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You are here: Home Health & Fitness Healthcare 'Eternal adolescence' through binge drinking

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15/12/2008'Eternal adolescence' through binge drinking

Eternal adolescence Alcohol is not just dangerous for growing children, it is downright disastrous. Recent research among adolescents shows that the damage is permanent. Binge drinking can even lead to a permanently underdeveloped brain.

 A paediatrician from the Dutch town of Delft has been trying to convince both parents and children that alcohol should be avoided totally until the age of 23.

Paediatrician Nico van der Lely has noticed in his own practice that the number of cases of binge drinking is skyrocketing. The number of children admitted to hospitals in a 'comatose' state has risen to one or two a day. 

Dr Van der Lely decided to create a special outpatients' clinic for children - the first such clinic in the Netherlands - and he visits secondary schools. "Parents underestimate the dangers of alcohol", he says.
"Once a child has had his first drink, the door's wide open for more drinking with their friends. So ban it, no means no".

Dilemmas
But some parents who have heard him speak are sceptical about his message. After all, currently accepted practice is quite different: many well-intentioned parents serve their adolescent sons their first beers at home, or their daughters their first glass of champagne on New Year's Eve.
 
Photo: FlickR.com/Fernando Ariotti
The logic is that this is how you teach your children to drink alcohol responsibly. Moreover, what parent these days still believes in saying no? Dr Van der Lely, however, is unswayed:
 
"An adolescent is unable to drink responsibly, precisely because his brain is not fully grown. Striking a deal along the lines of: 'If you don't smoke till you're 18, we'll pay for your driving licence' does not work either. You have to be clear; no means no".
 
Unconscious 
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