Driving teenagers from a party to another house after they have been drinking
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| My son asked me to pick up him and his friends from my house party at midnight and drive them to another friends house where they all slept over. I could tell that they had been drinking. But nobody was sloppy drunk. I need to know, can I get in trouble for anything? I was not the one who gave them the drinks. I just picked them up and noticed they were all tipsy. I drove them to the house when they were all going to do the sleepover and then went home. By the way all the boys are 17 and seniors in high school. I felt very uncomfortable |
Anonymous
| I would have taken them home. |
Anonymous
| Yes, you can be charged for what happened at your house. |
Anonymous
| Sorry that was a typo. Op here. the party was not at my house. I was called to pick them up to drive them to another place. Which kind of surprised me since I thought they were driving themselves. Pick them up I never said they were tipsy. So I figured I was the designated driver. I’m happy that they chose not to drive drunk, instead they called me. But at the other hand, they’re 17 years old |
Anonymous
Read the OP. |
Anonymous
| Voice text. I noticed tipsy. Not never |
Anonymous
| Start again, OP... You sound confused. |
Anonymous
| You did the right thing. And I would just let it be. That way your DS will continue to call you in these situations. Otherwise he would be drinking and driving or getting into a car with someone who was drinking. |
Anonymous
This. You are encouraging the behavior. I would have had each one call their parents and I would have had them pick them up at my house or drop them off meeting the parent at the door. |
Anonymous
|
It's true that you don't want to encourage secrecy, and you want them to trust you enough that they call you. At the same time, you don't want them drinking too much!
You're not in legal trouble, OP, since you don't have "evidence" they were drinking. No bottles, no vomit, no nothing. And police probably won't bother themselves for teens who drink quietly, don't wake up the neighbors, don't drive drunk and call their parent instead... But I know how you feel. It's not *right*. At the same, good job parenting the child who called you 
|
Anonymous
| I feel sad for parents who feel like they have to act okay with this. |
Anonymous
Sorry. I use voice text. Starting over. Last weekend, my son called me to pick him and his friends up from a party and then I drove them to another house where they spent the night. They were definitely tipsy. So in fact, I became like a designated driver. All the boys are 17 and have their own cars but they chose not to drive which is why they called me. After I dropped them off and came home I started thinking about it and wondered would I be liable for anything for driving them from the party to the other house. While they were tipsy, nobody appeared drunk or out of control. I have had Conversations with my son about drinking and he knows I prefer he does not, but as a senior in high school I realize that every once in a while he will have drinks. Definitely not every weekend. I stressed to him to not ever drink and drive, which is why I know he called me. I drove a group of boys not just him. |
Anonymous
Let me get you some tissues. |
Anonymous
|
Your kid needs an Uber account with unlimited access when drinking.
No you can’t be liable. Don’t tell people you knew they were drinking. |
Anonymous
|
OP, I know my son's friends, and their parents, well enough that I would have talked to them about it right then. "I'm so glad you called me, but I can tell you've been drinking. Do you guys want to call your parents and tell them the situation, or do you want me to." I trust all of the parents to handle it well.
If I didn't know everyone well...I don't know what I would do. I would not be the drunk taxi happily dropping my kid off for his next adventure. At the very least he would have come home with me. But I also wouldn't fly off the handle, because it is awesome that they called you. If you haven't talked to your kid about it yet, you should. Let him know how you felt and what the consequences are. |