If your teen has a history of alcohol abuse in Fort Lauderdale, you need to seek intervention from a teen recovery center as soon as possible. The sooner your teen learns how to stop drinking, the better his chances are of managing his addiction and avoiding serious health complications. Here are some tips for intervening in your teen’s underage drinking.
Record Observations of Signs of Alcohol Abuse
Before you begin planning a formal or informal intervention, you should start recording your personal observations of the warning signs of your teen’s alcohol abuse. A professional at a teen substance abuse treatment center can provide you with a list of early signs of alcohol abuse in teens. Take note of any changes in your child’s behavior, appearance, habits, health, schoolwork, and physical abilities. This information will be necessary if you decide to proceed with an intervention.
Keep Track of Suspicious Behavior
When teens participate in underage drinking, they often exhibit suspicious behavior. You should keep track of this in the same way that you keep track of the signs of alcohol abuse. Write down instances in which your child breaks rules, gets in trouble at school, has fights with friends or relatives, acts defensive, lies, misses curfew, or steals from you. This will help you and the specialist at your teen’s addiction recovery center determine how serious your child’s alcohol abuse is.
Check for Alcohol or Missing Alcohol in Home
Teens often hide alcohol in their bedroom, or steal alcohol from their parents’ liquor cabinet. You should look through your teen’s room when he isn’t home for bottles of alcohol, drugs, or drug paraphernalia that may indicate that your child has a substance abuse problem. You should also be aware of how much alcohol is kept in your home, and take note of any that goes missing. You may consider locking up your liquor cabinet, or removing alcohol from your home entirely.