Underage Drinking – New eBook Offers Conversation Starters

Underage drinking – how do you talk about it with your teen and what should you say?

Underage Drinking – This New eBook Offers a Host of Conversation Starters for Ongoing Talks With Your Teens

According to The Partnership at DrugFree.org, the MOST influential person in a child’s decision to drink (or use drugs) is their parent. “90% of addictions start in the teen years,” reports The Partnership. “Cut the risk in half by talking to your kids.”

But often it’s difficult to know what to say. Parents wonder, “Don’t all teens drink?” Or they believe, “It’s important to teach my teen to drink
before s/he goes off to college.” Or they are concerned about how it sounds to their teen, “I don’t want you to drink. It’s okay that I do because I’m an adult [and their teen is 18].” Or they may recall their own high school drinking experiences and feel hypocritical telling their teen not to drink.

I wrote my latest book (published as an eBook), Crossing The Line From Alcohol Use to Abuse to Dependence: Debunking Myths About Drinking Alcohol That Can Cause a Person to Cross the Line, to provide the science in a conversational tone that debunks the myths that get people into trouble with drinking. I wrote it as a place from which to start conversations about the myriad of issues around drinking. Myths relevant to conversations with teens about underage drinking, include:

Myth 2: A Drink is A Drink
Myth 3: Throwing up, drinking coffee, taking a cold shower or walking around the block will sober a person up.
Myth 4:  Eating a big meal absorbs the alcohol and drinking lots of water dilutes it so a person can drink more and not get drunk.
Myth 5: Some people can just hold their liquor better than others
Myth 6: The best thing to do for a drunk friend is to let them sleep it off.
Myth 7: People who get DUIs (DWIs) had to know they were too drunk to drive.
Myth 12: Teens are too young to be alcoholics, and besides, all teens drink at some point.
Myth 13: Do like the Europeans and lower the drinking age – that’ll take care of the problem of underage drinking.

If you are like me and have (had) never read an eBook or you do you own an eBook Reader, nowadays you can download FREE apps to read a particular eBook version (Kindle or Nook, as examples) from just about any device (iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, Android, BlackBerry….). The two eBook versions available now are the Kindle and the Sony — others will follow in the next 2-4 weeks. To purchase, you download the free app to your reading device (phone, computer, tablet), first, and then you purchase the book. I’ve provided links below:

For the KINDLE (Amazon) version ($3.99):

Lisa Frederiksen

Lisa Frederiksen

Author | Speaker | Consultant | Founder at BreakingTheCycles.com
Lisa Frederiksen is the author of hundreds of articles and 12 books, including her latest, "10th Anniversary Edition If You Loved Me, You'd Stop! What you really need to know when your loved one drinks too much,” and "Loved One In Treatment? Now What!” She is a national keynote speaker with over 30 years speaking experience, consultant and founder of BreakingTheCycles.com. Lisa has spent the last 19+ years studying and simplifying breakthrough research on the brain, substance use and other mental health disorders, secondhand drinking, toxic stress, trauma/ACEs and related topics.
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2 Comments

  1. Cathy Taughinbaugh | Treatment Talk on April 9, 2012 at 1:42 pm

    Hi Lisa,

    Good information on how to talk to your children. The more that parents know and understand about their influence over their teens, they more likely they are to use this influence to promote a healthy lifestyle. I love your list of myths. This is a good way to let go of denial and deal with the facts of teen drug abuse. Thanks for sharing.

    • Lisa Frederiksen on April 9, 2012 at 3:32 pm

      Thank you, Cathy!I hope it can help jump-start these very important conversations.

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