Thursday, March 26, 2009

If you drank as a teen, your kids might, too

Do you regal your teenagers with stories about your own wild-n-crazy teenage years? If you do, a new survey suggests that you probably shouldn't.

As part of the Intel Science Talent Search competition, Chelsea Lynn Jurman, 17, a senior at Rosyln High School in New York, surveyed 123 teenagers, asking them whether they agreed or disagreed with statements such as “My parents/guardians usually know where I am on weekends or after school,” how often they drank, and whether they knew if their parents had used alcohol as teens.

The results? Not what you'd expect.

Jurman's study found that teens who thought that their parents used alcohol as kids were more likely to drink themselves. Why? Well, if their parents drank and they turned out OK, teens think, then they can drink and they'll turn out fine, too. "The perception kids create becomes the reality," Jurman says.

At Boston.com's Child Caring blog, we're discussing the survey and what it means for us as parents. Are we supposed to lie to our kids and tell them we never touched a drop before we turned 21? Gloss over our exploits? Tell them "Do as I say, not as I do?"

Are your kids old enough to experiment with alcohol? What were you like when you were their age?

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