It is now well acknowledged that parents can have a central role in supporting sensible alcohol use and reducing alcohol misuse amongst young people. However, little research has considered how communication and supervision in relation to alcohol actually takes place within the family. Drawing upon interviews with the parents of young people aged 13-17 years (n = 40), this article describes the strategies that many parents use in communicating, monitoring, and supervising alcohol use within the family. The findings revealed that many parents lack the guidance needed to convey "sensible drinking" messages to young people, and wish for greater information and support about young people and alcohol.