<p>Okay, I know its a parent forum, but, I have a project for health class, and I feel this is the best place.</p>
<p>So-How many of your kids drink, or have had a drink, that you know about? Do you allow it? Have they been drunk? Do you mind? Do you supply the drinks?</p>
<p>Unlike every other kid at my school, I’ve NEVER touched alchol, and don’t really plan on it. But I hear all these kids who say, “Oh yeah, my parents gave us the drinks.” “My parents don’t care if I drink.” or “My parents don’t know.”</p>
<p>So just wondering…thanks! Hopefully I’ll get a good grade, lol!</p>
<p>My son will drink a beer at home or at the local restaurant. No drinking age here. I am so glad because he seems sensible and will be ready for the wild an wooly West…USA.</p>
<p>Both my kids have been offered wine at dinner at their grandmother’s house (a cultural thing) since they were about 16. They’ll both sip politely, but neither enjoy it. My 19 year old daughter says she doesn’t drink because she doesn’t want to even remotely “lose control, saying and doing stupid things” (she’s self-conscious socially). My son (age 21) will sip a beer with the guys, but rarely finishes it, saying he really hates the taste. Hard liquor? Again, he’ll have some socially, but not enough to get close to drunk. He’s usually designated driver when they go out clubbing.</p>
<p>DD took a class trip to Europe last summer. Among many of the places they visited while there, they took a tour of a winery. Since the legal age of drinking is different there than it is here, the teacher asked parents to sign permission slips in advance stating whether or not our children could drink alcoholic beverages while on the trip. DH and I gave permission for DD. DD said she tried a couple of different wines at the winery and ordered a glass of wine with dinner one night, but didn’t really care for it. There were some kids who didn’t drink at all, some kids who sampled the alcohol, and some who attempted to go on binges.</p>
<p>Other than the occasional glass of wine at a nice restaurant, I don’t drink at all. Even though it can be very isolating at school since everyone else drinks heavily and thinks I’m the “cute, naive one”, I stand by my decision not to drink to excess. I’ve been tempted, just to get out of my head and become less socially anxious (I’ve never been at ease with people my own age), but in the end I don’t want to lose control of myself and my actions. As a 5’4", 98 pound girl, I also know that I can easily be taken advantage of if I don’t have my wits about me. I’ve just never seen the allure of drinking to the point of nausea, puking, and passing out, however “cool” it may be to do so. Plus, it makes you fat. The detriments greatly outweigh the odds, in my eyes =)</p>
<p>I am a graduating senior from high school and all throughout my four years I was allowed to drink. This is partly due to my father who is British. The irony is that he was an alcoholic as were most of the members of my family. However, they still allow me and sometimes even encourage me to drink. I have never taken advantage of this opportunity. Once in a while I will have a glass of wine with my family but I never drink at parties or drink to get drunk. I have learned from the mistakes of my family. My step-brother has had two duis and even totalled a car. If anything, knowing that there is always access to alcohol has deterred me from drinking. It is not a big deal for me. My family has taught me how to handle alcohol incredibly well from the liberty they gave me and in watching their mistakes in life. I am fortunate. And honestly, if it isn’t a $80 bottle or red wine it usually tastes like bullocks. I would rather a sherley temple or roy rogers 100% of the time. I know it sounds childish but they taste so good.</p>
<p>sorry… i wasn’t sure… i figured the report was for a high school course, but wasn’t sure if it was only about high school drinking, or if it included college as well…</p>
<p>I got sloshed once in high school, prayed to the porcelain god for a night, and never drank heavily again until one fateful night in Japan about 5 years later. </p>
<p>All-in-all, I still only drink maybe 3 or 4 times a month, and then it’s a beer or glass of wine at the most. I’m definitely in love with good beer.</p>
<p>My mom practices the philosophy of giving your cow a big pasture in which to wander. She has always let my brother and I have a glass of wine or a beer if we wanted it, but drunken behavior is not tolerated. Her rule while we’re living in her house is that she knows we’ll drink and will probably smoke pot, but if we get wasted while we’re out, we’re to stay where we are and/or call her to come get us. It’s the same for me if my date gets drunk and I’ve called her on it before. If she can’t come, she’ll send somebody to get us or pay for a cab and we won’t be in trouble unless it’s after our midnight curfew.</p>
<p>I actually like red wine, but I don’t drink to get drunk. Two glasses at a party and I’m good. I’ve been drunk before, but can’t honestly say I liked it and I generally don’t like being around drunks. While I was at boarding school, getting caught drinking equaled campus confinement for a month with mandatory counseling on first offense and automatic expulsion on the second. Personally, I just didn’t drink and stayed away from situations where kids were drinking while I was there, but this led some of my friends to believe they HAD to drink and they did some pretty stupid things to avoid getting caught. I’m actually surprised nobody ever got seriously hurt or killed. A lot of them also bragged about how they got totally sloshed when they got “off the leash” and went home for breaks and weekends. There was some claim to random promiscuity, too. I never saw the appeal, but I think it had a lot to do with rebelling against oppressive policies both at school and at home. It’s interesting to me that the kids I know who like to get sloppy drunk and randomly hook up are the ones whose parents absolutely forbid it.</p>
<p>bohemian, I agree with you. The kids with parents who forbid drinking are the ones who tend to be the ones who drink and get out of control. It must be a pyschological thing in how they think alcohol is so special because they are always told not to do it. Everyone I know whose parents let them drink if they want tend not to drink and if so, they don’t get drunk. If you go to Europe where drinking is very acceptable you will find that they don’t have the problems that the youth of America have today concerning alcohol.</p>
<p>Of course, everyone wants what they’re not allowed to have, and only those that can exercise self control don’t have a problem with that mentality. I don’t drink by the way.</p>
<p>Sirwatson1,
The college I’m going to has a British campus near Grantham and most kids do a semester there sophomore year. It’s generally the first time they’ve been able to legally drink in their lives and there’s a pub right at the end of the road … Gawd they must hate Americans! I think I might wanna do my semester abroad in Munich instead. I hear the beer is really good and they’re used to it. ;)</p>
<p>DreamsofYale–is your project on teen drinking or on parents’ attitudes toward teen drinking? If it’s the former, this may not be the right forum to learn about it, as I’m afraid parents are sometimes the last to know. And if it’s the latter, I’m not sure how many people will feel comfortable speaking frankly, since I’ve seen previous threads where parents were flamed for expressing anything other than a ‘Just Say No’ approach to any drinking before age 21.</p>
<p>I don’t drink and neither do my kids as far as I know. They’re friends are just not into that stuff. I don’t think it’s that big a deal for either of them. Maybe it’s a marching band thing…</p>
<p>My parents permit me to drink in moderation when in their presence, but I have never chosen to do so. They have often encouraged me to try wine or beer to no avail. I don’t intend to be a teetottler, but I do mean to exercise extreme moderation. My parents rarely drink, give me ample opportunities to drink, and sent me to a school system that teaches the topic well. I don’t see alcohol as a forbidden fruit. The tendency of teenagers to binge drink, which I’ve observed in my friends, disturbs me.</p>