Pediatricians advise parents to start talking to their children about alcohol before they turn 10 years old. A new report showed how parents should warn their kids at a young age.
Chicago Tribune revealed that a new report released on August 31, 2015 by the American Academy of Pediatrics showed that parents and pediatricians should caution children about the consequences of drinking by the time that they are nine years old.
"Surveys indicate that children start to think positively about alcohol between ages 9 and 13 years. The more young people are exposed to alcohol advertising and marketing, the more likely they are to drink, and if they are already drinking, this exposure leads them to drink more,” the doctors stated in the report.
“Therefore, it is very important to start talking to children about the dangers of drinking as early as 9 years of age,” they continued.
The doctors cited that it is not a coincidence that the age range is also the usual period when kids start discovering substance abuse. Alcohol is the substance most frequently consumed by children and adolescents in the United States. It common use among young individuals is also related to the leading causes of serious injury and death at their age, such as homicides, suicides and vehicular accidents.
Based on the research, 21 percent of young individuals consume more than a sip of alcohol by the time they turn 13 years old. Close to 80 percent reported that they drank before graduating high school. The study also presented that 4 out of 5 teenagers claimed that their parents had the biggest influence on their decision to drink or not. About 50 percent of young people ages 12 to 14 years old who admitted that they drank reported that they have five or more drinks at a time. 65 percent of those aged 15 to 17 years old, and 72 percent of those aged 18 to 20 years old, reported that they consumed about the same amount per sitting. A previous study in 2013 showed how parental communication can significantly reduce or prevent drinking problems among teenagers.
Dr. Lorena M. Siquiera, lead author and director of Adolescent Medicine at Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University, said that children are drinking to get a buzz. Parents have to start talking to their children about the huge risks at a young age. Pediatricians and parents should present the various conditions that can result from alcohol use at their age, the New York Times stated.
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