I saw a very interesting story on the TODAY show last week that I found very relevant to my blog. The story was about whether or not parents allow their teenagers to drink alcohol at home to learn how to drink responsibly. The best part to me was reading all the viewers responses online; clearly there is not an agreement between the two different sides.
The basis for the story is from a new study the government conducted which “found that nearly 6 percent of 12- to 14-year-olds said they had drunk alcohol in the past month – about 700,000 kids. Of those, 16 percent said they got it from a parent or guardian.” Personally, I feel that the children who were allowed to try it from their parents are not an issue compared to the other percentage of these young children who have consumed alcohol not provided by their parents. I can’t even imagine why children that young would drink or how they even go about getting any alcohol! I think those are the children that would end up with an alcohol abuse issue over the children that are given small amounts of alcohol so they can be educated about what it really is and how to enjoy it responsibly.
It’s fairly common for parents to tell or forbid their children to do something, so naturally they want to do whatever they aren’t allowed. I can see how completely forbidding a child to have any contact with alcohol before they turn 21 (or these days go away to college) can result in binge drinking habits because they are away from their parents and can go “crazy.” Either way, I definitely feel that the decision to expose teenagers to alcohol is the parent’s decision.
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