Letter to a friend

My son's writing assignment for school was not about colonial times, or what he did over winter break or a report on his favorite sport. The assignment was to write a letter to a friend about the dangers of drinking. How does an eleven year old know the perils of underage drinking? Well it appears kids today are exposed to news stories involving their favorite sport icons or movie stars constantly popping up on television under scandalous headlines and hangover faces. As pre-teens, they see everything and comprehend more than we realize. Internet videos going viral allow kids to follow every trend on a global scale and parents need to get up to speed before they are left in the dust. Whether parents think their kids are oblivious to the images that surround them daily is debatable, but to ignore the issue is senseless.

Here is the letter:

Dear Friend,

I heard you were drinking alcohol and I was shocked because you are only 16, which means that you are under aged, the legal drinking age is 21 just so you know. I know that alcohol is bad because it hurts your body, you could get in trouble with the law, and lastly you could mess up your dreams to be a sports star. If you have a test in the coming week, drinking will affect the test. It takes 30 days to be yourself again after being drunk. Next time if someone offers you a drink, I would say no by telling him or her the symptoms of drinking could become very insidious (spelling word) to many people's lives, especially yours. Hopefully your parents worry and care about you going to parties and will never send you to a party that has alcohol. Good luck.

Regardless of the grade, the meaning is in the message.