Host: What are some protective factors you can put in place for teen drinking?

Judith Welles Cousins: Some of the protective factors that are important in mitigating a teen drinking or really influencing them to get the message that drinking as a teenager is not healthy are for instance, having family -- having regular and as often as possible family meals, family time together and I know in this era it's pretty difficult because people are working long hours, teenagers have a lot going at school and sports on those kinds of things, but that connection, that message that this time together is important as a family is one of the most important protective factors.

Another protective factor is again, as I have mentioned is providing enough supervision, appropriate supervision, reasonable supervision for instance, knowing where your teenager is going, knowing with whom they are spending time, checking with other parents when they are spending time at that other -- at a friend's house, reasonable supervision.

So that teenager knows that you care about what they are doing and who they are with. They may complain about it and I know teens, I have heard teens complain about it, but I think it's really important for that to happen and allowing them enough freedom to be making decisions and to be making mistakes and then to be available with your teen to help them learn how to make decisions.

So you are teaching them and coaching them about making good decisions as well as well as allowing them to make decisions, but also providing them limits if you feel that they need to have those limits at a particular time. 1