Because underage drinking poses special risks to young people and is illegal, this handbook urges parents to: • Use the strategies recommended to talk with your middle school-aged child about alcohol, even if she or he doesn’t seem interested in drinking. • Mark passages that mean the most to you and commit to regularly using what you learn here. • Practice and perform the exercises and see what beneficial changes come about. • Actively monitor your middle school student’s daily activities. • Set a family rule of no alcohol use before age 21. • Agree on consequences for breaking the no-use rule; enforce “zero-tolerance.”
A MESSAGE TO PARENTS FROM DR. TURRISI AND MADD Research shows that kids who drink are a danger to themselves, their friends, and others. For 20 years, hundreds of high quality clinical studies in the United States and Europe have shown that the sooner kids drink, the more severe the problems they face in the short and long term. Science shows that a child’s brain works differently from grown up brains. It is important to realize that no matter how mature kids act they are not simply small versions
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT MADD is grateful to Robert Turrisi Ph.D. and his colleagues at Pennsylvania State University for their partnership in this handbook. Dr. Turrisi has spent decades working with families and researching how parents can talk effectively about alcohol with their children. This handbook draws from this work and the body of scientific knowledge in the field.
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