Underage drinking

[Romanos]

How do you feel about minors having a drink with dinner with the family or at a special private occasion?

 

[keith99]

If more families did this the forbidden fruit, the if I drink I'm grown up and the mystery aspects of alcohol would decrease and there would be less problems with booze.

I sampled beer very young and by 16 had a rather impressive liquor cabinet because I had taken up gourmet cooking. It took away a lot of the immature reasons to drink.

 

[psalms 91]

Sounds good but it could also start something that would be bad as well

 

[Lamb]

How do you feel about minors having a drink with dinner with the family or at a special private occasion?

My dad used to work at a business called Midwest Liquors. Whenever there were bottles that had the labels ruined or the wax gone wrong, he got to bring those home. He'd let me and my sister sample these liquors and I really hated them! I'm not a drinker and think that it's due to my parents allowing me to taste the stuff.

Would that work for all kids? No way. Genetics plays a part for alcoholics so that has to be considered.

 

[dogs4thewin]

Sounds good but it could also start something that would be bad as well

Well, just about ANYTHING can.

 

[dogs4thewin]

Just a note as well several states allow this. As long as parents do not serve OTHER minors and the minors do not leave the house.

 

[Tigger]

My experience has been that alcohol abuse comes from self medicating personal emotional pain and not the availability of alcohol. A person that feels good about themselves and life in general don't do exhibit negative behavior. A child with inner turmoil do what it takes to numb the pain wether is easily available or not..

 

[seekingsolace]

I do feel it is very much down to the individual. One person raised in a destructive household due to drink will avoid it, another - repeat the cycle.

Peer pressure, especially now, is one of the biggest factors for younger people. Drunkenness, and all other manner of dubious affairs is regarded as normal and to be sought after - those who refrain are the considered strange or boring. And then of course we have those who cannot enjoy themselves other than being drunk.

I really do feel for those who struggle with alcohol due to abuse, illness, grief and so on. You see a few escape that and turn to God; helps to life the spirits some.

 

[dogs4thewin]

My experience has been that alcohol abuse comes from self medicating personal emotional pain and not the availability of alcohol. A person that feels good about themselves and life in general don't do exhibit negative behavior. A child with inner turmoil do what it takes to numb the pain wether is easily available or not..

That is true because while it is not common ( unless people are in jail or prison) Really you can make alcohol out of normally completely non-alcoholic items that ARE much easier to get since there is no age to buying juice, bread or sugar.

 

[psalms 91]

Yes, but you would still have to learn how to do it

 

[dogs4thewin]

Yes, but you would still have to learn how to do it

yes, I will say point blank sometimes I feel it is a wonder that I have not turned to the bottle. It is not because I have not considered it.

 

[Josiah]

How do you feel about minors having a drink with dinner with the family or at a special private occasion?

My parents are wine drinkers..... and they often have wine before and/or with a nicer or special occasion dinner. When I was a boy, they'd give me a sip but usually, I didn't like it. I think I was maybe 13 or so when I decided I wanted it, and they would give me a SMALL glass (confession: I think the reality that my older brother - 3 years older - had a small glass was probably the motivation). Anyway.... it was never a problem. And I came to actually know wines fairly well - personally always preferring the very light whites.

I remember - all too well - when I was probably 16 or 17. By this time, I was helping myself (evidently, my parents trusting me - and my older sibs). We were on vacation and my parents had brought a couple bottles of wine into the room (a suite). They had opened both a red and a chilled white. Anyway, with my parents mostly around, my brother and I were helping ourselves, polishing off a bottle of white (nearly all ME), and before I realized it, I was seriously buzzed ... well beyond buzzed... which I HATED and found rather sickening and scary.... double vision, room moving and all. All this seemed to just hit me. My Dad of course realize what I had done and without ever mentioning my (I'm sure obvious) state, talked to me about how wine is an adult drink requiring adult responsibility, how they trusted me to be responsible with this. I remember this well because I was trying hard to avoid MY conversation because my speech revealed the reality, so I was TRYING to avoid saying anything back. The whole family listening in, adding to the embarrassment. Without comment, he gave me a glass of water and instructed me to drink it. Although he never mentioned it, I KNEW he knew.... and I was very embarrassed. I had to function, and it was hard, lol. Anyway, it was the last time in my life I've ever been drunk (buzzed but never again drunk). At the time, my mother and sibs said nothing - but now my brother brings this up pretty often, to my dismay.... He said he watched me, laughing to himself, as I did this to myself, laughing to himself as I was trying to avoid talking and how I "concentrated" to walk straight, now eminding me (often) of how the whole family was silently laughing at me. Right there in the hotel room, my parents mostly around.


The lessons we learn.... too often the hard way....



- Josiah

 

[dogs4thewin]

My parents are wine drinkers..... and they often have wine before and/or with a nicer or special occasion dinner. When I was a boy, they'd give me a sip but usually, I didn't like it. I think I was maybe 13 or so when I decided I wanted it, and they would give me a SMALL glass (confession: I think the reality that my older brother - 3 years older - had a small glass was probably the motivation). Anyway.... it was never a problem. And I came to actually know wines fairly well - personally always preferring the very light whites.

I remember - all too well - when I was probably 16 or 17. By this time, I was helping myself (evidently, my parents trusting me - and my older sibs). We were on vacation and my parents had brought a couple bottles of wine into the room (a suite). They had opened both a red and a chilled white. Anyway, with my parents mostly around, my brother and I were helping ourselves, polishing off a bottle of white (nearly all ME), and before I realized it, I was seriously buzzed ... well beyond buzzed... which I HATED and found rather sickening and scary.... double vision, room moving and all. All this seemed to just hit me. My Dad of course realize what I had done and without ever mentioning my (I'm sure obvious) state, talked to me about how wine is an adult drink requiring adult responsibility, how they trusted me to be responsible with this. I remember this well because I was trying hard to avoid MY conversation because my speech revealed the reality, so I was TRYING to avoid saying anything back. The whole family listening in, adding to the embarrassment. Without comment, he gave me a glass of water and instructed me to drink it. Although he never mentioned it, I KNEW he knew.... and I was very embarrassed. I had to function, and it was hard, lol. Anyway, it was the last time in my life I've ever been drunk (buzzed but never again drunk). At the time, my mother and sibs said nothing - but now my brother brings this up pretty often, to my dismay.... He said he watched me, laughing to himself, as I did this to myself, laughing to himself as I was trying to avoid talking and how I "concentrated" to walk straight, now eminding me (often) of how the whole family was silently laughing at me. Right there in the hotel room, my parents mostly around.


The lessons we learn.... too often the hard way....



- Josiah

Never been drunk and waited until my 21st birthday to have my first full unit. When I was 15 I had about 3-4 ozs of beer.

 

[tango]

How do you feel about minors having a drink with dinner with the family or at a special private occasion?

Personally I think the US laws on drinking are absurd.

In the UK the drinking age is 18. A 16-year-old can buy themselves an alcoholic drink (beer, not spirits) with a meal if they are in a separate room from the main bar). Drinking at home is legal from the age of (I think) 5. So it's perfectly legal for parents to introduce children to alcohol at a pace they consider appropriate, such that when they turn 18 alcohol isn't the forbidden fruit they're suddenly allowed to enjoy without limit.

In continental Europe I gather things are even more relaxed. From what I understand French families would routinely allow their children to drink wine, watered down based on age, and they don't seem to have problems with drunken behavior.

It does seem particularly absurd that an 18-year-old can be enlisted into the army, given a machine gun and sent out to die for their country, yet aren't considered sufficiently responsible to drink a beer.

 

[Josiah]

It does seem particularly absurd that an 18-year-old can be enlisted into the army, given a machine gun and sent out to die for their country, yet aren't considered sufficiently responsible to drink a beer.

Good point.... maybe those under 21 shouldn't be allowed to be in the military. Or vote.

 

[tango]

Good point.... maybe those under 21 shouldn't be allowed to be in the military. Or vote.

Or maybe 18-year-olds who are currently considered mature enough to vote, own guns and serve in the military should be trusted to have a beer?

 

[psalms 91]

In some states they are

 

[dogs4thewin]

Personally I think the US laws on drinking are absurd.

In the UK the drinking age is 18. A 16-year-old can buy themselves an alcoholic drink (beer, not spirits) with a meal if they are in a separate room from the main bar). Drinking at home is legal from the age of (I think) 5. So it's perfectly legal for parents to introduce children to alcohol at a pace they consider appropriate, such that when they turn 18 alcohol isn't the forbidden fruit they're suddenly allowed to enjoy without limit.

In continental Europe I gather things are even more relaxed. From what I understand French families would routinely allow their children to drink wine, watered down based on age, and they don't seem to have problems with drunken behavior.

It does seem particularly absurd that an 18-year-old can be enlisted into the army, given a machine gun and sent out to die for their country, yet aren't considered sufficiently responsible to drink a beer.

thank you.

 

[dogs4thewin]

Good point.... maybe those under 21 shouldn't be allowed to be in the military. Or vote.

That used to the case with voting that was until they started DRAFTING 18 year olds and it did not fly.

 

[dogs4thewin]

Or maybe 18-year-olds who are currently considered mature enough to vote, own guns and serve in the military should be trusted to have a beer?

bingo,although you also many times have to be 21 to conceal carry.