Under age drinking – It’s not wrong!
I started drinking from a fairly young age, probably around 11-12. It was not excessive and I was only allowed to drink in the house with my father. As I grew up, standing out on a street corner to socialise and drink was never my thing. Getting soaked through from the rain just to drink a can of lager friends never appealed, I was more content with sitting down and watching a movie with a drink in hand and a pizza to match.
With the ever growing presence of under-age drinking and binge drinking in the media people are told to look out for themselves as they are drinking too much and at too much of a young age.
Supermarkets now have an “Under 25 Policy” whereby if you look under 25 you will be asked for ID. I have heard two stories that Tesco’s are doing an “Under 40″ policy which is completely ludicrous! I have also heard that a man was in a well known supermarket doing his weekly shop with his daughter and was not allowed to buy a bottle of wine because he was with a minor, another ludicrous story.
In my eyes there is nothing wrong with under age drinking as long as it is done correctly and supervised. At least if under-age drinkers are supervised at home, it will hopefully help them avoid the hangovers from hell and inconsiderate behaviour.
The government asking people to stop binge drinking isn’t going to stop them, it is more likely that they will want to drink more!
My advice, if you want your kids to drink then so be it, but keep them under control when they’re starting off. No one in this world is safe from acting up from time to time when they’ve had a drink but would you prefer your kids to be drinking on a street corner or in their own home where they can be supervised!
I know which one I would prefer!
You are expressing what I always thought.
I’m from Germany (married to an American and living in the US) and the drinking age there is 16 for beer and wine (18 for hard alcohol everything above 35% Vol. or 70 proof).
Of course teenagers drink even before that age and normally nobody bothers you about that. But everybody should learn how to drink in moderation.
Of course, as you described, a little sophistication combined with enjoying alcohol wouldn’t hurt most Americans either. I mean would you drink a fine wine out if a can? Why do you do it with beer?
Whenever I drink beer, I demand a glass. And in Germany there is lots of ways and rules, almost artwork how to pour a beer.
In Germany every kind of beer has its distinct kind of glass. You’d never drink a Pilsener out of a simple glass, the Pilsener glass looks more like a wine glass. And I am sure you have seen the tall 0.5L glasses in which a Wheat/Weizen/Weiss beer is supposed to be served.
If you get a glass in an American bar, you are getting a pint glass, and that’s fine – but for every kind of beer the same glass??? Nobody really cares, what the differences is in the beers and why different beers require different glasses for the best enjoyment.
Maybe it’s because Germans have such along beer tradition, that they care about those things. But why do Americans not care about them.
I think, starting with the prohibition in the 1920s and all those years later until today, people have forgotten how to drink for the _taste_ of alcohol, but mainly drink for the effect of the alcohol (making you drunk, forgetting problems, being cool in front of friends, etc)
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty people in Germany that get drunk on a regular basis, and I have had quite a few hangovers also in my more than 20 years of drinking.
BUT I seriously believe that Americans (not only the young) are not educated enough on the effect of alcohol and how to use it as an enjoyment for the taste, rather than a simple thirst killer or even a “tool to be cool”.
Americans really have to learn and most of all truely understand, what the term “DESIGNATED DRIVER” means.
In Germany, when we sat together in a bar among friends, we always made sure that one of us stayed sober and that he drove ALL the others home – in fact he probably picked us up and dove us there to begin with.
Of course in Germany there are almost no places that don not have an alcohol license, which means, that you don’t always have to go to a bar or a selected restaurant to drink beer. Many people hang out in a street cafe or bistro and the designated driver has lot more choices of beverages to enjoy than just alcohol or pop.
Drinking at home, as you describe it in your article, is of course no exception. If you drink at home, don’t drive anymore later.
By the way, my father introduced me (at home) to my first weiss beer on my 14th birthday, and after that I probably didn’t drink for a year or so – almost nothing – although my dad wouldn’t have minded.
But he always promoted to drink in moderation and only if you have a taste for it and not another reason.
I still live by it and have never become an alcoholic nor have I been in an drink driving accident.
So, yes, lower the drinking age to 18 (or even lower) and TEACH your children not how to NOT drink, but how to DRINK, but drink reasonably.
I whole-heartedly agree with the above post.
Im 18, born and raised in california. Ive seen friends drink and drink and drink until the point of near-death. Admittidly I have had simmilar experiences with alcohol.
America puts alcohol on a pedistal, its “cool” its “grown-up”. They make alcohol illegal, but make it so easy for minors to obtain. Incredibly easy.
I personally, have an incredible thirst for good beer. I am delighted by the flavor, and aroma. I also refuse to drink beer from a can. I need a beautiful frosted glass. When I drink for taste, I have had enough after 1-3 pints. it takes about 4 pints to get me “drunk”.
I am of age to be drafted to die for my country, I am of age to pay taxes, I am of age to own property. I am of age to vote.
But I cant enjoy a beer?
Something is wrong with that.