PARENTS and their children are being asked to give their views in a bid to bar children from drinking.

The consultation period is nearly over for a government document with new medical guidance which recommends an alcohol-free childhood for under 15s.

It was launched in response to calls from anxious parents for clear messages on the health effects and risks of youths drinking alcohol.

It advises that if youngsters aged 15 to 17 drink it should always be with the guidance of a parent or carer in a supervised environment.

The charity Developing Initiatives Supporting Communities (DISC) runs four young people’s drug and alcohol services across Teesside in Hartlepool, Stockton, Redcar & Cleveland and Middlesbrough.

Recent research carried out among 200 young people in Billingham found that the parents of nearly three quarters knew they drank alcohol and a third of families mentioned that the family of parents were involved in buying them alcohol.

Debbie Simmons, DISC young people’s drug and alcohol services manager in Teesside, said: “The more information that parents and teenagers can access about the harms and effects of drinking alcohol in childhood, the better chance we have of reducing alcohol related problems in our young people now and in later life.”

She added: “It is not about pointing the blame at parents who may provide their children with alcohol in the mistaken belief that they are doing the right thing by letting them drink alcohol in a safe family setting, but by educating them to realise the impact that alcohol at a young age can have in later life.

In Teesside there were 335 hospital admissions of under 18s due to alcohol-specific conditions between 2204 and 2007.

Children, parents and carers have until next Thursday, April 23, to submit their views at www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations