Do you think the legal drinking age should be lowered?

[TravelingGal]

Date: 8/20/2008 4:08:15 PM
Author: somethingshiny

Date: 8/19/2008 11:05:06 PM
Author: WishfulThinking

Date: 8/19/2008 10:56:17 PM

Author: somethingshiny




I don''t think a lot of people [perhaps the majority of people?] are prepared to accept the consequences of drinking, especially in the United States. I see it much more as a cultural issue than one of age.

Big fat ditto to that!


And, to continue in my straw man mentality.....

If 16 year olds are ALLOWED to drink legally, don''t you think more 12 year olds are going to start drinking??

And, of course, drinking at any job is prohibited, but do you really want to have more worries in your life?? Do you want to wonder if your neighbor kid who just got his license and is drinking is going to pay attention to your kid playing baseball in the back yard?? Do you want to wonder if he''s going to drive his own little sister around after drinking?? Do you want to wonder what kind of role model that is for every child??

Sorry you think I''m stupid, but I think lowering the age to 16 would cause more deaths, catastrophic incidences, and IRRESPONSIBLE drinking.

A 21 year old can''t figure out responsible drinking how is a 16 year old who is also struggling with peer pressure, college entrance exams, sex, etc??

Hm, I don''t think that most folks want to see it lowered to 16 (most countries in the world have the drinking age at 1. I think the issue for most here is if you are a legal adult at 18, why can''t you make the decision if you can drink or not?

 

[galeteia]

Date: 8/20/2008 4:08:15 PM
Author: somethingshiny

Date: 8/19/2008 11:05:06 PM

And, to continue in my straw man mentality.....

If 16 year olds are ALLOWED to drink legally, don''t you think more 12 year olds are going to start drinking??

And, of course, drinking at any job is prohibited, but do you really want to have more worries in your life?? Do you want to wonder if your neighbor kid who just got his license and is drinking is going to pay attention to your kid playing baseball in the back yard?? Do you want to wonder if he''s going to drive his own little sister around after drinking?? Do you want to wonder what kind of role model that is for every child??

Sorry you think I''m stupid, but I think lowering the age to 16 would cause more deaths, catastrophic incidences, and IRRESPONSIBLE drinking.

A 21 year old can''t figure out responsible drinking how is a 16 year old who is also struggling with peer pressure, college entrance exams, sex, etc??

You''ll notice I have stated I prefer the age of 19.

It is a straw man argument to use hysterical hypothesizing to refute an argument that I''m not making, by shifting the focus onto 16 year olds drinking instead of legal adults who at 18 are able to die for their country, be put in jail for life, and choose the leader of the country, but cannot have wine with their dinner.

There are plenty of 21 year olds who drink responsibly, in my country there are many responsible 18 year olds who are legally allowed to drink and do so responsibly.

And I never said you were "stupid"; I took exception to the style of argument being used.

As for me not wanting ''more worries in my life'', I''m more worried about college girls being plied with alcohol at frat parties because they can''t go out for a ''girls night'' at the local club. Kids are going to drink at college, regardless. I''d rather see them doing so in public where someone is more likely to notice a potential rapist trying to drag a girl off than some shady party that people don''t want the cops crashing.

For my partner, he takes exception to the police resources being wasted on controlling underage drinking at colleges, whereas if the drinking age was lowered to 18 they could use those resources on controlling drinking and driving, and other problem behaviours associated with drinking.

Last year I watched a news program on college students dying from alcohol poisoning. The story they focused on was a girl who was in a dorm room with her peers, passing around a bottle of vodka. The parents were blaming the makers of the alcohol, saying that they made something that "tasted like candy" and that this allowed their daughter to consume far more than was safe because it was a ''stealth'' booze. I don''t know how strong they mix drinks down here, but if I consumed enough rum and cokes to get alcohol poisoning I would have been puking my toenails up from drinking that much soda in such a short time. I am sure that you could get alcohol poisoning from drinking too many beers or glasses of wine, but again much more difficult to do at a restaurant than at a clandestine private party.

 

[Haven]

Date: 8/20/2008 1:59:32 AM
Author: Galateia

Date: 8/19/2008 11:06:06 PM

Author: Haven

I have a huge problem with the ''I''d rather have my underage child try (illegal) things under my own roof so I can have some control over the situation'' philosophy. I think this is irresponsible and it only makes your (underage, immature) children think that they are capable of handling themselves while doing ''adult'' things both inside and outside of your home. Not to mention it gives them the idea that the rules do not apply to them, or they only apply to them in public situations.

ETA: I''m talking about parents who let their kids have drinking parties in their own home, here, not a drink or two of wine with dinner. Just wanted to clarify.

I''m going to have to respectfully disagree with you here. This was the way I was raised, and as a result, I wasn''t even interested in drinking until I was legally able to do so. Same with drugs; my mother was a teen in the 70''s, and wasn''t going to stick her head in the sand and pretend that I was too young for her to worry about drug exposure. She knew what kids my age did back in her day.

I have tremendous respect for my mother''s approach, which was to tell me ''I''m not going to forbid you from experimenting with drugs, because that would be naive, but please if you are going to try something, please do so in the company of someone who has done it before and will know if something goes wrong and knows to take you to the hospital.''

It was brilliant. In one swoop, drugs were not a statement of rebellion, drugs = bad trip that sends you to the hospital. I never touched them, and still don''t.

Same thing with our ''sex talk''. She didn''t tell me just ''don''t do it'' we instead had many conversations discussing women''s power (or lack thereof) in today''s society, how women''s sexuality is viewed and treated in our culture, etc. Dynamics of relationships, these were dinner conversations for us. I might have been a teen, but she never made the mistake of treating me like a child instead of a person. The closest we got to a ''sex talk'' was a dinner conversation about what I wanted out of life and all the ways in which a teenage pregnancy would essentially ruin my future. Very effective!

She also would have preferred that parties happen in the home, where my parents could act as DDs if needed, the kids would have a safe place to sleep, and that she could be aware of what kind of friends I had. As it happens, none of us were terribly interested in alcohol and had dinner parties instead.

Personal responsibility was always something practiced in my home, and I was encouraged to ''[be] capable of handling [myself] while doing ''adult'' things both inside and outside of [my] home'' and if anything, it reinforced the ''idea that rules do apply to me, both in private and public situations''. If I wanted to be treated like an adult (and really, what teen doesn''t?) I had to behave like one.

I''m not arguing for the age to be lowered to 16, as I stated, I think 19 is an ideal age, although up in Canada that can mean students are in their third year of university before they are of age.

And I do mean ''respectfully'' disagree. I understand that not everyone has the same life experiences and thus it colours our worldview; hence we have the broad spectrum of PS that makes it the wonderful place it is. All the best!

Galateia--If you''re saying your parents allowed you to have drinking parties in your home as a teen, then we absolutely disagree. Not only are you allowing your own child to engage in reckless, dangerous behavior, but other people''s children, as well.

However, if you''re saying that your parents allowed you to drink responsibly in their home (e.g. a glass of wine with dinner) then I think we agree.

I think the parents who allow parties are not helping their children do anything but make bad choices. I have no problem with parents who allow their children to drink moderately within their own home.

 

[somethingshiny]

Galateia~ Then we agree about the age of 18 being appropriate. However, in my post that you responded to, I specifically stated an age of 16 (in several places.) And, for the record, I don''t think I used any "hysterical hypothesizing". Everything I said was realistic.

btw-I''m not arguing. I''m stating an opinion and asking others to open their minds and think about the same issues so we can discuss and learn from each other.

 

[Elmorton]

12 year olds ARE already drinking...the stats on how many 12 year olds who have been drunk is insane...I don''t remember the number, I just remember being absolutely shocked.