i guess the main thing isn't to push moral right/wrong views - it is to educate about the physical impacts. if you drink, you lose your inhibitions, lose control etc - i guess most people get that. but how about the impacts of binge drinking. long term drinking? most teens, unless they've been exposed to it in someone close to them, just don't know. it needs to be taught without emotion - facts alone. non-judgement, but to the point. how many teens know that drinking regularly can have enough of an impact on your body that you can start bleeding and your blood won't clot? yup, i'm sure they've heard about liver damage from alcohol, but do they know what systemic impacts it has?? i didn't have to witness it, but i WAS the person in the middle as family tried to contact my (then) DF to tell him his brother was bleeding out. i was the one being told what was happening as they sat with him, and then having to call my DF and explain it to him. to this day, he doesn't know all of what i was told, because it was just too distressing to relay.

i'm no advocating scare tactics, but facts about how things can go so terribly wrong. my BIL killed himself through alcohol consumption (yes, i believe it was deliberate) and we have had to deal with the fallout and clean up of that. i will be (mostly) truthful with DD about what we observed - but i will take the emotion out if i can. i don't want her to think we're trying to scare her, i just want her to know the truth. we DO drink, so i'm not going to advocate abstinance, but i will educate her about the difference between responsible and irresponsible/dangerous consumption, and if she wants to drink, i will make sure it is in a safe environment