Raising Teens: teen drinking

We caught up with the ace Luci Hammond from ru-ok? today to talk about parenting and the challenges of teenage drinking. Ru-ok? offers free confidential advice, guidance, support and information on drugs, alcohol and sexual health for under 18s in Brighton & Hove, their parents / carers or concerned others.

Daisy and Luci spoke about how to broach the difficult topic of alcohol, of safe limits and how to deal with peer pressure and shame. You can watch the full discussion below.

Luci told us about some fascinating research from the University of Brighton and Drink Aware that looked at “what makes for effective conversations about alcohol between parents and their 15-17 year olds”. It includes some excellent advice, such as:

Modelling behaviour – recognising how parents can influence a child’s attitude to alcohol, and the benefit of having open conversations about drink

Managing that first invitation to a party by checking in with other parents and talking to your child about strategies to prevent harm.

When and how to start a conversation about alcohol – being open and honest and having small, informal chats that could be related to TV soaps or when you’re doing the shopping often take the heat out of the interaction and helps to demystify alcohol for young people.

⭐️ You can see all the discussions from our series and find where to get help and support here: Raising Teens Live: Families and Alcohol

Help and advice

If you need support or information, take a look at our Help page on Alcohol and Drugs.

You can find ru-ok here: www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/ru-ok

Next week

Next week’s Facebook Live is on Thursday 17th June, and we’ll be tackling the thorny issue of adult drinking and how a parent’s behaviour might affect our teens. Join us on our Make (Good) Trouble Facebook Page or our Raising Teens Facebook Group.

If you have a question, please leave a comment below.