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I actually have heard people say - SERIOUSLY - that the police should be waiting outside the doors of the Catholic churches in town to arrest people who give communion wine to underage kids.
It's definitely possible to be too adamant one way or the other. Moderation is the key, and common sense. Teach those principles to your kids and the rest will fall into place when it comes to drinking and a slew of other issues as well.
That's silly b/c the law exempts religious use of alcohol. I supposed if some church had a "service" which was just for the purpose of drinking and included underage people, that might be looked at differently.
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Originally Posted by somebodynew
The REAL message is buy me. The hook is this is sexy.
If you really think about it, I DO believe that we need to prepare our children to live in a world where alcohol is everywhere. Though you have gotten me rethinking the how and why of it. But isn't it sad how alcohol soaked our society is? Even at my age, I have to turn down an invite to a Halloween part at good friends because every year someone is vomiting or getting lost in the neighborhood. How is that fun?
Agree with the first sentence, but not the second. The hook is "this isn't really drinking". People learn to rationalize very easily, especially when they're on the way to drunk.
It was actually more like 50 kids, as I found out after the fact. I wouldn't have been okay with it, but it wasn't my son, and not my decision. In this case, the kids had rented a bus, and were all spending the night at one house, so I guess the parents were aware of the drinking.
I would never have allowed it, but other parents do.
Even with 50 kids, something I can't imagine in my house, especially a sleepover, but whatever...that's a lot of alcohol. The reality is that some won't drink at all and some will have 10 cans. It also shows why sometimes it's hard to have this "middle ground" suggested by some posters. Teens tend not to think in terms of "middle ground".
Agree with the first sentence, but not the second. The hook is "this isn't really drinking". People learn to rationalize very easily, especially when they're on the way to drunk.
The point is a small one, I suppose, when you consider that booze advertising is kinda messed in the head in the first place. But if you do a quick google of smirnoff ad, you will have a hard time thinking that the over all ad campaign is about sexy.
Do you really think people are that stupid that they don't understand that it's still a drink even though it has ice cream in the drink??
Plenty of men think beer is fine because it's not hard liquor too
It's not whether or not they understand it's a drink. Of course they do. They want it to be a drink. For the young women it's aimed at, it's sexy and sophisticated to have a drink.
But what they're portraying, in addition to the above, is that you can drink heavy booze and it doesn't even taste like heavy booze. Look! Tastes like sorbet, a cream puff, a marshmallow. And the subliminal message is that it's okay to drink it, because it's about as benign as those very fun non threatening treats.
Several posters in this thread have said they don't drink because they don't like the taste they had when they were a kid. Well the extremely savvy beverage conglomerates have found a way around that. We have booze that fools you into thinking you're drinking a milkshake. Martinis are straight booze. And before you know it you're smashed.
Used to be maybe a bit of Bailey's at Christmas if you didn't really like the taste of liquor. Now you can get vodka that doesn't taste like vodka - and cocktails that are aimed at not letting you get "fat", and girls are skipping meals in order to fit in the alcohol calories instead.
I agree with you about the beer. Drinking a case of beer a night still means you have a problem. Doesn't matter that it's just beer.
My mother allowed me to very occasionally taste drinks like wine or rum starting when I was about 12. I really had no desire to drink to excess as a teen, young man or old man. For example, I have never had beer and drink alcohol only about once or twice a year. I have the same outlook on letting kids taste alcohol as a drink, not a forbidden substance. My boys have no desire to drink because they've known what it tasted like since a young age, and the pull of the unknown and the forbidden is not there for them.
That's silly b/c the law exempts religious use of alcohol. I supposed if some church had a "service" which was just for the purpose of drinking and included underage people, that might be looked at differently.
Agree with the first sentence, but not the second. The hook is "this isn't really drinking". People learn to rationalize very easily, especially when they're on the way to drunk.
Yes. That's it exactly.
It's also that it's sexy, but the additional and new dangerous hook is the above.
No one is saying they're going to throw a rager for their children and get them and all their friends drunk. There is a middle ground between abstaining from alcohol and getting belligerently drunk. That is where most of the parents on this topic fall. Its okay to give your kid a sip of alcohol, or maybe even a glass of wine when they are older. It might not prevent them from becoming alcoholics later in life, but it does take away some of the mysteries of alcohol.
I agree with you. Mine was a family where kids got a small (cordial-sized) glass of wine for formal holiday dinners (Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.) starting from around first communion age. I think that got upped to about half a glass when we were in high school/college. The purpose was not to get us used to drinking or teach us how to handle our liquor. It was just family custom.
Had any of us ever asked them to serve us alcohol at any other time, snuck into the liquor cabinet, or ever made even the slightest suggestion that our parents should host an alcohol-soaked party for our friends -- well, I'm not exactly sure what the consequences would have been, but they would not have been pretty.
Here's an article from ad week, if anyone is in doubt that the mission of Smirnoff is to attract and keep underage girls/young women as users of their product.
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From "bubblegum" to "cupcake," there seem to be an infinite number of dessert-flavored vodkas on the market, much of which is probably being ingested by freshman girls whose interests include Forever 21 and their "besties." But this holiday season, Smirnoff wants you to know that its sugary spirits are way less juvenile and a lot more sexy.
To promote Smirnoff's newest vodka products, "Fluffed" (as in marshmallow) and "Whipped" (like the cream), JWT New York brought in celebrity photographer and director David LaChapelle to try to convince us that candy-coated flavors aren't just for your underage cousin.
Basically, they've been so successful in marketing to girls that they needed to shift their focus to try and make their products for 15 year old girls appeal to 19 - 21 year old girls.
Even with 50 kids, something I can't imagine in my house, especially a sleepover, but whatever...that's a lot of alcohol. The reality is that some won't drink at all and some will have 10 cans. It also shows why sometimes it's hard to have this "middle ground" suggested by some posters. Teens tend not to think in terms of "middle ground".
But this middle ground isn't allowing your child to throw a rager and hoping that all the kids will drink responsibly. It also doesn't mean that you allow your kids to go to such parties. Middle ground is allowing them the occasional sip (or drink depending on age) of alcohol at home with their parents, and ALSO talking about staying safe when it comes to alcohol. Even if you don't allow your teens to drink, you should still talk to them about the dangers of binge drinking and driving after drinking (buzz driving is drunk driving). Keep the lines of communication open. Let them know that you care about their safety, and even if they end up over at the house of some idiot parent who throws parties for teenagers, that you will come and get them so that they never have to drive in unsafe conditions.
But this middle ground isn't allowing your child to throw a rager and hoping that all the kids will drink responsibly. It also doesn't mean that you allow your kids to go to such parties. Middle ground is allowing them the occasional sip (or drink depending on age) of alcohol at home with their parents, and ALSO talking about staying safe when it comes to alcohol. Even if you don't allow your teens to drink, you should still talk to them about the dangers of binge drinking and driving after drinking (buzz driving is drunk driving). Keep the lines of communication open. Let them know that you care about their safety, and even if they end up over at the house of some idiot parent who throws parties for teenagers, that you will come and get them so that they never have to drive in unsafe conditions.
Thank you for your parenting advice. My "kids" are 26 and 29; I'm way beyond help; they're probably beyond help.
I don't think you know the whole story about "allowing" your kids to go places. Believe me, I big-time discouraged such stuff, but one never knows what the other parents will do if your kid goes to a party at their house.
IMO, "allowing" your kids to have a drink like they're one of the adults at home just gives them permission to drink away from home, and I have the benefit of the research backing me up.
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