Teenage Alcoholism Who Is At Risk? Never Give Up On Your Teenager

Can teenagers even really become alcoholics?

To some people the possibility might seem impossible.

But teenage alcoholism is an unfortunate reality. Even teenagers as young as thirteen have succumbed to the devastation of alcoholism.

 How prevalent is this problem?

Sadly, it is not a rarity for teenagers to become alcoholics. Parents might assume that all children try drinking at some point but that there is no real danger of addiction with youth. Some parents even condone their teenagers drinking at home.

It is common for parents to prefer that their teenagers drink at home in order to minimize the amount of danger associated with the consumption of alcohol. They assume that if their teenagers are under parental supervision rather than drinking elsewhere, they are less likely to be taken advantage of or to make serious, potentially life altering mistakes such as driving while intoxicated.

Many parents allow teenage drinking in the home because they feel that it is the only way to protect teenagers who are going to drink somewhere regardless of whether or not they have permission.

Allowing your kids to drink at home can actually harm them.

This way of thinking is a big mistake and is actually harmful to teenagers. If parents enforce strict rules against drinking alcohol and monitor where their children go and what they do, it is extremely more beneficial to teenagers than allowing them to drink in the home. It is true that it is impossible to be there to protect one’s children every moment of every day, but parents can instill lasting values into their children that will sustain them throughout adolescence and into adulthood.

There are also other ways that teenagers can obtain alcohol. Sympathetic older friends or family members might procure the alcohol for them. Teenagers are innovative and always concocting plans to obtain what they desire.

It’s true that some teenagers only experiment with alcohol, but it is becoming a widespread phenomenon that the number of teenage alcoholics is drastically on the rise.

Why is this happening? 

 For one thing, as previously touched upon, many parents are lax about teenage drinking. But that does not account for all teenage alcoholism.

Teenagers find themselves in that delicate position of no longer being a child but not yet having the rights and freedoms associated with adulthood. Their bodies are changing and they feel that they are more mature than the world gives them credit for.

By this point in life, they are capable of so many things and long to have the freedoms of adulthood. While they long for the freedoms, rights, and respect that they feel are all parts of adulthood, they fail to realize how much responsibility and stress are associated with adulthood. Teenagers tend to want the benefits of being adults without taking on or even recognizing the responsibility that is part of being an adult.

Because of these feelings of being trapped in an adult body and yet restricted by childhood rules and regulations, many teenagers attempt to partake in activities that are legally reserved for adults, such as drinking alcohol and having sex. By doing so, they feel that they are proving that they are no longer children and that they are demanding their acceptance into the world of adults.

When teenagers take part in these kinds of activities, only then are they exposed to substances that they would not otherwise experience. Some of them find that consuming alcohol makes it easier to cope with the caged feeling of being a teenager.

Some of them feel that they are more creative when they are under the influence of alcohol. Others find that it is an escape from reality. While parents might feel that their children have everything they could possibly want or need and that the children have no reason to be unhappy, their teenagers perceive life differently.

Teenagers often feel that they are treated unfairly or that their parents do not understand them. Some teenagers become completely convinced that their parents are the enemy and are only there to prevent them from having any type of fun. Teenage reality and parental reality are two totally different worlds.
Something about being a teenager makes one feel either invincible or completely lost. While their bodies are going through extreme chemical and hormonal changes, their brains respond accordingly. The child that once loved and depended on their parents for everything suddenly seems to be a completely new and different person. Everything their parents did to care for them in the past seems to dissolve into nothing as teenagers analyze every aspect of life and begin to be judgmental about their parents.

All of these changing emotions that teenagers experience contribute to the likelihood that if they begin to experiment with alcohol they will become alcoholics. Not all of them will succumb to alcoholism, but many teenagers find alcohol to be that needed escape from reality that they have been searching for.

Once a teenager tries a substance and finds that it has such mood enhancing effects, they are likely to resort to that substance again and again as they go through the natural changes of adolescence. Alcohol is a substance that is easily attainable. It is no wonder that so many teenagers are becoming alcoholics.
It is very sad when people so young are stricken with an addiction. These people who have bright futures ahead of them can easily find themselves addicted to alcohol and all of their options suddenly seem to converge into one path—one path leading to where and how to obtain their next fix of alcohol.

It does not matter what level of society a person comes from. Nor does prominence or family name make any difference. Teenagers of every walk of life are susceptible to the woes of teenage alcoholism.
People with money have problems. People without money have problems. Every teenager goes through so many changes and there is always something in their lives that they wish to escape from.

Waking Call for Parents and Guardians

It is important for parents to realize that their child is not immune from the dangers of alcoholism for any reason. Parents tend to think that teenagers go through phases and will make it through eventually without much intervention. But if alcohol gets its grip on a teenager, it is not going to be a simple stage of growing up.

Another mistake that parents commonly make is that once their children reach that independent age, parents cease to be as involved in their lives as they once were. Some parents feel that the hardest part of their job as a parent is accomplished. That is far from the truth.

The days of raising infants are actually fairly easy when compared to the challenges of raising teenagers. It is an important and impressionable age at which parental attention and intervention is necessary to their smooth transition into adulthood.

Denial Will Do NO Good

Parents must be aware of the dangers of teenage alcoholism and avoid practicing denial. No matter how intelligent, bright, and outgoing the child was in the past, the danger is real and parents must remain diligent in their resolve to help their teenagers make it through this confusing time in life. A parent must never give up on a child no matter how rocky the road becomes.