Say NO to underage drinking

After a recent trip to a rural community near Kruger National Park, where there was no access to clean water, yet one passes many shabeens selling Castle Beer on the 2 km walk to fetch clean drinking water.

I approached South Africa Breweries and asked them what their social responsibility was in regards to supporting the community. They replied and invited me to take part in their 18+ drink aware campaign which is launched on August 1^st. Make a pledge and add a twibbon to your profile on face book and twitter to show your support. I also invite you to blog about your personal experiences with alcohol, effects on the family and how you’ve approached the discussions with your children and tweet and/or face book to show your support.

Over the next few blog posts I will be blogging about personal experiences of alcohol. I am a Mother to 4 boys aged 15-25, I also worked for 14 years as a Youth Worker in the UK dealing with teenagers and alcohol and I’m currently living in South Africa working in several townships where I see and hear about the effects of alcohol and the damage it causes the local communities. I was also a teenager, I drank underage and I enjoy alcohol now as an adult.

This series of posts isn’t an attempt to stop people from drinking it’s to encourage them to drink safely and to educate their children about the dangers of drinking under age.

I shall leave you with my experiences of my teenagers and alcohol and let me know if you think I handled this correctly or whether you would’ve done anything differently?

My kids and alcohol 

SA Breweies say:

No one under 18 should be drinking alcohol and it is up to us to stop our denial about the situation and do something about it.

· 1 in 2 teenagers in the average South African home is a user of alcohol.

· Yet the vast majority of parents think their teenagers don’t drink

· Around 15% of boys and 8% of girls said that they’d had their first drink before age 13

· People who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to become alcohol dependent than those who have their first drink at age 20 or older

· Teens that use alcohol are three times more likely to be involved in violent crime

· 67% of teens who drink before the age of 15 will go on to use illegal drugs