<p>Not everyone drinks. It does seem that most older high school kids and college kids do, though- and a lot! My crowd drank in high school but I never did any drugs- not even pot. Now that seems strange as I am reconnecting with old high school classmates and hearing stories about all the drugs at my high school (back then). I just never saw it. My crowd was all about alcohol. Same with college- we drank. As a young lawyer in the work force back in the late 70s I also never saw drugs. Now I wonder what planet I was on because everything I hear and read is that cocaine was rampant among my generation of law grads. Just never saw it.</p>
<p>DD is stridently anti-alcohol. What bothers me (a little) is the “stridently” part.</p>
<p>I think it’s great that she doesn’t drink, especially given the statistics about date rape and alcohol. But I am a little puzzled about her militancy. Where did THAT come from?</p>
<p>S is very much against alcohol and other drugs, but I do worry about his attitude because it comes from a place of fear. With a family history of alcoholism, he is worried that he will become addicted if he experiments. In tuth, he is a genetic ticking time bomb, so I appreciate his actions. I just remember the fun that I had in high school and college, and partying was part of it. He fully intends to rush a fraternity in college, though, so we will see how this works for him down the road.</p>
<p>S1 - beer drinker.
D - once in a blue moon has 1 drink. Everyone’s favorite Designated Driver.
S2 -never.
H - big time college beer drinker. Now, mostly non-drinker.
W - college beer drinker. Now, mostly non-drinker.</p>
<p>We never drank that much in front of our children.</p>
<p>Son (another newly minted 21 yr old) doesn’t drink. Doesn’t like the taste. His choice. </p>
<p>I’m not surprised and no, it’s not odd.</p>
<p>The winter before S1 entered his college, a first-year student died of alcohol poisoning at an off-campus event. You can bet that drinking in college was thoroughly discussed at the vball house.</p>
<p>Neither S1 nor S2 had any experience drinking in high school, and neither has shown any interest in alcohol since then. I’m guessing S2 will have ample opportunity to drink at his college, and won’t be too surprised if he has a drink or two at parties. It’s the binge drinking that I fear most, and I’ve made it clear to him what I consider the (very conservative) limits of safe drinking.</p>
<p>Here’s from the Family Resource Guide published by S2’s college which I thought had some sensible ideas:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So you knew that your son’s friends were breaking the law and that your son was driving them home? Not very responsible parenting.</p>
<p>^ Comments on responsible parenting from people who have yet to try it are rarely apt, and rarely welcome.</p>
<p>^zing.</p>
<p>I am yet to discover why beer is so awesome. I’ve tried ‘good’ beer before and it tasted like something I wouldn’t want to drink more than a few sips of. I occasionally have half a glass of good wine with my folks, have tried hard drinks (cider, german apfelwine (sp?)), may find mixed drinks to be interesting, and regularly cook with alcohol. But I don’t see myself being more than an occasional, social drinker (alcohol with dinner or watching a game).</p>
<p>My mother is a teetotaler and my father has about a drink a week, if that. There’s no moral principle involved; they just don’t get the point. My mom in particular would be thrilled to have a child as dry as she is. I come pretty close, but I’ll have a glass of wine or a cocktail now and then.</p>
<p>They threw my sister a big fancy wedding with no alcohol except for a champagne toast. People thought that was pretty weird, but it was a great party.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why do you say that?</p>
<p>My daughter, who will be 21 in a couple of weeks, does not drink alcohol or use any recreational drugs. It simply doesn’t appeal to her. Nothing wrong with that. I don’t think she’s missing out on anything significant by abstaining, and she doesn’t, either. But then, I’m also an abstainer, so I may be prejudiced.</p>
<p>I think it’s especially nice when it’s a young woman who chooses not to drink because drinking sometimes leads to unintended sex, and unintended sex seems to be more upsetting to the average woman than the average man. I have nothing against college students having sex; I just don’t want it to happen by accident and be something that they will regret later. I think this unfortunate situation is less likely to happen to sober students than inebriated ones.</p>
<p>^^^ I was an RA for two years in college and there were WAY too many unintended hookups/date rapes/pregnancies that involved alcohol on the part of one or both parties.</p>
<p>insomniac, You are making assumptions not in evidence. No where did Booklady say she condoned what these kids were doing or even that she knew about it at the time.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And nowhere did she say what her son did was wrong.</p>
<p>this status just came up on my facebook home page: </p>
<p>“Finished my final AA meeting and which brings my South Carolina Alcohol Education program to a finish. Let’s get drunk!”</p>
<p>If I was the mom and my totally sober, non-drinking kid ended up driving kids who were drinking home after the fact, so that they would not get behind the wheel, I’d be proud. I would not be OK with it if it were the kind of thing planned in advance on a regular basis.</p>
<p>
Many beverages like this are an acquired taste. First time I had Guinness I think I spit it out; now, it is like the nectar of the gods. Sooo good.</p>
<p>I personally can’t stand coffee. Blech! It is vile, nasty stuff. I can count the number of cups I’ve had in my life on two fingers. But I’d bet that if I started drinking it regularly, in about a week I’d think it was ok, and in two weeks I’d be loving it.</p>
<p>I don’t ever want my kids to do drugs, even mild ones, but I wouldn’t mind if they become social drinkers at some point. I enjoy sharing a bottle of wine or having a beer with someone.</p>
<p>Thanks, JHS and roshke. It doesn’t seem to have been planned in advance (it wasn’t a weekly event, but happened a few times over the course of the year), and we didn’t know about it until the very end of S’s senior year. All we knew was that he went to parties and came home sober. I was very pleased to learn that S took care of his friends. </p>
<p>insomniatic, since you think what my son did was wrong, what should he have done instead?</p>
<p>I can only admire any child who can get through high school, let alone high school and college, without drinking or doing any drugs. That takes a tremendous amount of fortitude to stand up to the peer pressure to do otherwise…and yes any student that mature inevitably ends up playing nursemaid and driver to all the others who do drink…
I am just glad everyone makes it home alive each weekend! Final semester of high school senior year only one or two students are still not drinking - even the annual alcohol free graduation events were apparently drunken events!!</p>