  What this means to parents is that while protecting their children through supervised consumption of alcohol, parents may be seriously harming teens’ development and chance at success later in life. 

So, what should parents do to prevent teens from drinking? Here are some tips from the American Medical Association:

• Take a firm stand against under-age drinking. Talk to your children about alcohol and do not condone any drinking. This firm stand will help your teens say no.

• If there is a history of alcoholism in your family, make sure that your teen knows about this and the danger it poses for him or her. 

• Make the consequences for drinking very clear, indicating that the type of consequence mirrors the seriousness of the behavior. 

• Do not allow any other teen to bring alcohol into your home and do not allow it to be served at your teen’s party. You will have to supervise and monitor the comings and goings of the other teens that might carry alcohol in via backpack, or hide it in the bushes to be retrieved later.

• If you are going out of town, do not leave teenagers unsupervised. They may be responsible and mean well, but when word gets out that parents are away, others may show up to party.

• If your child is going to a party, set firm rules about notifying you about when it is and where - get an address and phone number. Talk to the parents hosting the party beforehand to make sure that they will be there and that no alcohol will be served.

While your teen may not like these rules, and enforcing them won’t make you any more popular with your teen’s friends, it is important to remember that your role as a parent isn’t to be cool.  Instead, the job of parents is to protect their children’s health and well being and help them to become adults who are prepared to pursue their dreams and aspirations. By preventing underage drinking you are doing just that.

Mat Anderson is the Editor of The Future Paradigm and Staff Writer & Research Specialist at Bridge Ministries, Inc. His nationally syndicated newspaper column appears in the Joplin Globe.