This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more It's best top be honest when talking to your teenager about drinking (Image: Getty) According to the World Health Organisation, one in three 11-year-olds and half of 13-year-olds in England have tried alcohol – and underage drinking remains a perennial problem for many families in the UK. With the new school year under way, psychologist Rachel Coler Mulholland , counsellor and children’s mental health expert says there’s never been a better time to have a conversation with your teenager about drinking.
Here she shares her top tips for starting the conversation. Know your expectations: Think about what matters to you as a parent. Every family is different – your culture, experiences and other factors will influence what you want your family’s drinking rules to be.
Knowing what your rules are, and why you have them, makes them much easier to communicate to your teenager. Don’t lecture: Be careful not to nag – your child will tune you out. Instead, have open conversations over a period of time.
But choose the right time and place – not when they’re heading out with friends or during a disagreement about something else. function loadOvpScript(){let el=document.createElement('script');el.
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