Signs That Your Teen Is Drinking Alcohol
Alcohol is harmful to health and is even more harmful when young people consume it. Although the stereotype of the alcoholic is often described as a middle-aged or adult person, alcoholism among teenagers has always been a big problem and is becoming more and more prevalent.
As a mother, it is recommended that, if you consider that this happens with your child, you take into account the following article, in which we are going to show you some signs that can confirm that your adolescent child drinks alcohol.
The first thing you should know is that adolescents, in most cases, consume alcohol to disconnect from the pressures they suffer at this stage or to have fun, and not as a result of an addiction .
In fact, the need to discover the symptoms, coupled with peer group pressure, make alcohol one of the most widely used drugs at this stage of personal growth.
Certainly, the vulnerability of being a teenager is a huge factor in early alcoholism. Although many parents believe that their children have not tried alcohol, the reality is that most adolescents have had their first experiences. Therefore, it is interesting to discover the signs that confirm that your adolescent drinks alcohol.
How can you tell that your teenager is drinking alcohol?
1. Difficulty getting up in the morning or sudden flu
First of all, one of the signs that your teen is drinking alcohol is that after spending the night with friends, he may have a hard time getting up in the morning. This simply means that you should be on the lookout for signs of a hangover.
For example, if you suddenly have the flu after going out, it may be another clue that you are trying to hide a clear hangover state.
2. School problems
School problems are another sign that your teen is drinking alcohol. This means that if your child has never had any school problems to date and has even gotten good grades, it is possible that this sudden change in results is due to an external cause of this type.
Possibilities you should handle include that your child may have started drinking alcohol and lost interest in school. In these cases, poor performance is one of the clearest and most obvious consequences.
In this sense, a direct and preventive conversation about the effects that alcohol has on health can be the best ally.
3. Mood swings
On the other hand, mood swings can become one of the symptoms that determine that your child has changed his lifestyle or has included bad habits in his routine.
Certainly, general changes in personality are a clear sign that something happens. However, these behavioral transformations are not always easy to identify, as adolescents evolve rapidly during this stage.
For that reason, you should be attentive to mood swings and see if you detect behavior or attitudes that are not habitual.
4. Appearance change
Lastly, many teens change their appearance of their own free will. However, excessive alcohol consumption causes weight loss and general physical deterioration.
It can even translate into a loss of interest in maintaining good physical appearance. For this reason, if you consider that his weight is decreasing and he no longer cares how he looks, this may be one of the indicators that your teenager is drinking alcohol.
Finally, remember that, in addition to taking into account the above signs, it is vitally important that you talk with your child about alcohol and the risks associated with its consumption in an honest and direct way. All of the above problems can be multiplied when adolescents come from unstructured homes or with little supervision and communication.
For this reason, it is quite common for adolescents to lie to questions about alcohol consumption in order to avoid some kind of punishment. Good communication is the key to preventing your teen from drinking alcohol on a regular basis.
