Ghastly information may save a teen from the deadly consequences of alcohol intoxication
The mature people understand; they have lived and seen the deadly results of alcohol abuse, perhaps in their neighborhood, in their own family, perhaps in their own life. Most of them have learned that alcohol is as dangerous as a firearm in the hands of irresponsible, mature people, or in the hands of a teen. We have to leave the mature adult to exercise maturity when using alcohol; if they're abusive, you can be sure they've already been informed. It's the youth that we must focus our efforts in preventing them from ever using alcohol, at least while they're under age, and, more urgently, on the techniques alcohol intervention.
Youth, we all remember the rebellious heart, that fear of isolation, the need to belong. Early and late teens are when these feeling are most acute, the very moment when they are standing on the brink of what every parent prays will be a productive and joyful adulthood for their child. It is at this very moment that our teens are confronted with the temptation to indulge in alcohol. For some, it may be a mere experimentation, but for others, it is the beginning of a life of misery and shame. Once youthful experimentation become youthful excess, we have a troubled teen. If alcohol is the excess they should not be using it at all it's time for alcohol intervention, time for serious counseling, time to give them the best of yourself, for this may be your last chance.
What is it we are trying to tell our children when we must subject them to alcohol intervention? We might expound on its immediate effects on the body, on the skin, the digestive system, on the brain, but will they not think to themselves, who cares? It's my body after all. While these concerns should not be omitted, we should put our greatest emphasis on the consequences that may result from alcohol use and abuse. We have to tell them of those scarier consequences, even if these are harsh. This is information with a punch.
Is that teenager drinking and driving? Then in your alcohol intervention, show them the results, real images, of the dead and maimed victims of the drunk driver. You can actually get videos that are created just for this purpose, to scare them into realization. There are lithographs and posters that show them the physical effect, what is actually happening when they take that drink. You can show them the affects on their liver, on their brains, the ugly destruction that occurs. You can find games that are designed to teach the teen what happens when they drink. There are movies, books, a brain or fetus in a beer mug. These are graphic images, startling, frightening. There's nothing pretty about these images, but that is just the point. There's nothing pretty about alcohol abuse.
When you have to do an alcohol intervention for a teen, give them the information that might save them. Give them the ugly truth.
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