Reach Out Now: Talk with Your Fifth Graders About Underage Alcohol Use
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Reach Out Now
Your fifth grader is trying on new clothes, new friends, and new behaviors.
Could alcohol be involved in those new behaviors? About 10.8 million youths
ages 12-20 are underage drinkers,1 so fifth grade is not too early to start
talking with your child about underage alcohol use. Starting a dialogue
about underage alcohol use isn't easy, but this publication can help you and
your fifth grader get started. You may be amazed by what you learn about
your child and what your child can learn from you. The benefits of that
dialogue can last a lifetime.
Terry L. Cline, Ph.D., SAMHSA Administrator
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
You Can Make a Difference
Parents' disapproval of underage alcohol use has been identified as one
of the key reasons youths choose not to drink.2 The goal of the REACH
OUT NOW program is to prevent underage alcohol use.
Use the ideas and activities presented here as guidelines to adapt to your
own style and your own words. Remember, no one knows your child as
well as you do, and no one has more influence on your child's behavior.3
Six Key Actions
Here are six actions you
can take to help your child
make wise decisions about
alcohol use5:
• Establish and maintain
good communication with
your child.
• Get involved, and stay
involved, in your child’s life.
• Make clear rules and enforce
them with consistency and
appropriate consequences.
• Be a positive role model.
• Teach your child to choose
friends wisely.
• Monitor your child’s
activities. |
In Fifth Grade, Your Child Is at a Critical Age
Many parents feel that their 10- or 11-year-old child is too young to discuss
underage alcohol use. While it is true that most fifth graders do not drink
alcohol, some 10- and 11-year-olds have begun experimenting with it. In
one study, 9.6 percent of 12-year-olds reported using
alcohol at least once in their lifetimes. By age 13 the percentage doubles,
and by age 15 it is over 50 percent.4
Now is the time to talk about underage alcohol use. After all, your child
may already have access to alcohol and may have been faced with
making decisions for which he or she is not yet prepared. Help provide the
knowledge and understanding children need to recognize why they should
not be drinking, and help them build the practical skills to reject alcohol.
Using This Guide
This page contains facts about underage alcohol use for you
and your child and tips for talking about alcohol. Use the powerful
information below and in the suggested activities to talk with your
child about this important topic.
Facing Facts
- Most children and youths do not drink alcohol. In fact, nearly 60
percent of youths ages 12–17 have never had a drink.6
- Those who start drinking alcohol before age 15 are five times
more likely to have alcohol problems later in life than those who begin drinking at age 21 or older.7
- In a recent national survey, a little more than 60 percent of eighth
graders said alcohol was “fairly easy” or “very easy” to get.8
- It may take less alcohol to affect a young brain than
a mature one, and the effects may be different.9
Talk and Action Go Hand in Hand
As someone who cares for and about a child, you are in a position
of tremendous influence. What you do and say every day can affect
your child’s attitude about underage alcohol use.
If you provide a clear and consistent message that underage alcohol
use is unacceptable and keep lines of communication open, it is
more likely that your child will continue to look to you for advice on
this and other serious issues in the future. Regardless of whether
you drink alcohol, you can take some steps to lessen the likelihood
that your child will engage in underage alcohol use10:
- Discuss family rules about the use of alcohol. This may include a
discussion of alcohol used in religious observances.
- Make it clear that alcohol use before age 21 is unacceptable and
against the law. Explain that alcohol has many negative effects on
people of different ages, but that its effects on the developing brain and body of a person under the age of 21 are especially
harmful.
- Follow the federal recommendation that adults who drink
should limit alcohol consumption to 1–2 drinks per day.
Remember that drinking and driving don’t mix, and that the
same goes for alcohol and prescription medicine.
- Monitor alcohol kept in your home.
- Consider not serving alcohol to other adults
at child-focused events, such as graduations or birthday parties.
- Think carefully about what to tell children when they ask whether
you used alcohol as a teen. If you were an underage alcohol
user, share some of the lessons you have learned from that
experience. Be clear in explaining why underage alcohol use was
not a good idea then, and that it is not a good idea now.
If you or a family member is in recovery, now is the time to talk with
your child about the disease of alcoholism. You need to explain that
your child may be more vulnerable to developing a drinking problem
if he or she chooses to drink alcohol.
The
True/False Quiz is a tool to help you continue a discussion
about your family’s rules and consequences regarding underage
alcohol use. When talking with your child, listen first, then ask
questions. Remember to send a clear, consistent message about
underage alcohol use. The earlier you begin sharing with your
child, the more he or she will value communication with you as an
important part of life. Remember: When you talk to your child about
underage alcohol use, your child will listen.
Alcohol: A True/False Quiz
Directions
Read each statement aloud, then discuss the answers given below.
Use this as an opportunity to explain your family's rules about underage
alcohol use. Your child's teacher will use this quiz as part of a lesson about
the effects of alcohol.
1. Alcohol slows down your body and mind.
True. Alcohol can leave you unable to think, react, and make decisions as
you normally would. If you drink enough to get alcohol poisoning, your brain slows
down so much you can slip into a coma or even die.11
2. Alcohol affects different people in different ways.
True. The effects of alcohol depend on a person’s age, gender, body weight, and hereditary factors. People
can be affected by alcohol differently depending on the time of day, how much they’ve eaten, how tired they
are, and many other factors. Alcohol has a stronger effect on the bodies and brains of young people than it
does on those of an adult because young bodies are smaller and still developing.12
3. You can feel alcohol’s effects right away.
True. Alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream very quickly (within 5–10 minutes)13.
4. Beer and wine coolers are as harmful as other forms of alcohol.
True. Beer and wine coolers are just as harmful to the developing
brains of children as other forms of alcohol. There is
about the same amount of alcohol in a 12-ounce can
of beer as there is in a mixed drink that contains 1.5
ounces of hard liquor, a 5-ounce glass of wine, or a
wine cooler.14
5. Some of the signs that a person has a problem
with alcohol are15:
• Believing that alcohol is necessary to have fun.
• Lying about how much alcohol he or she is using.
• Forgetting what happened while drinking.
• Getting drunk on a regular basis.
True. You can and should help by encouraging the
person to stop drinking and to seek professional help.
Families: Take Action
Role-Play Healthy Decisions
In the activity below, you and your fifth grader will role-play ways of
refusing alcohol. Finding creative ways to say “No” requires lots of practice.
Begin a discussion with your child about making healthy decisions by sharing
some of the ways that you make decisions. Examples of your decision-making
process might include getting the facts, considering options, telling others
your decision, and accepting their responses. Ask how your child makes up his
or her mind about important issues. Then discuss ways of politely but firmly
refusing when someone asks your child to do something he or she has decided
not to do. Help him or her to practice these four techniques for saying “No”:
• Repeat: “No, I don’t want to.” “No, thanks.” “No, I can’t.”
• Justify: “I can’t. I have to ___.” (Make an excuse.)
• Substitute: “No, let’s ___.” (Substitute another activity.)
• Walk Away: “No. I have to go.”
ROLE-PLAYING
ACTIVITY
Use the following role-playing situations as a springboard to encourage your
child to practice saying “No.” You may want to play the role of the “friend,” with
your child speaking as himself or herself. These situations are only suggestions.
You may want to use or add examples that are relevant to your life and that of
your child.
• Friend: “Let’s go bike riding.We’re not going far, so we don’t
need helmets.”
Resources
Federal Government Organizations
National Organizations
|
•
Your Child: _____________________________
•
Friend: “Let’s hitchhike to the mall. Lots of kids do it. We’ll be
back before anyone knows we’re gone.”
•
Your Child: _____________________________
•
Friend: “I got this beer from the basement. Here, try it.”
•
Your Child: _____________________________
Help your child envision the worst thing that could happen if he or she says “No.”
Encourage your child to discuss his or her worries and concerns. Is he or she
afraid of being embarrassed? Of losing a friend?
“CREATE A FAMILY
CALENDAR“ ACTIVITY
If you don’t already do so, start keeping track of family schedules
on one calendar. Post the calendar on the refrigerator or in another
prominent spot and ask each family member to keep it current by
updating his or her upcoming activities. A calendar can help you
monitor your child’s activities and stay involved. Make a point of
discussing with your child the details of his or her schedule—the
where, when, what, and with whom—for every activity. It is much
easier to establish rules and routines when your child is in fifth
grade than it is when your child is 16 or 17, in high school,
and able to drive.
1, 4, 6, 7. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2006. 2, 3, 10. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA),
Make a Difference: Talk to Your Child About Alcohol, revised 2006. 5. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (SAMHSA/CSAP), Keeping Youth Drug Free, 2004. 8. Reporting on Monitoring the Future 2006 survey results: Johnston, L. D., O’Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Schulenberg, J. E.,
Teen drug use continues down in 2006, particularly among older teens; but use of prescription-type drugs remains high, University of Michigan News and Information Services, Ann Arbor, MI. Available: http://www.monitoringthefuture.org.
9, 12. White, A.M., and Swartzwelder, H.S., “Age-related Effects of Alcohol on Memory and Memory-related Brain Function in Adolescents and Adults,” Recent Developments in Alcoholism, vol. 17: 161–176, 2005. 11, 13, 15. The National Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health, “Alcohol Use,” Medline Plus, 2006.
14. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Alcoholic Beverages,” Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005, 2005.