Your Kids are Drinking

NET Television and NET Radio combine efforts to present Your Kids areDrinking, a project focusing on the problems associated with underage drinking. The project includes a locally produced television special, a televised panel discussion of the problem, and a three-part NET Radio series. 

A recent survey by the State of Nebraska revealed that one out of every four kids in Nebraska had their first taste of alcohol before they reached age 13. By their senior year in high school, about half the students in the state are drinking at least once a month.

According to experts in the fields of alcohol abuse, traffic safety, law enforcement and youth corrections, a substantial amount of the blame for the amount of alcohol consumed and the relaxed attitude towards its consumption comes directly from parents and other adults.

Your Kids are Drinking is a new NET Television/NET Radio project exploring how lax attitudes among adults aggravate the youth drinking problem and corresponding ways that adults can provide realistic solutions.



Your Kids are Drinking
opens with several documentary segments, including a visit to small town street dances where heavy drinking is a tradition and families protect their teenage drinkers. Then, in Omaha, cameras follow under-aged decoys as they purchase liquor from stores and restaurants. The segments also look at how law enforcement officials are not only ticketing the under-age offender, but also trying to identify the individual who purchased the liquor for the youth.

The program includes a panel discussion with experts in the area of adolescent behavior and alcohol abuse to provide insights into how adults can better work with teenagers to shape responsible use of alcohol.

Panel members include: Sara Doghman, Project Extra Mile/Omaha Central High School student; Jackie Miller, chief administrator for Community Health, Division of Public Health, State of Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services; and Prof. Ian Newman, director of the Nebraska Prevention Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse.



Your Kids are Drinking
was underwritten in part by the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Additional funding was provided by Mutual of Omaha, Methodist Health System and State Farm Insurance.
Funded in part by:

Nebraska Office of Highway Safety


Mutual of Omaha Methodist Health System



and by
State Farm Insurance
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
Related In-depth Reports

Looks at young adults drinking too much, too fast. Hear from law enforcement, university officials and bar owners trying to change lives before it’s too late.
Video Extras

Scope of underage drinking --
U.S. Surgeon General Steven Galson


High school students discuss marketing to teens

Expanded version of panel discussion
NET Radio Series

The age kids start drinking is getting younger and younger. Why do they do it, and where do they get alcohol?


A group of teens in Shelton wants to give their peers an alternative to drinking.


When adults drink in public places, does that send the wrong message to kids?
Additional Resources

U.S. Surgeon General

Project Extra Mile

Lincoln Council on Alcoholism and Drugs

Nebraska Liquor Control Commission

Nebraska Prevention Center for Alcholism and Drug Abuse

NU Directions

Department of Health and Human Services