It is clear that a teenager's environment does have an effect on whether or not that child will drink alcoholic beverages while underage. That means that alcohol prevention should start in the home.
First, parents need to start talking to their children about alcohol use and abuse before they get to the point where they are drinking. Once they've reached the age of adolescents, they're much less likely to listen to what their parents say. Studies show that the younger a child is when parents start discussing the dangers of underage alcohol and drug use, the more likely they'll be not to partake in that activity.
Children grow and mature at different rates and it's sometimes hard for a parent to know when the time is right to bring up the subject. The best way is to make it part of normal conversation. If you single out a particular time to have "the talk", it'll make your child feel like it's more of a taboo subject rather than just talking about it when you're driving in the car or clearing the dinner dishes off the table. Keeping your conversations easy will also let your child know that this is a subject you feel comfortable talking about and they can feel comfortable coming to you with questions in a non-threatening way.
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