Teenage Drinking

Recognize that teenage drinking is prevalent and your child may partake. Talking with your child and expressing that you do not advise drinking, but also talk about safety. Just because they may partake does not mean that handing them a beer and saying it’s okay is going to prevent drinking and driving or attending parties that may lead to bad behavior.

I remember being a teenage drinker. My thinking was that I would definitely give my teenage child alcohol, what’s the big deal? Did I make poor decisions at that time in my life? Absolutely! My thought processes at that time were not advanced enough to think beyond my own teenage point of view. Of course, most teenagers would agree with my teenage answer.

It appears that some adults are gaining steam with this answer, as well. I recently read an article (while awaiting the dentist), which was centered around a study that concluded giving teenagers and possibly children alcohol at dinner time would make them more responsible drinkers later in life. In Europe this is the practice, or so the article said.

For reality sake, one must recognize that teenage drinking is prevalent and that your child may partake in the activity. Given this, is it a wise decision to give your teenage child alcohol at home so that you can supervise the drinking?
Seriously, regardless of if you give your child alcohol at home, they are still going to go out to a party at sometime in their teen years and consume alcohol without parental guidance. I cannot wrap my mind around the thinking that giving them alcohol at home is going to make them more responsible when they are out there by themselves. Sure it may take the novelty of drinking down a couple of notches, but when you get peer pressure, immense fun, and beer altogether, I really doubt that the average teenager is going to be thinking about what their parent was trying to teach them with the beer they gave them the prior night at dinner.

It is much more appealing to be drinking with your friends that your parents. But what about the parents that give not only their child a drink, but also all their friends that stop by to hang out a drink, as well? I would not want that kind of liability on my shoulders. When you knowingly break the law, there are consequences and those consequences can be severe if someone was injured.

Consequences keep people in line. When you remove the consequence by giving your child alcohol to drink, then where is the responsibility? Now it falls on your shoulders, and are you ready to take the consequences for what your child does when they drink?

The reasons behind drinking are vastly different (for the most part) at the adult stage of life versus the teenage stage or even the college age stage (early twenties). Most adults enjoy relaxing with a cold beer or a glass of wine. Most teenagers drink to have fun, escape and to impress their peers.

Being responsible is not always popular. Then again, when you are an adult, should you really be concerned with being popular? Some many topics…so little time.