All mothers who have growing up children have to always be careful to see what the child is doing and which kind of company he or she is mixing with. Especially when your child is in the high school, it becomes important for you to keep a watch discreetly. This is a highly sensitive age and time when they are likely to be rebels and this is the time when they begin to explore the external world.

Quite often the peer pressure forces children to learn various habits in the spirit of wanting to be accepted by the peer group. Their habits of fashion and sports etc are all influenced by the peer group culture. Many children learn to smoke and drink alcohol at this time again due to peer pressure. In wanting to be accepted and to be seen as fashionable or forward, they ignore the boundaries of what is good for them and knowingly treat on the dangerous path of picking up bad habits. Courting danger too gives them the thrill of having faced the risk. Many children are motivated to continue with the habit with the thrill of facing such risk.

This is true more with boys. However it is not limited to boys alone. Even the girls easily fall prey to such habits too. Most girls learn to smoke on the sly and learn to drink alcohol too. What starts off as pure fun then slowly can turn into a habit if they are weak minded. Many times emotional disturbed children and those coming from broken families fall easy prey to alcoholism which they learn to use it as a crutch over a period of time. It becomes a habit for them to hit the bottle whenever they feel emotionally pressurized and believe that it gives them the relief and makes them forget their troubles.

Parents should always look out for the early warning signs if your child is experimenting with smoking and alcohol. Any further continuation of the habit might lead to drug abuse too.

It helps to familiarize yourself with the various programs and medication that is available for helping people fight alcoholism. Fighting alcoholism involves going through rehabilitation program involving medication as well as counseling. Besides there are Alcoholic Anonymous network groups available in all cities that help people fight their habits.

First and foremost it is better to always consult the doctor who can prescribe the appropriate medication to help the patient develop resistance to the use of alcohol. There are many effective drugs that are available in the market today. Antabuse is one such famous drug which was in fact the first drug to be approved by US FDA for treatment of alcoholism. When the patient consumes Antabuse tablets , any alcohol consumption will result in severe hangover resulting in increased heart beat, hot flushes, headache, vomiting , blurred vision and incoherence etc. Such negative reaction builds aversion in the person to consuming alcohol and hence helps him kick off the habit. Along with medication the children need a lot of support, love and attention from parents to help them sort out their problems and feel secure. This apart professional counseling as well as support groups would also have to be involved in helping the child kick the habit.