<p>*kids at my school (suburban & affluent prep school) started drinking heavily & smoking around 6th grade (age 11-13). it began as an activity reserved for the “popular kids” on weekends, when someone’s mom/dad went out of town or something. as far as i know, no parents ever SUPPLIED their kids with alcohol, but i don’t doubt that many parents knew that drinking went on in their homes & did nothing to stop it (in the case of my school, i think parents let it slide because they didnt want to commit the social murder of their children by reporting illegal behavior). *</p>
<p>I don’t disagree that for your persepctive your viewpoint is fairly accurate.
However I would argue that parents who leave their minor children unsupervised with access to alcohol - aren’t any different than the parents who actively * provide* it.</p>
<p>I also find it interesting- and somewhat predictable, that parents who know what their kids are doing out of school, either because they are fairly involved in what they are doing or they know well other adults who are fairly involved with the activity- are told by other teens who wish to justify their own behavior, that, that they actually shouldn’t believe that their kids are doing what they say they are doing.</p>
<p>Believe me I know about lying to parents- about parents who want to believe that their kid is an angel because then they don’t have to get involved in their life.
I had sex when I was 15- around the same time I began drinking and using drugs- I snuck out of the house regularly to attend parties.
I was just waiting for some adult to step in- I even told my mother what I was doing- but she thought I was * kidding*.
I knew where my daughter was going because I drove her there.
Not because I didn’t trust her, but she didn’t have her liscence, we didn’t have a car available for her to drive anyway & since she attended a private school that attracted students from all over the region, not many kids even came from our part of the city to carpool with.</p>
<p>I also question your use of the term “popular”.
Popular with whom?
Using drugs and alcohol in middle school ( 11-13), may be popular with kids who are trying to self medicate their way out of dealing with depression or whatever- but at my daughters school that sort of activity, that young & or regularly would be looked down upon</p>