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  Roanoke, VA 24018
  Phone: 540- 772-4341

Five Ways Parents Can Prevent Teenage Drinking

• Talk with your children about your family's history of alcohol or drug use. There's a genetic component to alcoholism, and kids should know if they're at greater risk of problems.
• Give your children one-on-one time with the pediatrician. Think of it as their lesson in how to navigate the healthcare system.
• Set a firm policy: No alcohol until age 21. Use the new research on the teenage brain to explain that this is about keeping those brains safe.
• Never host a teenage party with drugs or alcohol. The liability is enormous if one of those kids goes out and drives and kills himself, or others.
• Be a Role Model to your kids how to use alcohol responsibly; have a beer, sure, but don't get drunk. Current federal dietary guidelines call for no more than one drink a day for women, two for men.