Turns out, when it comes to preventing underage drinking, parents have a lot of power. Northeastern Counseling Center spent January celebrating Parents Empowered month and one of the things they provided local parents was with resources to help families bond and have conversations to prevent underage drinking. “Thankfully, we have a very low underage drinking rate here in the Uintah Basin,” shares Catherine Jurado with Northeastern Counseling. In fact, they have seen a 70% drop in local underage drinking over a 20 year period. This is largely credited to parents doing an awesome job of talking to their kids and having a clear ‘No Drinking’ rule. Of course, that isn’t always the case and often the teens drinking are most often getting it from their own parents with their parents permission. Jurado says they want these parents to know that it is a misconception that this is safer for your children because the research shows if they are allowed to drink at home then they are also finding opportunities to drink outside of the home. “We have so much research on the brain and that is why we want kids to wait until 21,” she emphasizes. “It does affect their developing brain. By waiting until 21 it reduces the risk of addiction by 90 percent.” Visit ParentsEmpowered.org for help in preventing underage drinking and more.