How to Warn a Daughter About College Alcohol Abuse
Your daughter is heading off to college, and even though you did everything in your power to raise her "right," let's face it--college is a time of experimentation and oat-sowing. Odds are if your daughter hasn't already experimented with alcohol, she will soon be doing so at school. Do yourself--and her--a favor. Have a heart-to-heart to warn your daughter about college alcohol abuse.
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Instructions
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Discuss with your daughter the consequences of alcohol abuse, also known as high-risk college drinking. Visit the College Drinking Prevention website with your daughter, and let her read the statistics herself: 1,700 college-age students dead each year due to alcohol-related accidents and another nearly 600,000 seriously injured.
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Talk candidly with your daughter about the risk of sexual assault and date rape while under the influence so that she won't be one of the nearly 100,000 college women who are raped in the U.S. each year. Be sure that she understands that she doesn't even have to be the one who is drinking to be a victim of sexual assault. Make it clear that intoxicated party-goers--even men she considers friends--lose their inhibitions and judgment when drinking, which could lead to trouble.
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Make sure you daughter understands what alcohol poisoning is, including its symptoms and the fact that it can take as few as one or two drinks to lead to alcohol poisoning, depending on the person's body weight, the type of alcohol involved and the pace at which the alcohol is ingested.
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Educate your daughter about safe sex practices if you haven't already done so. While you may hate to think about it, college alcohol use leads to lots of consensual sex. And while your daughter may regret the sex in the morning, at least she can practice safe sex and prevent herself from contracting herpes or AIDS and regretting the sex for the rest of her life.
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Tips & Warnings
Make sure your daughter understands that oral contraceptives and devices such as intrauterine devices (IUDs) and diaphragms do not protect against sexually transmitted diseases. The only thing that can do that is a condom. Give her a box, whether you think she'll need them or not. If your too embarrassed to give them to her in person, send her a care package with the condoms included and note that says, "Because I love you."
Kids who are armed with knowledge make better life choices about things like alcohol consumption and sexual partners. Even if your parents didn't have it together to talk to you clearly and directly about sex, find the courage to talk to your children before they head off to college.
The information in this article applies equally to a son who may be leaving for college, but you may have to tweak the perspective a bit.
