Parents who allow underage drinking (children, learn, students, college)

[Mikala43]

We allowed the kids to drink reasonably at home, and the result seems to be that they are not really big on alcohol now that they are of age.

[Nov3]

Alcoholism is on both sides of the family. They didn't need a drink to know of its potential results.
Uncle as a teen killed in a drunk driving accident. My cousin killed walking across a street by a teen who was under the influence.
They even got exposure by my poor disposition during active alcoholism. By their own reasoning they didn't much care to be curious or wish to partake. Sometimes they learned from others mistakes.

It wasn't til my son met his 2nd wife that he even cared to have wine at dinners. Even then it's one and done.

I didn't encourage it or give lecture...they even went to college without partaking in that style of "college life".

Thankful that my state has laws in place for minors ..and adults who attempt to serve them in the home. Just had a foster mom arrested for letting the teens drink under the family roof.

[G-fused]

I would much rather a parent make the decision on if their kid can have a drink than what the State says and what the State imposes as some arbitrary age.

Parents are in a better position. People are different and mature differently and handle things differently. There are also cultural factors to consider.

This all assumes a responsible and reasonable parent.

[kygman]

Originally Posted by buddy5

Alcohol is a gateway drug. It is, and always has been, the most abused drug worldwide. The best predicter of future behavior is past behavior. Like smoking, the earlier you start drinking, the greater chance you will become an over user. Some people are more susceptible to alcoholism than others, the best thing for them is never to drink at all. Alcoholism is harder to quit than Heroin. Booze is legal, heavily advertised, and it's everywhere. The temptation to drink is infinitely more difficult than Heroin. Booze is on TV, in magazines, newspapers, convenience store windows, and almost every social event. It's almost impossible to avoid.

Don't let your kids drink, being a parent is much more important than being your kids friend!!!

My stepkids stuck with drinking. One smoked for a while but decided he could use that money for other things, like his car. While son-in-law was in the military, they would have a bunch of his buddies over for a weekend with plenty of Bud Light. None of them ever touched drugs. That went on for 2 or 3 years but they've tapered off now to just a couple beers over the weekend. Now, a 12 pack will last them a month.

[nobodysbusiness]

All of the responses so far are that some parents gave kids alcohol and no problems what-so-ever with any of them - ever - in the meantime, alcoholism runs rampant - rehabs are booming business - people are getting DUI's and worse, the jails are full of addicts/alcoholics - people suffer alcohol poisoning and cirrhosis, and die early - but "it's all cool" . . .

What's wrong with this picture?

[Mikala43]

Originally Posted by nobodysbusiness

All of the responses so far are that some parents gave kids alcohol and no problems what-so-ever with any of them - ever - in the meantime, alcoholism runs rampant - rehabs are booming business - people are getting DUI's and worse, the jails are full of addicts/alcoholics - people suffer alcohol poisoning and cirrhosis, and die early - but "it's all cool" . . .

What's wrong with this picture?

Try look at Europe where almost all underage kids are used to having wine with dinner but they do not have the alcohol problems the US has.

[2x3x29x41]

Originally Posted by nobodysbusiness

All of the responses so far are that some parents gave kids alcohol and no problems what-so-ever with any of them - ever - in the meantime, alcoholism runs rampant - rehabs are booming business - people are getting DUI's and worse, the jails are full of addicts/alcoholics - people suffer alcohol poisoning and cirrhosis, and die early - but "it's all cool" . . .

What's wrong with this picture?

Your insinuation that JUST SAY NO is realistic regarding alcohol. How do abstinence-only programs work? They correlate with high unwanted/underage pregnancy rates, that's how they 'work'. Why do you expect the same policy vis-a-vis alcohol to be any different? That's what's wrong with the picture that you have painted.

You'd have a point if posters were talking about how they plied their children with hard liquor vodka and bought them kegs for partying with friends. But that's not the case. The replies have focused on supervised consumption of small amounts of alcohol at home (and which is legal in most states). That is the teaching of responsibility and moderation.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Mikala43

Try look at Europe where almost all underage kids are used to having wine with dinner but they do not have the alcohol problems the US has.

I knew someone would say the above sooner or later. That is one of the biggest urban legends of all time. I have no idea where this came from, but it's not correct.

In point of fact, Europe has the highest drinking rates in the world, and the highest rates of illness and death from alcohol.
WHO/Europe | Data and statistics
First sentence in the above:
"The WHO European Region has the highest proportion in the world of total ill health and premature death due to alcohol."
More:
"At a societal level, the European Union is the heaviest-drinking region in the world, with over one fifth of the European population aged 15 years and above reporting heavy episodic drinking (five or more drinks on an occasion, or 60g alcohol) at least once a week. Heavy episodic drinking is widespread across all ages and all of Europe, and not only among young people or those from northern Europe."

Teen drinking is heavy in much of Europe, way heavier than in the US:
https://www.vox.com/2016/1/26/108332...r-drinking-age
"One of the most common arguments against America's legal drinking age is that Europe has a supposedly safer drinking culture despite its lower drinking ages. After I wrote an argument for keeping the US drinking age at 21, it's a question that readers raised in emails again and again: If a lower drinking age is so bad, why is Europe doing fine?

The answer, it seems, is that Europe is not doing fine. If you look at the data, there's no evidence to support the idea that Europe, in general, has a safer drinking culture than the US."

https://www.researchgate.net/publica..._United_States
"A greater percentage of young people from nearly all European countries report drinking
in the past 30 days;
• A majority of the European countries have higher intoxication rates among young people
than do youth from the United States; and
• For a majority of these European countries, a greater percentage of young people report
having been intoxicated before the age of 13."

[Mikala43]

Okay, looks like I was wrong about that.

Nonetheless, all the kids were allowed to drink at home within reason, and two out of the three rarely drink, one is of age, the other dislikes alcohol. The 3rd used to hate alcohol, and wouldn't drink at home but since college does drink on occasion now.

I only have influence on our own kids.

[Teacher Terry]

18 was the legal age when I was raising my kids. We didn’t have alcohol in the house because we didn’t drink.