<p>Drinking age was 18 just a little while ago, and I don’t think anyone can argue that our parents and grandparents today are somehow worse off because they were able to drink legally a little bit earlier.</p>
<p>The drinking laws are some of the most rediculous laws I have seen. They are also the most fun to practice civil disobedience against! As long as 1(6)-20 year olds aren’t driving after they get sloshed (always have a DD), I say let us drink.</p>
<p>If it were legal, I would pour a glass for my 19-year old. But I didn’t let him drive before he was legal, though he was mature for his age (my sister started her kids driving at 12 (!) so that they would “have more experience behind the wheel.”). Nor did I sneak him into R movies.</p>
<p>I know that he got into movies he was not officially old enough to see. I know that he has had alcohol at college. The difference is that I am not facilitating the breech of the rules. To me that distinction is important.</p>
<p>I’m going to throw in my two cents as a teenager.</p>
<p>Now, I go to a public high school of about 4,000 students in Los Angeles County. I’ve been offered alcohol once or twice, but I’ve always turned it down because it just doesn’t interest me.</p>
<p>However, I’ll be going off to college next fall in California’s wine country. I have told my parents that I’ll probably drink once in a while-when I’m 21. And it’s legal. Underage drinking has always seemed too risky for the momentary high it causes (plus the hangover the morning after)…not to mention my dad was an alcoholic back in the day, and I’d rather not stray down that road.</p>
<p>Anyway…I think that serving your underage kids alcohol is a BAD IDEA. No matter what anyone says about “it’s in the privacy of your own home, better to do it at home than out somewhere, blah blah blah”…all you’re teaching them is that it’s okay to break the law. Not to mention that you’re risking criminal charges if you’re caught.</p>
<p>And, for me, when I do have my first drink, it’ll be all the sweeter knowing that I waited until it was legal. I think this whole “making the drinking age high gives them a reason to want to do it” argument is BS. That just seems like you want a reason to excuse their actions. Obviously having the age limit at 18 wasn’t working so they changed it…it’s not like they just arbitrarily were like “here, let’s make all the 18-year-olds miserable and raise the drinking age to 21.”</p>
<p>a glass of wine or a beer or two isn’t going to give you a hang-over, and even getting black out drunk doesn’t guarantee a hang-over.</p>
<p>HisGraceFillsMe, i’ll assume you’ve NEVER driven over the speed limit while driving? and that your parents NEVER did so with you in the car at any time?</p>
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<p>I’m afraid I fail to see where you’re going. I have no problems telling you that I’ve broken the speed limit, but I never go more than 10 miles over (which is more than I can say for most California drivers, it’s ridiculous…they see 45 and think 90). My parents are a little worse than me, but they are extremely cautious whenever any of their children are present.</p>
<p>It must be the CA sun. I am a parent, but I couldn’t help it.</p>
<p>^XD I think it’s more not wanting everyone around you to be screaming profanities at you and flipping you off for actually driving the speed limit.</p>
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<p>so it’s ok to speed(against the law, and can kill not only yourself but other people), but not ok to let someone under 21 drink in their own home, if they’re not going to drive or leave for the night? or since you only speed a little(10mph) it’s ok, kinda like having a beer or two and resulting in a low BAC? or since other people drive a lot faster than you, it’s ok? like other teens binge drinking, compared to drinking a glass of wine with dinner…</p>
<p>that’s where i was going</p>
<p>What exactly would you have me do, diesel? I don’t really see it as the same issue. When I drive at the speed limit, the others driving around me grow furious and often times try and go around me, only to end up cutting me off, which could avoid in me rear-ending them. Basically I’m in a no-win situation. Whereas with the drinking situation, you can either not drink and no one around you will make a big deal (unless they’re complete jerks) out of it, or you can choose to break the law and drink and end up with serious criminal charges over your head. Last time I checked, speeding was a minor ticket offense. Like I said, I fail to see them as the same issue, although I can see where you’re coming from. But I also think that it’s different living somewhere like LA county where everyone drives like a maniac and therefore expects you to do the same or suffer the consequences.</p>
<p>HGFM: No, the drinking age was lowered because a concerted PR campaign by MADD was so incredibly persistent that Congress could not refuse them without horrible political consequences.</p>
<p>Since that time, the original woman who spearheaded the campaign has recanted and left MADD, calling it “neo-prohibitionist”.</p>
<p>While the rise in drinking age certailny curtailed drunk driving, the process of drunk driving becoming taboo did so as well, and realistically, that was originally the only reason for the rise in drinking age.</p>
<p>In Canada, our problem’s with drunk driving are not markedly worse than in the US, though mini (our local neo-prohibitionist) will disagree, despite his continued refusal to provide statistics to substantiate that claim. And our drinking age is 18 or 19 depending on where you live. Interesting, huh?</p>
<p>The drinking age was 18 when I was 18. It’s 21 now. I can see all sorts of reasons why 18 makes more sense. But it’s 21 now. Since I am hurting no one by choosing to model law-abiding behavior, that is the choice I make.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, S, who has a higher number in the genetic lottery for alcoholism than many, has had many conversations with me about drinking, choices, etc. He knows that I know he has had alcohol at school. I expected it; I have not reprimanded him for it. He understands why we do not serve him at home. No big deal.</p>
<p>I’m Muslim, so I don’t drink, period. I just never grew up with that stuff around the house, and I never saw my parents drink, so I don’t really care. Apparently, it’s something that I can live without and still have a pleasant life. After all, I’ve been doing it for 17 years, and my parents have been doing it for 53 and 47 years.</p>
<p>Well, its not illegal to serve alcohol to your children in your home. So you can pretty much serve your child alcohol in your home, unless you live in Vermont.</p>
<p>Or Florida. Illegal here too.</p>
<p>If it is legal to give your kids alcohol in your own home in your state, fine. I don’t know in which states it is legal and in which it is illegal. But any illegal consumption of alcohol is wrong. Someone on the first page of this thread said that they guessed letting their child try alcohol was “technically illegal” but it was no big deal. “Technically illegal” is illegal. Against the law. Many people use the excuse that although it is “technically illegal,” it teaches them responsible drinking habits and removes the mystery. I hate that excuse. If a child needs to be given alcohol illegally by his parents to “remove the mystery”, then that child has no discipline. What about personal accountability for one’s own actions? Responsible drinking habits for minors means NO drinking at all. Anything else is ILLEGAL, which I would say is irresponsible. </p>
<p>Too many teenagers these days have no discipline, fortitude, or character, not to mention ignorance. And too many parents seem to be fine with that (I literally just saw a picture, about an hour ago, on facebook of a dad playing beer pong with his son and friends).</p>
<p>So if it is illegal in your state to let your kids even try alcohol, don’t let them. The law is the law. Just because “all the kids are doing it” doesn’t mean this one has to. And God forbid a teenager should have to wait a few years to discover the "mystery" of alcohol. I think I want to know what it’s like to rob a bank, so I think I’m gonna go give that a shot. But it’s okay because I’m just doing it so that I can learn “responsible bank-robbing habits”. (That was sarcasm used as an example/support…no need to call the authorities!=] )</p>
<p>That’s all for me for now, I think. I’ll finish with a quote I heard from a guy named Steve Fitzhugh. Kinda corny maybe, but true:</p>
<p>A dead fish can go with the flow, but it takes a live one to swim upstream.</p>
<p>MIDN- what you say is wonderful in theory, but it simply is not reality. Kids drink. Many, many kids drink. Too many drink too much. If your kid is drinking in college, it seems silly to me not to allow them a drink in your home. That’s not the same as giving permission to throw a keg party or set up for beer pong in your family room.<br>
If it were as simple as saying to teens “under aged drinking is illegal. Don’t do it” we sure would have solved the problem, wouldn’t we?</p>
<p>I truly don’t understand why anyone would be bothered that I don’t choose to serve alcohol to my underage son. He isn’t bothered by it.</p>
<p>Both alcohol and smoking are big part of college life. Smoking is legal and alcohol is not before 21. We have talked to our daughter(s) about both vices, and we have told them that even though smoking is legal we hope they would never do it for their health reason. From what we know, we do not think moderate drinking (or even a few drunken episodes) would cause any long term damage. </p>
<p>We are not better or worse parents than most people. Drinking in college is a large part of college social life. I think because we do not “judge” our daughter when she does drink, she feels very comfortable in telling us about her social life in college. Yes, I probably know more about “the party” at her school than some students there, I know which franternities she goes to and which sorority she would like to get into, I also know she always go with a group of friends and they always make sure they all get back together (no leaving any drunk friends behind). From my “post party” conversations with her, I know she doesn’t do drugs, smoke, or stay over randomly at guys’ rooms. I think if we have been very doctrinarin about drinking, our daughter would probably not disclose as much. We do know not all students “party”, but our daughter has chosen it as part of her social life.</p>
<p>When we visited Stanford last year, the tour guide told us that her dorm was having an Italian night in their dining hall where wine would be served with their resident professor present. It must be a fairly normal occurance because it was said in front of 25+ people.</p>
<p>I know “beer pong” parents. First faced them at senior prom.<br>
I’ve also seen them at parents weekend at college. Mostly fathers.
We just won’t go there. Doesn’t seem right.
Our son drinks at college. But we’re his parents not his drinking buddies. We’ve had many talks. We rarely serve him alcohol but had a beer with him at home recently at a bowl game. No big deal. He’ll be 21 soon.</p>
<p>MIDN2012, toneranger: I would be very careful about how much you impugn those parents who choose a more permissive attitude surrounding alcohol and their children. I have friends whose parents are that way, and they are FAR BETTER parents than most of the hard line “you cannot drink around me, ever” types. Far better.</p>
<p>Furthermore, MIDN2012, if your idea of morality is simply defined by what is and is not legal, I’m dismayed for you. I don’t do a number of things that are legal, because I consider them immoral and bad ideas. And I do a number of things that are illegal, because I consider them moral, and thus I consider the laws immoral. Period.</p>
<p>For example, I smoke marijuana (though in my home province, it’s now legal) because I consider anti-marijuana laws baseless, groundless, instituted by a campaign of racist propaganda (that last is purely a matter of fact) and an unacceptable invasion of personal liberty. So I don’t obey them.</p>
<p>My morality answers to more than just the law.</p>