Day: Alcohol abuse in teens

I recently finished my 6th year teaching health at Aspen High School. Through a class project looking at data from the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, my students and I have identified an area of concern regarding alcohol abuse in teens. Furthermore, the issue is compounded by the parent and community attitudes surrounding teen alcohol consumption in our town.

As a teacher and parent in this town, I hear of parents allowing their children to drink at their houses, not giving any consequences for under-age drinking, and lying for their children to protect them from the consequences of their alcohol-related behaviors. Teenagers have been caught drinking in restaurants, in our open spaces, camping, and at peoples’ homes in our small town, too often.

When you lie or make excuses to protect teenagers from the consequences of breaking rules, you are only setting them up to have to face the more painful, natural consequences of teen alcohol abuse — sexual assault, drunk driving accidents, alcohol poisoning to name a few.

My students easily identified the issue but struggled with solutions. That is because they are young. As adults with fully-developed brains who understand the dangers of teen alcohol consumption, we must help our teens to safely navigate adolescence by setting appropriate boundaries around alcohol.

Parents and local law enforcement, please implement stricter consequences for underage drinking. Aspen High School administration is doing a great job on this front. Keep it up, and community, please support them.

Shannon Day

Aspen