There are many influences in a child’s life such as looking up to a favourite celebrity, sporting person or famous person in history. Yes there are celebrities that are paper thin, sporting heros who do drugs and famous people who were far from perfect.

From an early age

children are being shaped by their environment and their experiences, both positive and negative influences. They are taught what is and is not acceptable behaviour. Being a positive role model for your children is probably one of the most important things you could do for them regarding alcohol consumption.

“Pass us another beer  please sweety”, was a sentence I heard on a daily basis growing up. My father was an alcoholic who went through a carton of beer within 24-48 hours. Sometimes he would be a happy drunk, other times he was really mean to us kids. He would fall asleep hanging off the couch snoring his head off and would quite often make a fool out of himself. That’s what I spent my teenage years looking up to and it was no surprise that I landed myself in hospital at least 5 times with enough alcohol in my system to kill me. The last time I was admitted was enough to scare me, I woke to see nothing but a bright light and I honestly thought I was dead. From that day forward I pledged to be a responsible drinker and have kept my word for 3 years.

My mum was always a heavy smoker and always complaining out loud about her weight. She smoked at least a pack a day and didn’t even care to smoke outside. She’d light up a cigarette right infront of us and tell us to leave if we didn’t like it. She’d smoke anywhere she felt like it in the house and even in the car. It was no surprise the cigarettes almost killed her. She had gallstones, pancreatitis and several mini strokes which could have left her permanently blind. Yet she continued to smoke even when the doctor told her if she continued she would kill herself. It was no surprise I took up smoking in my teen’s, was quite a heavy smoker and had eating disorders on both spectrums. Seeing my mum laying on the ground having an attack after spending the last 10-15 minutes vigorously vomiting was enough to make me stop smoking cold turkey.

As parents, we should be fully aware that we influence our children’s futures.

What does your child see when they look up to YOU?