Binge drinking.
Certainly binge drinking (downing 5 or more alcoholic drinks at one sitting) encourages irresponsible, even hazardous behavior: crime, sexual promiscuity, drunk driving, etc.
But it's a very dangerous act in itself. For not only are alcohol-related deaths continuing to increase in this age group, young people who binge drink are causing serious and frequently irreparable damage to their brains.
Talking to your kids about alcohol abuse and the whole host of related issues (peer pressure, self-esteem, moral standards, expectations and achieving goals) cannot be emphasized enough. And those conversations certainly shouldn't wait until your kids are packing the car to go off to college.
Committing ourselves to our kids' future means spending plenty of meaningful time with them, preparing them spiritually for the challenges awaiting, and maintaining high standards of morality and purpose ourselves.
