A sober mom shares her experiences of discussing alcohol with her teens. She openly acknowledges her past struggles with alcohol and emphasizes the importance of modeling sobriety. She encourages her children to understand that fun doesn't require drinking. Despite her teens' reluctance to engage in conversations about her sobriety and their drinking, she hopes the lessons from their childhood have had an impact. The open dialogue aims to keep them safe, especially in a world with growing peer pressure to drink.
I model the behavior I want to see in my teens. Once, I told my teens, 'I'm still a lot of fun even though I don't drink.' A friend who was standing nearby with a drink in her hand responded, 'Can confirm.' My teens rolled their eyes. Nevertheless, I hope they got the message that you don't need to have alcohol to have fun, even if everyone around you is drinking.
I initiate conversations, but they usually aren't receptive. Now that they are teens, and the reality of being pressured to drink is much higher, they tend to storm out of the room whenever I raise the subject. Although I regularly annoy my teens by trying to discuss my own sobriety and my hope that they don't drink much, if at all, they know the door is open.
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