Part of growing up is pushing boundaries. At ten years old, you might be a perfect angel. By thirteen, your parents might hardly be able to recognize you because of your attitude change.
It doesn’t happen with all teens. Some don’t rebel against their parents, often because they have a solid bedrock of friends and extracurricular activities. For instance, many studies find that if you play sports, are part of a school’s marching band program, and things of that nature, you’re less likely to lash out.
However, many teens feel that they need to question authority, including their parents and the police. Experimenting with alcohol can be a part of that.
It’s common, yet at the same time, there’s a danger element to it. Consider these possible teen alcohol use side effects before seeking it out.
You Can Get in Trouble with the Cops
You don’t want to get in trouble with the law as a teenager, or at any age. Getting a criminal record when you’re not even out of high school yet isn’t something of which you should be proud.
If you go to a party where there’s alcohol, and you indulge, then that’s illegal if you’re under twenty-one. The police can stop you on the way home and give you a breathalyzer test. Alcohol can stay in your system up to 24 hours, so they’ll be able to detect if you’ve been drinking recently.
At that point, they can:
- Detain you and take you to the station
- Call your parents
The cops will make your parents aware of the situation, which will undoubtedly lead to punishment. Your parents might ground, taking away your internet, phone, and TV privileges. They might forbid you from seeing your friends.
It Can Get You Sick
Experimenting with alcohol might seem like a good idea, but you may quickly find out that you don’t even like its taste. If you press on because your friends are doing it, then you might find yourself over your limit very quickly.
You don’t know your tolerance yet, so you might feel good briefly, and then cross the line into sickness after just a few more sips. Then you’re drunk, and that can lead to:
- Spinning sensations
- Upset stomach
- Vomiting
- A hangover the next morning
Once you get to this point, you’ll know that you went too far. It can be hard to hide all these symptoms from your parents. More than likely, you’re not going to want to feel this way again.
Your Schoolwork Can Suffer
Some teens might not love school, but they also realize that if they don’t get good grades, they jeopardize their future. If you start drinking frequently, then it’s going to affect your studies negatively.
Partying every weekend, or even during the week, makes it much more challenging to get good grades on quizzes and tests. When it’s time to study for the SATs, you can’t do that if you’ve developed a drinking problem.
It’s easy for kids to be blasé about their futures, but by the time you reach high school, you’re not far from college or joining the job market. Partying and drinking with abandon will go a long way toward determining where you’re going. If you overindulge, you’re not going to end up anywhere good.
How Are You Getting the Alcohol?
Kids who experiment with alcohol and develop drinking problems also face the issue of where they’re getting the alcohol. You can’t buy it legally yet, so your best options are probably taking it from your parents, stealing it from stores, or getting an older adult to buy it for you.
None of these are good options. If you steal from your parents, then they’re probably going to notice. If you shoplift beer or liquor from stores, then that’s risky as well.
The police can catch you, and now you’re looking at theft, which is worse than underage drinking. If the cops have caught you before, you’re extending your criminal record, which can lead to severe consequences.
Alcohol has its allure, and it seems like a very grownup thing to do. You need to realize the negative that goes along with it, though.
Think about how people mess their lives up through drunk driving. Alcoholism wrecks your body and destroys your ability to lead a healthy, productive life.
You might feel like what you’re doing is harmless experimentation, but it can cross the line very quickly into something else. Remember that when you reach for a bottle.