Don’t introduce teens to alcohol

• Reprints

Updated: February 19, 2012 8:03AM

Dr. Wallace: Recently, the parents of a 17-year-old son were teaching him how to drink alcohol sensibly at home, so he wouldn’t learn how to drink outside the home with his friends. You blew a gasket saying that they were doing their son a huge disfavor. Sir, may I tell you that you were 100 percent incorrect. If all parents would teach their teens to drink sensibly and to become responsible social drinkers, we would have fewer adult problem drinkers, which would mean fewer alcohol-related accidents, fewer alcoholics, fewer alcohol-related family problems and fewer alcohol-related crimes.

When teens don’t learn how to drink sensibly with parental guidance, they learn from their peers and that can be troublesome.

Father, Cedar Lake

Father: I strongly disagree with parents introducing alcohol to their children. I believe they are making a serious mistake. Alcohol is a highly addictive drug that causes bouts of depression and has wreaked havoc on millions of American families. Instead of teaching your sons to drink, your wife and you would have done a better parenting job if you had stopped drinking completely yourselves and encouraged your sons to avoid alcohol totally.

Isn’t it possible if you didn’t teach your sons to drink, they might not be drinkers now?

Write to Dr. Wallace
at rwallace@galesburg.net