Where to store alcohol in a home with teens

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Locking up alcohol as if it were a gun is insane. Try parenting instead.

100% this. We lock nothing. Our kids made it to become functioning adults.

Not the PP but guess what, we are a house that hosts all of the time. Sleepovers, bbq's, 10 kids over on a Friday night, team dinners, etc...

It is my responsibility as a parent to not allow any access to alcohol to anyone underage, just the same if I had a gun (which we don't.) That also takes off any pressure my teens may have to "parent" their friends who may want to make a wrong decision.

Sounds like you had introverted teens and you never had anyone else over.

This. My son and his friends had free rein of the basement until he went to college. Part of being able to allow that was keeping DH's poker night alcohol locked up. I wasn't really concerned that my son or his core group of friends would drink then, but sometimes there were new kids who came to hang out. And you never really know.

Also, I'm guessing a lot of the responders don't have kids in college yet. You would be amazed at the attitude shift in teens once they spend a semester at college where drinking and drugs are common place. My son is now a college sophomore and we're actually more concerned about potential drinking now than before because it seems like many of his friends just assume it's ok now since they've been at school (and many of them are 20). Not only is everything locked up but we've made it clear that they are not allowed to BYOB and we're considering increasing our supervision depending on who is over (e.g., popping down to say hi and look at what they are drinking). I actually wouldn't care if my 20 y/o son wanted to drink a beer while hanging out with family, but am not ok with taking on the responsibility of implicitly allowing under age drinking in my home.

Many of you who keep alcohol accessible need to consider what your liability would be if a teen drinks at your house and then gets in an accident. I am rolling my eyes so hard at "we have trust instead of locks". These are teenagers and they are playing you. Get a grip on reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teen is not adventuring into alcohol but I’m unsure about his friends. We have a spare fridge in a main part of the basement with alcoholic beverages that my husband and his friends use. Where to store this to eliminate teen access?

If you have to hide alcohol from your teens then there is a problem at home. I could keep a bottle of opened wine in my fridge for months and my teen wouldn’t touch it. Just like if I left my purse open with $20 bills spilling out of it they wouldn’t bother they either. Now I do ration out the Oreo cookies or they will be eaten without any constraint. I put 4 or so in a baggy a day.

[Anonymous]

Bottle locks or locked cabinet. If you think your kid's friends are drinkers, don't be surprised if they get around your locks by bringing their own. Might need to have a talk to your kid about their friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our alcohol sits out like a [b]normal family. [i]We do keep the weed locked up though!

There's nothing normal aboit having alcohol out in the open in your home. It may be typical or common, but it is not normal.

Those words all mean the same thing LOL.

[Anonymous]

Hard alcohol keep in your bedroom as that’s the stuff it’s hard to track. And also is too easy to get dangerously wasted on.

I’d keep like cans or bottles of beer etc lighter stuff in that fridge and just keep an eye on quantities. You’d want it cold and I don’t think you should have to hide it away just bc kids are over who might steal it. Then if it actually happens, address that or make a change

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hard alcohol keep in your bedroom as that’s the stuff it’s hard to track. And also is too easy to get dangerously wasted on.

I’d keep like cans or bottles of beer etc lighter stuff in that fridge and just keep an eye on quantities. You’d want it cold and I don’t think you should have to hide it away just bc kids are over who might steal it. Then if it actually happens, address that or make a change

Ok after some thought I’ll add: I’d move the beer and such to the kitchen fridge, at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Locking up alcohol as if it were a gun is insane. Try parenting instead.

100% this. We lock nothing. Our kids made it to become functioning adults.

Not the PP but guess what, we are a house that hosts all of the time. Sleepovers, bbq's, 10 kids over on a Friday night, team dinners, etc...

It is my responsibility as a parent to not allow any access to alcohol to anyone underage, just the same if I had a gun (which we don't.) That also takes off any pressure my teens may have to "parent" their friends who may want to make a wrong decision.

Sounds like you had introverted teens and you never had anyone else over.

This. My son and his friends had free rein of the basement until he went to college. Part of being able to allow that was keeping DH's poker night alcohol locked up. I wasn't really concerned that my son or his core group of friends would drink then, but sometimes there were new kids who came to hang out. And you never really know.

Also, I'm guessing a lot of the responders don't have kids in college yet. You would be amazed at the attitude shift in teens once they spend a semester at college where drinking and drugs are common place. My son is now a college sophomore and we're actually more concerned about potential drinking now than before because it seems like many of his friends just assume it's ok now since they've been at school (and many of them are 20). Not only is everything locked up but we've made it clear that they are not allowed to BYOB and we're considering increasing our supervision depending on who is over (e.g., popping down to say hi and look at what they are drinking). I actually wouldn't care if my 20 y/o son wanted to drink a beer while hanging out with family, but am not ok with taking on the responsibility of implicitly allowing under age drinking in my home.

Many of you who keep alcohol accessible need to consider what your liability would be if a teen drinks at your house and then gets in an accident. I am rolling my eyes so hard at "we have trust instead of locks". These are teenagers and they are playing you. Get a grip on reality.

So is your concern purely legal? If don’t get all the histrionics over a 20 year old and his friends when within a year they will all be 21.

This is conduct of a parent who is concerned 15 year olds are drinking.

[Anonymous]

So wait do you all not lock up guns either. You just say don’t touch.

They are teens. It’s one thing if you have a bottle of wine in the bridge but if you have hard liquor, you lock it up. I have a wine fridge that has a lock as well as a bar with a lock. They came that way. It’s normal to lock up liquor.

The liability of a friend took/drank in your house even without your own kid’s knowledge and something happens to them? No thanks!!

[Anonymous]

We collect wine. We put a lock on the door where we keep the wine fridges and moved the few bottles of hard alcohol we own into that space.

It took my parents 3 totaled cars to cotton onto the fact my brother was stealing liquor from their bar. Then they added doors to the bar and locked it. Too little too late, my brother was already any addict. Runs in the family, but no one wanted to listen to me when I told them he was drinking/smoking weed. You may think you have a good kid. He started at 12.

[Anonymous]

My kids can't drink (genetic intolerance to alcohol), they know they can't drink, and I made them taste samples of alcoholic drinks to make sure they recognized it so they could avoid it. When you're intolerant, the taste is pretty horrible.

Their friends are reasonable, and policed by my kids.

Not that we have a lot in the house, given only one of us is able to drink (me, and only a tiny bit before I hit my limit). It's all probably vinegar by now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could examine your alcohol consumption and assess whether you've had enough. Kids follow your example, so of course they're going to drink if you drink and smoke if you smoke. I have a dry house -always have. That shit is poison, which sickens you, increases cancer risk, makes you lose inhibitions, makes you look and smell like shit and does nothing good for you.

I grew up in a dry house and both of my brothers and I all ended up with alcohol use disorder. I’m in recovery now, but my parents not having it in the house didn’t do anything.

[Anonymous]

We have a locked cabinet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Locking up alcohol as if it were a gun is insane. Try parenting instead.

This- the problem is not the alcohol

Even the best kids will experiment no matter how good the parenting is. My friends and I did it. Hide it, lock it up.

Not true. There are actually good kids out there. I guess you just weren’t one of them.

+1. Never had any booze until college, except for a few sips of Manischewitz at Passover.

That doesn’t mean you were good and other teens are bad. What a ridiculous comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a locked cabinet.

. I should add that we are whiskey lovers so it’s a lot harder to track that usage than people who store some beers cans in the fridge or wine bottles in a pantry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Locking up alcohol as if it were a gun is insane. Try parenting instead.

That is parenting! And op are worried about the friends getting into it.