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Safe Grad Parties

You know, in a way this makes me think of street racing. It's such a problem in some areas that the police just try to force it to a less busy street during the late hours to minimise the danger. They're going to race anyway, we can't stop them. Is tolerance of misbehaviour encouraging that misbehaviour?
 
Sir Robin Goodfellow said:
You know, in a way this makes me think of street racing. It's such a problem in some areas that the police just try to force it to a less busy street during the late hours to minimise the danger. They're going to race anyway, we can't stop them. Is tolerance of misbehaviour encouraging that misbehaviour?
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Not a good analogy IMO as street racing can injure others.

But, as others have acknowledged, young people will drink under age. This has happened since age limits were introduced. It is not something that can be effectively policed, and I would not like to see large numbers of police even attempting to do so. So what to do? Ignore it and let young people drink wherever, or at least attempt to control it and stop excessive drinking.

And on this last point, I haven't seen anything apart from the OP which confirms the ten drink limit at these parties. But even if it is that limit, what is the size of the glasses? This is a serious question.
 
10's a high number, so the specifics are questionable, but the general concept is reasonable.

We did this at my graduation with a lower number of supplied drinks. The parents kept the keys to the cars, supplied the booze, made sure no one who was too drunk got more booze, and ran interference with the cops. Worked out great. Everyone had fun, no one got hurt, and I brought my horn and had a decent semi-drunken jam session with the other musicians that showed up.
 
I don't know about serving size. The article never said. As far as the street racing analogy goes, well, yes, your getting drunk affects your health only, but you're an adult, and can legally decide to take that risk. A minor is not considered to be responsible enough to make such choices, and parents are supposed to prevent them from making bad decisions.

The problem is that the parents who organise such parties are sending the message that getting drunk is needed for fun to happen. But then, so many adults believe that this is so, how can we expect children to learn otherwise?

Most of the Christmas parties you will attend in this town feature free drinks for all in attendance, and those who show up usually stay all night and get good and drunk. There is a farm implement dealership owned by a religious family that doesn't approve of drunkenness, and they always have alcohol-free dinners, which are sparsely attended and usually empty after a half hour, I'm told. It's no fun if you're not drunk. It seems that, from what I've seen, you never go to the bar and have a cocktail, what's the point of that? No, you need to get ripped. If you can remember your evening, you obviously didn't have any fun. I recall the story of a co-worker who wanted to bring beer with him to a birthday party his child was attending so that it would be "less boring". He couldn't be without beer for three hours. What message do kids get when supposedly responsible adults cannot be expected to avoid reckless behaviour like binge drinking?

Now I'm just ranting. I don't have any solutions.
 
quixotecoyote said:
10's a high number, so the specifics are questionable, but the general concept is reasonable.

We did this at my graduation with a lower number of supplied drinks. The parents kept the keys to the cars, supplied the booze, made sure no one who was too drunk got more booze, and ran interference with the cops. Worked out great. Everyone had fun, no one got hurt, and I brought my horn and had a decent semi-drunken jam session with the other musicians that showed up.
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Why does there need to be any alcohol present for a good time to be had? Why does every event seem to require at least a low level of intoxication?
 
lionking said:
13-18 is quite a range. Personally I don't see a problem with 16 and 17 year olds having a drink in a controlled environment.
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My emphasis. I would agree that is a perfectly reasonably scenario. What is your opinion about ten drinks in a controlled environment?
 
lionking said:
I'm really trying to understand the thinking behind this. You acknowledge that under age people will drink, but you don't want to see any attempt to supervise it.
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My bold. If you replace the bolded word with "encouage" or "facilitate" then I would reply, "yes".

ETA: lionking, I think you and I are in agreement at a basic level. Alcohol has been an aspect of society for thousands of years. It can be benign but it can be abused. How society handles it is key. If alcohol is merely a part of the social milieu then it will likely be handled responsibly. Unfortunately, in the USA this is not the case in large part. Here imbibing alcohol when less than 18 is viewed as bad but if you're over 18, hey, go for it. D.U.M.B.
 
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SezMe said:
My emphasis. I would agree that is a perfectly reasonably scenario. What is your opinion about ten drinks in a controlled environment?
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It depends on the size of the glass and the type of drink, but ten does seem too much. There was no link provided in the OP, but if it was a newspaper report, well I am skeptical about this "ten drink limit". I mean, they wouldn't be exaggerating just to sell papers would they?:rolleyes:
 
Tsukasa Buddha said:
I often wonder how aliens would view us, as almost every society seems to have ingesting toxins to inhibit mental capacity as a recreational and social thing.

Society is weird :confused: .
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No way! Alien space ale would far more advanced than our puny human beer.

Seriously though, drinking alcohol to feel good is perfectly logical. It is really no different than recreational sex or riding a roller coaster. Hedonism has been around longer than humanity.
 
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KingMerv00 said:
No way! Alien space ale would far more advanced than our puny human beer.

Seriously though, drinking alcohol to feel good is perfectly logical. It is really no different than recreational sex or riding a roller coaster. Hedonism has been around longer than humanity.
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NO! I'll never believe the great apes drank Miller Lite.
 
Sir Robin Goodfellow said:
Why does there need to be any alcohol present for a good time to be had? Why does every event seem to require at least a low level of intoxication?
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I don't believe anyone mentioned every event. We had alcohol and intoxication at some events because we wanted to and we weren't posing serious risks to anyone, which is all that should be required for justification.
 
Sir Robin Goodfellow said:
A minor is not considered to be responsible enough to make such choices, and parents are supposed to prevent them from making bad decisions.
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Exactly. As you grow older you supposedly become more responsible, and are therefore granted greater liberties to engage in potentially dangerous activities. By the age of 16 most kids understand what responsibility is all about, and apart from a raging hormone problem and a weak resistance to peer pressure problem, they have all the potentialities to be responsible: as long as they are educated about dangers (getting drunk and doing something stupid, alcoholism), and contributing risks (showing off). So I think it is an excellent idea for parents to be involved in teaching kids how to responsibly use alcohol.

The problem is that the parents who organise such parties are sending the message that getting drunk is needed for fun to happen. But then, so many adults believe that this is so, how can we expect children to learn otherwise?
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No, only that alcohol in moderate quantities is a useful social lubricant; it helps otherwise reticent people loosen up and enjoy themselves more. Getting drunk is overkill.

There is a farm implement dealership owned by a religious family that doesn't approve of drunkenness, and they always have alcohol-free dinners, which are sparsely attended and usually empty after a half hour, I'm told. It's no fun if you're not drunk. It seems that, from what I've seen, you never go to the bar and have a cocktail, what's the point of that? No, you need to get ripped.
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It seems that, most of the people in your town were never taught how to use alcohol responsibly. You don't go to 'get ripped', you go to socialize and have good conversation.
 
I have a problem with five drinks being a binge. Or even ten. I'm a big guy, it would take eight drinks within two hours to get me to the legal limit. And, the usual time to metabolize alcohol is about one drink in two hours. (probably lots faster for me) So, five drinks in two hours, another one every hour thereafter, a party lasting from dinner until one a.m., adds up to eleven, with never being over the limit. Add in the effect of a full stomach, and also having built up a tolerance , ten drinks in a night is certainly not an irrational ration. Just enough for a good time, rotflmao. Release much endorphins.
 
I guess it's an okay idea, I just can't help feeling that kids need to learn to screw up sometimes.

Everything is supervised, everything is boxed in, everything is safe. Then oops, 18, go be an adult.
 
lionking said:
13-18 is quite a range. Personally I don't see a problem with 16 and 17 year olds having a drink in a controlled environment.

AFAIK in Australia, while it is illegal for under 18s to buy alcohol, it is not illegal for them to have a drink. Public drunkenness is, of course illegal as is serving under 18s in a bar.
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Much the same in the UK. The minimum legal age to drink alcohol in the UK is 5, I believe.
 
zooterkin said:
Much the same in the UK. The minimum legal age to drink alcohol in the UK is 5, I believe.
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Ah well, I was in France when I let my 4 year old have cider watered down by a large amount of apple juice.


My parents allowed us to "taste" anything they were drinking when we were kids and we often had a glass of wine with a sunday lunch from about age 12 (or whenever we decided it didn't taste totally vile. And when I was about 14 one of my friend's parents used to let us drink cider when a group of us had sleepovers in her house - just a couple of bottles between us. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, as long as it is supervised and small amounts. I think its better than seeing 18 (or 21) as this age where something forbidden suddenly becomes available and people go over the top with it. I know I didn't go overboard with alcohol when I was "legal" like some of my friends (who hadn't been allowed it) did.
 
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Does anybody here care enough about this subject to go look for studies re: whether 'teaching children to drink responsibly' does/does not effect alcoholic behavior?

But, alcohol is one of those subject that is very polarized by vested interest. Teetotalers, and beverage corporations probably sponsor the studies, hard to find unbiased sponsors. Same for porn, and homosexuality.

Personally, I am an alcoholist. I do believe that, like other drugs, alcohol has benefits. Both for medical health, and social health.
 
casebro said:
Does anybody here care enough about this subject to go look for studies re: whether 'teaching children to drink responsibly' does/does not effect alcoholic behavior?

But, alcohol is one of those subject that is very polarized by vested interest. Teetotalers, and beverage corporations probably sponsor the studies, hard to find unbiased sponsors. Same for porn, and homosexuality.

Personally, I am an alcoholist. I do believe that, like other drugs, alcohol has benefits. Both for medical health, and social health.
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I'm sure I have looked before, and not really found any real studies.
 
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