PARENTS are damaging their children through their alcohol use without realising they are doing it, experts believe.
In many well-off families, hungover parents are leaving their children to fend for themselves as they sleep off the effects of their drinking the night before.
There are also fears that parental drinking at home is encouraging children to see excessive alcohol use as normal and follow in their footsteps.
The Scottish Government now wants to highlight the unintentional damage that parents could be doing to their children through their drinking behaviour.
They believe the effects go much further than the parents with the most severe alcohol problems.
It is hoped that an advertising campaign, featuring a lone child staring through closed curtains as his mother and father sleep off their hangovers, will drive home the message to parents.
The focus on families came as the SNP administration pledged to make tackling Scotland's damaging relationship with alcohol a top priority for their second year in office.
Research studied by the Scottish Government reveals the extent of harm caused by drinking in families.
It has estimated that a quarter of youngsters on child-protection registers are there because of parental alcohol or drug abuse. And one in three divorce petitions in the UK cite excessive drinking by a partner as a contributory factor.
But ministers are keen to stress that even moderate drinking can affect children and family relationships.
Shona Robison, Holyrood's public health minister, said one result of drinking was that mothers and fathers were not around when their children got up in the mornings, leaving them to entertain themselves.
Parents who are hungover also lack the energy to play games with their children or take them on trips, meaning they miss out on spending quality time together.
"There's also, importantly, a message about what the children are seeing," she said. "Are we teaching the next generation about how to abuse alcohol? What we need to do, surely, is to not set bad examples.
"Everybody wants the best for their children and they want them to grow up and have the best life they can, but we sometimes do things we don't realise, that children pick up.
"Children do replicate the adult behaviour, and what they see adults do, they think is OK. So do you really want your kids growing up thinking that abusing alcohol is a normal thing to do?"
The Scottish Government wants everyone to examine their own drinking and consider whether it could be having an impact on family life. It is estimated that tens of thousands of children are living with parents who drink to problematic levels.
Tom Roberts, the head of public affairs at charity Children 1st, said: "Addiction, whether to opiates like heroin or to alcohol, is a problem for all areas of Scotland – urban and rural.
"However, many more children's lives are adversely affected by parental alcohol abuse than by parental substance use. Children whose parents abuse drugs or alcohol often struggle.
"When it is not desirable for children to remain with their parents, we have pioneered the use of family group meetings, which bring together the extended family where a child is at risk of being taken into care, and which often lead to a child being cared for by a grandparent or other family member."
IMPACT OF TEENAGE DRINKING REVEALED WORRYING evidence about the extent of children's drinking has emerged in recent years.
A survey of 15-year-olds in Scotland found that 41 per cent had vomited because of alcohol, while 23 per cent had got in trouble with the police and 19 per cent had been in a fight.
More worryingly, 16 per cent had tried drugs while under the influence of alcohol and 14 per cent had had unprotected sex.
Last week, a study found that more than 100 children a week were ending up in hospital due to the consequences of drinking too much alcohol.
The proportion of teenagers starting drinking has also increased in the past 20 years.
One survey found that 67 per cent of 13-year-old boys and 69 per cent of girls said they had drunk alcohol at some point. Twenty per cent of both boys and girls had had a drink in the previous week. Among 15-year-olds, 40 per cent of boys and 46 per cent of girls said they had had an alcoholic drink in the past week.
A Scottish Crime and Victimisation survey found that almost half of people were worried about under-16s in their household drinking alcohol.
Tom Roberts, from the charity Children 1st, said: "The number of children and young people in Scotland drinking is really concerning.
"As well as damaging their health, being under the influence of alcohol lowers their inhibitions and leaves young people more at risk of harm," he went on.
"The availability of alcohol in Scotland has got to be called into question.
"Just as importantly, adults who drink have to be aware of the damaging message they are giving out that you can't have a good time unless you're drinking or drunk.
"We must examine why young people feel the need to drink in the first place – is it because of a lack of other activities? And we need to look at the culture in Scotland where drinking to excess is often seen as socially acceptable."
Boris bans alcohol on public transport to cut crime
Peter Woodman BORIS Johnson, the new mayor of London, below, has announced an alcohol ban on public transport in the city.
From 1 June, the drinking from, and carrying of, open containers of alcohol will be prohibited on London Underground, London buses, the Docklands Light Railway and tram services.
Mr Johnson said the ban would help lead to a reduction in "more serious crime". However, Bob Crow, the leader of the RMT transport union, said the measures appeared "not to have been thought through" and might make matters worse.
Mr Johnson said: "I'm determined to improve the safety and security of public transport in London and create a better environment for the millions of Londoners who rely on it.
"I firmly believe that if we drive out so-called minor crime, then we will be able to get a firm grip on more serious crime. That's why from 1 June the drinking of alcohol will be banned from the Tube, tram, bus and Docklands Light Railway.
"The ban is supported by the Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police, and over the next month Transport for London will make the necessary legal changes and consult with staff."
Mr Crow said: "We are in favour of any measure that will make our members' lives safer and curb anti-social behaviour, but it appears that this really hasn't been thought through.
"We are being told that it will be our members who will have to approach people drinking and ask them to stop – but the mayor hasn't asked us what we think.
"Violence against our members is a major problem, particularly from people who have been drinking. Perhaps the mayor will come out with his underpants on over his trousers like Superman one Saturday to show us how it should be done, and maybe tell a crowd of Liverpool supporters that they can't drink on the train?"
The full article contains 1233 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
