The way you treat alcohol in your home will make a big difference in how your children or teens handle the issues. Learning how to talk to set rules about drinking at home can sometimes be difficult but that’s why we are here to give you some steps to consider or use as a guide.

1. How to talk about setting rules about drinking at home is not as hard as it may seem. What’s important is to not preach abstinence but rather give the facts. Saying abstinence means that if your teen messes up that they will be less likely to be open with you. Looking at these statistics will give you a good idea of why abstinence is definitely a good thing, it is not always plausible.

• 58 percent of eighth graders surveyed out of a student body made up of about 50,000 students, said they had already had an alcoholic drink at some point in their lives.
• Of this 58% nearly half had had a drink in the last 30 days
• 1 out of 7 eighth graders had five or more drinks in the past two weeks.

1. The next step to consider in how to talk to set rules about drinking at home is to evaluate how your family uses alcohol. Daily, or to relax? Only for special celebrations or for religious ones. Only when there’s company? Are you comfortable with the message this conveys to your family members?
2. Don’t involve your teenager in your drinking by asking her to bring you a beer or mix you a drink.
3. Should you introduce alcohol to your teen at home so they can learn of its effects? Some parents do; others feel that serving alcohol at home reduces yet one more barrier to keep them alcohol-free.
4. Lock up your liquor. While teens seem to have little trouble buying liquor, a lot of what they drink comes from someone’s home stock. If you lock it up, you don’t have to worry about your teen or their friends getting a hold of it.

Another thing to remember in how to talk to set rules about drinking at home is to emphasize no drinking and driving. One beer in the system of a teen is enough to push their alcohol level above the legal limit which for those under 21 is 0.00 or nothing at all. Any alcohol in their system is enough to suspend a license in most states.

How to talk to set rules about drinking at home can be hard but here are some more tips. Share your values with them and stress what is really important to you; you don’t want them to drink but if they do you want them to get home safe. Let them know that they can be open with you and don’t need to risk their safety because they do not want to call you. Keep open communication and let them know that they can be honest with you. Share your experiences with them and what you have learned. Stress sobriety but if that falls through stress safety.

How to talk to set rules about drinking at home can be hard because you don’t want your teen to drink but chances are they are going to make them choice for themselves and it is best if you can be there for them instead of someone they want to avoid.

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