From the BBC: Parents who let under-15s drink at home should be prosecuted, according to the charity Alcohol Concern. It says the number of younger teenagers who binge drink has rocketed and mums and dads need to take it more seriously. Girls aged between 11 and 13 drank an average of 12 units of alcohol in 2006, the equivalent to four pints of beer. That's up 83% on 2000. The government's insisting it isn't harmful for children to drink small amounts at home with their parents. It's legal to drink at home from the age of five. Well this was mentioned in another thread... and I feel that it deserves it own. What do you think about these suggestions?
well, i have been drinking since the tender age of just 10, my father caught me sneaking mouthfulls of his beer, and well, eventually he realised that he was never going to stop me!!therefore whenever he got himself a beer, he grabbed me one too and i guess you can say ive been drinking ever since.. ahh..*sigh*..dear old dad
Well at least when they are at home with their parents drinking they are in a safe invironment, young teens are going to drink even if we make it near to impossible for them to do so. All that parents can do is discourage them from doing it outside the family home and monitor what they drink at home, limit them top a couple of drinks. I have seen many teens go out a get that drunk that they haven't been able to control themselves and had to try and sober them up and their parents had no idea they were drinking. I think that all teens if they wish to drink should do it at home where they are safe from harms way. You can still go to a party an have a great time without alcohol, drinking isn't cool and you don't have to drink to fit in. Well that is my opinion on things anyways. ~Torana
12 units a year? Oh my God they must be alcoholics!!!! =O How silly... You are allowed to drink in your own home at the age of 5? Only idiots would let a five-year-old drink alcohol. xD Why not put restrictions on something useful? Like "It is illegal to leave a child unsupervised by a paddling pool."
The question begs. Why would some one want to drink before they are old enough. I beleive in the age limit been 18 Drink may be nice but if your not allowed it until 18 then thats the law.
I am not for younger people drinking, but in some countries like germany kids can go to bars and drink whatever. I think it isnt a problem there because there is no novelty to it. I am most likely ignorant to the subject though because I dont know problems resulting from that.
have you noticed though that in France, where a child is allowed to drink wine with their meal, they have less alcoholics and underage drinking than Britain. i think the rule is stupid. if a parent wants to let their child have a little bit of alcohol then let them. it teaches the child that alcohol isn't bad, you simply have to enjoy it in moderation. having such a nanny culture on alcohol will teach children that it is bad, and therefor when the child is feeling rebelios they will drink, as they know they are not allowed. were you to intruduce alcohol from an earlyish age then the child would realise that it is a part of everyday life and it doesn't have to be bad. just my views anyway, Heather
In my opinion, they should get rid of alcopops. Beer/Lager, Wine and scrumpy all have an odd taste that kids and young people don't really like. Get rid of nice tasting alcohol, get rid of the problem.
Not a bad idea. Those funny flavored drinks seem like they would be a target for the younger people, or at least those with a sweet tooth. Like Zima... I'm never met anyone who ever even drank one but as far as I know it's still being made and sold. I also used to sneak sips of beer from my father around the age of 5 or 6. For some reason I liked the taste of beer. There shouldn't be any penalization for letting a kid under 15 have 12 units per year. Now 12 units per day is different, that would be a little bit wrong. Of course, I do live in the US where you have to be 21 to drink. Maybe I'm just bitter and want the rest of the world to toast if I can't.
I think beer is a man thing... xD My fiancee says he drinks beer because it tastes good, whereas if I have a beer I'm drinking it to get merry. It tastes pretty gross. D=
any attempt by any government to control what goes on in the privacy of its citizens' homes other than the major crimes of murder/rape/incest, smacks of 'big brother' and should not be allowed... however, if a drinking-at-home child is observed to be drunk outside the home, the parents can and should be charged with 'child endangerment' or whatever...
Getting drunk period is child endangerment. It's called liver failure, and it's especially bad if you're a little kid. There is a reason we have drinking rules, laws, limits, and specifications. It's so that we don't wind up dead or severely injured. Parents who let their kids this young drink are morons. (Well, possibly not morons overall. But in this specific field of parenting, they need their license revoked.)
No. It's up to the parents and the child to sort it out, not the government. How are they going to enforce that rule anyway?
Simple. Neighbour sees a kid drinking a beer, police investigate, parents charged. I tend to prefer police stay out of the home, except in cases of assault, and the like, but the moment a kid is on the street with alcohol, or drunk. The police should definitely get involved.
As the anarchist in residence,I feel that they should just go and legalize drinking/ smoking for everyone. Mainly because that would stop the problem with kids drinking/ smoking...
Hey Big-O, I don't believe that's necessarily true. As it could become more abundant, there exists a greater chance that a small child winds up with it -- happens with poison, doesn't it? We can not expect every parent to have their child drink moderately. Especially if they're the bad example. Legal-aged persons have died from alcohol many a time, and it will happen plenty more. Why would any other controlled substance be different? We all probably know someone that's underage and uses drugs. No law is capable of preventing every wrong. However, unless you would like to quarter the police in your humble abode, outlawing it to certain age groups would at least scare some people. Also, people don't use them simply due to the fact that they're illegal.
That's why my hormone-induced brethren uses them. Rebellion. Simple as that. Make it so it isn't as cool to do it any more, and it will drop like a stone, I guarantee it.
First: Evangelion > Big-O. Second: Simply making the drugs legal does not take away the stigma. Nor does it make them any less dangerous. Third: If the point is to legal to wean someone from the 'bottle', maybe you should see if there are other problems. Who says, "I'm going to hurt you by destroying myself"? Perhaps you should look to other options?
On the streets = different matter entirely. If a kid is having a quiet drink with his parents, whats wrong with that?
Also depends on the type of liquor. I think I'd be alright with a little bit of wine or something. But no way in hell am I letting a kid touch strong alcohol.
theres nothing wrong with a kid having a quiet drink at home with their parents at all. and thats what the parents see as a better option compared to going out and getting involved with the wrong crowd and binge drinking themselves into oblivion, and in some cases getting the taste of a few other things on the way..i know what id choose for my kid.
Doesn't that entirely defeat the purpose of a strong alcohol? I mean, it's shown to do damage, why are you going to water-down alcohol just so kids can drink it? Look at the situation: YOU'RE TRYING TO LESSEN THE IMPACT. Obviously you know it's there or you wouldn't need to do anything. While it is true that drinking in a familiar environment with family is probably a lot safer, that doesn't mean it should be done either. "Hey family, I've got a new game! It's called Russian Roulette." Do you seriously think it's going to make it a hell of a lot better?
I think that whilst 5 is too young an age to be drinking, at the end of the day it should be the choice of the parents and not the Government whether their children are mature enough to drink. My parents have allowed me, since about the age of 8, to have weak wine and the like at christmas, and other celebrations, and as i've grown up i've been allowed more. To the point where I am allowed to just go and get a beer from the fridge (provided its not a school night). However, in doing this they have also taught me responsibility and I can honestly say that i've never been drunk and I have never had alcohol outside of my home without permission - nor in it without permission. At my boyfriends houses the most i've ever had is 2 alcopops whilst under supervision, and at my friends we've never had huge and wild parties. We've had the occasional sleepover that involved lots of alcohol but we were all 16, and still my friends (very responsible) parents supervised and ensured that none of us went overboard. On the other hand, a girl who I was very good friends with up until she turned 16 (ish) lived sheltered up until this point. Having never so much had a sip of alcohol, as soon as she turned 16 she was out in the streets drinking whatever her and her new found friends could get their hands on. Which parents were more responsible? I think the real issue is maturity... I know 18 year olds now who shouldn't be allowed to drink, and I know younger people who can handle it. Can you base laws on mental age? (that is rhetorical...) I do agree though that nice tasting alchopops encourage younger people to drink too much because it doesn't taste like you're drinking anything particularly strong... just like juice or pop... it could be easy enough to have one too many of those.
