Legal Underage Drinking in Texas (Houston, Midland: home, to buy, high schools)

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by Westerntraveler

I'm just wondering how everybody feels about the state of Texas allowing children and spouses of adults to legally drink while they are with their spouse or parent.Why is exactly is the law this way?I'm just wondering and curious on what the people of city data and Texas feel on this issue.I dont really know.To be perfectly honest and forthcoming,I did drink with my dad when i was 20.Thanks in advance.

Our parents did the same for us when we were 20. I don't know what the current law is, though. Like THL, I agree. It's up to the parents.

[Trainwreck20]

Straying a bit afield from the original topic, a good case can be made for supervised drinking in a home setting vs. the big 'yeah, I am 21!' approach when a child is off at college or living on their own.

[Pontificator]

I completely agree with the law. We let our kids have a sip or several while at home, took the mystery and awe out of the process. Plus, we have German heritage. Beer is a necessity!

Furthermore, I'm appalled that a young man has to register for the draft at 18, but cannot have a beer until 21.

[Philosophizer]

Originally Posted by Pontificator

I completely agree with the law. We let our kids have a sip or several while at home, took the mystery and awe out of the process. Plus, we have German heritage. Beer is a necessity!

Furthermore, I'm appalled that a young man has to register for the draft at 18, but cannot have a beer until 21.

Me too. Not that the current law has ever stopped anyone who wanted a beer bad enough...

[TexasHorseLady]

We made sure that our daughter knew how and how not to drink from the time she was a teenager. So, when, at 15, she went on an educational tour of Paris with a bunch of other teenagers, and they slipped away from their chaperone and went out to dinner, and it was legal for them to drink, she was the one who had a clue and made sure nobody got too drunk and that the diabetic didn't drink and that everyone got back to the hotel okay. Good thing SOMEBODY in that bunch had a clue, because according to her they were all about to run wild just because it was forbidden fruit!

[debzkidz]

My folks were always like that with me. They let me learn at home, with their supervision. While I still went out and partied once I was legal (I'm old enough that you only had to be 18) I didn't go wild like some of my friends did. Hubby's parents were just the opposite. They strictly forbid all alcohol, even after they were of legal age. He and his siblings all went wild. He said he figured that if they were that set against it, it must be good.

With our 2, we tried to raise them the way my parents raised me. My husband took them to his favorite college bar, which is still a popular bar, and bought them their first beers in public. Of course, here in Oklahoma this would not have been legal, but because we were in Texas he could do it. We tried our best to educate them, and show them that its no big deal. Sure, when they went off to college they still did their share of drinking, but the mystery was gone. Our youngest will turn 21 next week, and he's making plans to go out with his friends, but he's not planning on going wild. There's still plenty of drinking going on around and college campus. You don't have to be 21 to find it.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by TexasVines

it is that way because parents have a right to raise their kids how they see fit without the government getting into every aspect of the decisions they make

if you have an issue with it then move to new york where they tell not only your kids, but you what size sodas you can drink

Same "small Texas government" that will throw you in jail if you gamble in your house with your friends.

S.A. police raid illegal gambling operation at northwest-side apartments | kens5.com San Antonio - March 2012

Jaime Flores was arrested on a charge of organized gambling. According to an arrest warrant, he participated in a operation being run out of an apartment in the 9800 block of Colonnade.
Police said their vice unit ran a search warrant at the apartment. Court documents show they found 13 people participating in a Texas Hold 'Em tournament.

[Cathy4017]

Same "small Texas government" that will throw you in jail if you gamble in your house with your friends.

Not true. Running an organized gambling operation out of an otherwise vacant apartment is quite different than sitting at your own kitchen table playing poker and such with friends.

[doctorjef]

The law in Texas in this respect is similar to the law in the United Kingdom (or at least in England and Wales - I'm not sure about Scotland).

I turned 18 during the few years when the legal drinking age in Texas was 18 rather than 21. I seem to have survived. I really think there should be a single age for complete majority rights and responsibilities, and it should obviously be lower than 21. There is no magical age of maturity in judgement and I'm not all that impressed by arguments made from the standpoint of neurological maturation. The trend in other developed countries has been to lower the ages of consent and voting rights. The US, as usual, has been moving contrary to the general tide in most of the developed world.

[SteelBubble]

America has one of the oldest legal drinking ages in America, yet we have more drunk driving cases than other countries with a lower drinking age.

America's logic is: give a kid a gun, send him to Afghanistan, but no, he can't have a beer.

Not allowing parents to give their kid a beer is ridiculous. I'm glad Texas allows it.