<p>I’ve been reading this thread since I posted earlier (about genetic predispositions toward alcoholism) and feeling a big disconnect that I couldn’t identify. Now I know what it is: I don’t see drinking as a social activity. I see it as something some people do, sometimes, when they are socializing. There is a big difference. I hope my kid gets together with friends to (fill in the blanks): watch a movie, play cards, talk, eat in a restaurant, listen to music, whatever–and if he has a few beers, fine. (Note: He and his HS friends do not drink. That’s a fact.) I drink wine at my book group, have a margarita at a Mexican restaurant, have a glass of wine while I’m cooking, etc. So do many people. I was in college in the late 1960s, if you get my drift, so I’m not naive. But it just isn’t a “natural” part of young adulthood to drink until you throw up on the sidewalk in front of your neighbor’s home, as one resident of a house on my block did last weekend. (What a fun surprise that was as I went out to pick up my morning paper. Was I supposed to chuckle and say, oh, they’re just cute kids, gotta love 'em?) Or to drink until you pass out and don’t remember what happened next. Or to drink until you are rude or verbally abusive to other people. The reason drinking is such a hot topic among parents is not that we’re all controlling, over-reacting teetotalers, but that many of us wonder why extreme drinking is so acceptable.</p>