ENFORCING CONSEQUENCES Emphasize to your child how quickly drinking can lead to dangerous results. That’s why you take underage drinking so seriously. As a parent, be ready to follow through and enforce consequences if your child violates a family agreement.
DO
• Impose a consequence if your teen violates an agreement. • Impose consequences consistently. • Be very clear about no underage drinking.
DON ’ T
• Base your actions on anger. • Impose a consequence arbitrarily, in the heat of the moment.
HIGH QUALITY AGREEMENTS A good agreement is clear and understood by all. However, parents and kids often make agreements only to have the child break them. Instead of being a true agreement, the agreement really imposes what the parent wants. Agreements are most likely to be honored when they are made in the context of high-quality relationships. High quality relationships are built on mutual trust, where both participants are confident that the other will be honest, responsible, and caring. MADD urges you to make the following agreements with your middle and high schooler: • No drinking alcohol before age 21 • No socializing in places where kids are drinking • No riding in a car with a driver who has had any amount of alcohol
Talking About Alcohol // Enforcing Consequences // High Quality Agreements
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