Handling College Student Drinking Part 1
by Dr. Coach Love
Our son is 19 1/2 and away at college. We know he’s been drinking and feel it’s a bad idea for him. When we tried to talk to about it, all we get back from him is that it’s his choice and he is an adult. We cannot allow him to drink and are quite worried he is. Is there anything we can do? It is almost gotten to the point where he won’t even talk to us.
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Unfortunately, drinking on college campuses is a serious concern for college officials (and parents alike). Underage drinking college on campuses occurs despite the likelihood that most college students today have had some type of alcohol education by parents or even before high school. If this is true for your son, then educating him to the dangers of underage drinking and expressing your disapproval is probably, well, —‘been there, done that’—ineffective.
(For more discussion, education, prevention, and intervention tips follow the links at the end of this post.)
So what can you do and how can you talk to your son? Keeping silent and doing nothing is usually not the answer for most parents. There are several options for you to consider. Here’s the first one.
1. Contact College Personnel
You may want to start by contacting the appropriate personnel at your son’s college. Learn everything you can about what steps the institution is taking to prevent and reduce drinking among its underage students. Find out what education/counseling resources are available.
Even though he may not want to listen, provide college student-targeted information, respectfully, to your son. When you use a respectable tone and manner, you increase the possibility that he will take in what you are saying.
Heavy-handed approaches by parents with college students generally are a signal to the adolescent to stop listening. So— after you deliver the info—LET-IT-GO. (But follow-up from a distance and keep your eyes and ears open and your judgmental voice shut.)
Check back for lots more options and discussion. What do you think???
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Regards,
Dr. Coach Love
(NOTE: The issue of family heredity and alcoholism is beyond the scope of this blog. Please contact a professional mental health addiction specialist if this is your concern.)
MORE INFO LINKS: Archives- 5/13/08, 5/18/08, 5/19/08, 5/23/08,
11/06/08, 11/14/08, 11/20/08
Lists- 7 Intervention Tips for Underage Drinking,
9 Prevention Tips for Underage Drinking
Quizzes- Teen Drinking Choices,
Underage Drinking
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v Questions selected will be edited as needed to reflect privacy,
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v Sorry, Dr. Coach Love is unable to offer any personal advice through this blog.
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© Copyright 2008 P.H. Pickett, Ph.D. All rights reserved.
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