SalfordOnline
Your local community website
   Kids 'copy parents on drinking'By Emma Davis Children from heavy-drinking families are more likely to drink themselves, a new study reveals. The research by the Department for Children, Schools and Families also found that half of young people who have drunk alcohol were given it by their parents. Ministers are now calling on parents to discuss alcohol with their children, and are launching a new crackdown on under-age drinking. The Why Let Drink Decide? campaign will include cinema adverts targeted at young people to show the risks of alcohol. And local authorities will receive "good practice guides" to help them work with other services, such as the police, to prevent under-age drinking from becoming a problem in their area. More than 2,000 youngsters are playing in a Kickz football tournament, which will encourage participants to discuss the dangers of under-age drinking. Parents will also be advised on to talk to their teenagers about the issue. Schools minister Vernon Coaker said that the research -based on 4,000 interviews with parents, children and young people- shows that parents "underestimate their influence over their child's drinking and attitudes to alcohol." He hopes that the campaign will give parents and young people the confidence to have open conversations about alcohol and so delay the age at which young people start drinking. The chief medical officer for England said that ideally, children should not have alcohol. But he added that if children do drink, they should not do so before the age of 15, and that then it should be under the guidance of a parent or carer.
Got a news story? Need help with publicity for an event in Salford? Send it to newsdesk@salfordonline.com or call the SalfordOnline newsdesk on 0161 789 5377. |
