Five-point plan to tackle under-age drinking

PARENTS should try to make sure none of their children under 15 drink any alcohol at all, the Government’s chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson says. Even teenagers aged 15 to 17 should only have a drink under their parents’ supervision.

The guidelines are included in a five-point plan to tackle under-age drinking being put out to public consultation. Parents, teenagers and carers in North Yorkshire are among those being invited to give their views.

But will telling parents they should not really let any children under 15 drink at all really make a difference?

The teenagers

The first time she got drunk was when she was on holiday with her family in Corfu, recalls 17-year-old Izzy Lennon. She was 15.

Her dad allowed her to get her own drinks, and didn’t realise how much she had had, she recalls. “I kept drinking and drinking, and ended up having to be dragged home,” she says.

It proved a good lesson. “My dad filmed me when I was throwing up, and told me it served me right.” She was forced to watch the film when she had sobered up. “I thought it was disgusting!” she shudders.

Now 17, and studying for a national diploma in print-based media at York College, Izzy, who is from York, has a sensible attitude towards alcohol. Yes, she does drink, she admits. But she doesn’t go out with the express intention of getting drunk. “I don’t find the idea of getting drunk on cheap cider appealing.”

She knows teenagers her age and younger who have been drinking since they were 13, however. And she doesn’t think their parents telling them to stop would make any difference. “I don’t think parents have that much control,” she said. “If their kids are going to do it, they are going to do it. They can always get a friend to buy them alcohol. Their parents can’t wrap them in cotton wool. They can’t keep them in constantly.”

Izzy’s classmate Matt Williams, from Malton, believes parents can influence their children’s attitude to drink, however: by letting them have a taste at a family meal when they are 14 or so. That way alcohol is demystified, he says. Then, when they do start drinking, youngsters are less likely to go crazy. “But if their parents just say no, they will see how far they can go.”

Matt himself was first allowed a glass of wine at a family meal when he was 14. It was a big moment. But it meant that as he got older and his friends suggested going to get drunk, he was better able to resist the peer pressure. “Because I’d already tried it, it didn’t seem a big deal.”

The parent

It is probably a good thing that for the first time the Government is producing clear guidance for parents, says Tom Gibson, who has three children aged between 11 and 17.

He is all for parents being responsible.

But Tom, who lives in Tang Hall, York, says realistically it would be very difficult for parents to enforce a family no-alcohol rule for children. “At home, I can see it,” he said. “But when they go out with their friends, you cannot stop them.” None of his children have a problem with drink as far as he knows, he said. The 11-year-old is “curious”, the 13-year-old doesn’t like the smell, and the 17-year-old is sensible. She has been out with friends who are 18 and had a drink. “And she hasn’t rolled home drunk.” He’s the first to admit, however, he probably doesn’t know everything his children get up to. “I’m not naïve enough to think that they are not going to do something I might not approve of.”

The professional

Angie Crosby runs alcohol and substance abuse tutorials for young people studying at York College which try to get them thinking about the risks of drink and drugs. Between October and December last year alone, she tutored more than 750 teenagers about alcohol.

So does she think the proposed guidelines are a good idea?

Well, yes and no. Proper guidelines are a good idea in themselves, she says. If nothing else, they enable parents to give reasons to their children for why they don’t want them drinking. “They can say ‘it’s not just because I’m being mean’.” But realistically, she agrees that parents cannot be expected to monitor what their children are up to 24 hours a day.

She believes any such guidelines are also undermined by the law, which says only that it is illegal to give alcohol to children under five. It is perfectly legal, in other words, for parents to give alcohol to children who are five or over – which sends out a very confusing message.

What is really needed is tougher legislation to deal with parents who allow young children to drink.

“You need stronger sanctions when you have children of 13 or 14 saying they got wasted at a friend’s house at the weekend, and they didn’t know who they were or where they were.”

Facts on teenage drinking

Research shows that while the number of young people who drink is falling, those who do drink, drink more and start earlier, the Government says.

The proportion of children aged 11 to 15 who drink in a street or in a park has also increased.

In a recent survey, more than half of youngsters aged 11 to 15 said they had done so.

Nationally, an estimated 630,000 children aged 11 to 17 in the UK drink more than once a week. One in five 15-year-olds say they first got drunk when they were 13 or younger.

In North Yorkshire alone, according to Government figures, more than 270 young people aged under 18 were admitted to hospital with alcohol-related conditions between 2004 and 2007. In York, more than 70 young people were admitted during the same period.

They could be putting their health at serious risk, the Government says.

Young people are particularly susceptible to disease caused by alcohol, including:

* Liver disease
* Mental health problems, including depression
* Heart disease
* Bowel, breast, mouth and throat cancer.

Young people who drink too much are also more likely to get into fights, have problems at school, have unprotected sex and get in trouble with the police.