Forum Index
»
Elementary School-Aged Kids
Letting your kids drink at home?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
My wife and I are the proud parents of 3 teenagers who get good grades and are generally good kids. We aren't naive, though, and we know that teens will be teens, which means experimenting with drugs and alcohol at some point. So, instead of trying to drive them into dangerous situations, we chose an alternative strategy: letting them and their friends from school drink and smoke marijuana/take LSD in a safe, controlled environment at our home. We live in a clean, spacious, safe house in NW D.C., and we haven't had any problems yet.
We mostly buy the alcohol for them, (that way they will not have to be put into the precarious position of traveling to seedy areas or be at risk of facing jail time), and they have responded very well to this. They have even taken to writing out lists of the items they would like and leaving them on the refrigerator, and everyone seems pretty pleased with this system. They get exactly what they want, and my wife and I are able to track the amount of booze they are consuming. We are always on hand to provide assistance, although we have found that our kids and their friends prefer a "hands-off" approach when they are trying to relax, and that's okay with us, to be honest. More time to ourselves, plus we don't have to worry about where they are at all hours of the night. |
Anonymous
|
Calling B.S. you are SUCH a troll.
Letting your child experiment with alcohol at home. Some parents do it, I'm going to reserve judgement. Letting OTHER people's kids drink at your home, and willingly purchasing it for them. MAJORLY illegal and stupid. I'd be PISSED if my kid were at your house. Buying pot and LSD for your kids and other people's kids? THIS is why I think you are a troll. That, or a severely screwed up parent and I hope like anything that you get busted soon. |
Anonymous
| LOL! So not real. Perhaps a teenager wishing that their parents would buy them LSD? |
Anonymous
| This is the original poster: I only buy the booze, I don't purchase anything illegal. However, if they want to do that on their own, my wife and I provide a safe environment where they won't be at risk of being arrested or even worse. Think twice before you judge, our system works. The kids are going to do it anyway, why not monitor it? |
Anonymous
| Sounds like a perv. |
Anonymous
| No, I am just a thoughtful parent. I guess SOME of us just care about their kids! |
dedicateddad
Member Offline
Member Offline
|
I hate to agree with and therefore "feed the troll" per se but I'm afraid that I can't disagree with it. I think that perhaps the LSD is the only thing I would prefer to keep my kids away from and might not allow in my home but as a parent of twin 14 year old boys it began to make more sense for my wife and I to give them the basement area where they can have some friends over and do what they are going to do anyway...but now they have a safe place. We also RARELY purchase liquor for them...no reason for inexperienced kids to get alcohol poisoning...but we will buy them a case of beer and let them all get a little crazy and have no risk of them trying to get behind the wheel of a car or do something stupid.
My question to bring to the table is in regards to sex...our boys are really just getting interested in girls and we have taught them about being safe...what do you other parents think about providing condoms and a safe CLEAN place for the kids to experiment sexually... |
Anonymous
| I assume you're joking but just in case -- before you allow your DC's to invite my DC over, please tell me that you are going to let them drink, will be buying liquor for them, and may encourage them to have sex as long as they use condoms. Because if you don't, and if those things happen, I am going to sue your ass! |
dedicateddad
Member Offline
Member Offline
I wouldn't be making a "flophouse" for kids to come over and have sex...that would be creepy. But as for the beer thing I think that consulting the parents of any guests wouldn't be out of line if they were coming over for the night but at the same time would you really prefer that your DC (and I admit that I have no idea what that means) be out hiding in the woods consorting with bums, child molestors and other unsavory people to get the alcohol for them? I'm a big picture kind of guy and think that if your kid is of the mindset that wants to consume alcohol then they are going to whether you like it or not...might as well prevent them from doing what I had to do and talk sketchy strangers into buying me booze. I can't tell you how many times there were close calls where I was either about to get snatched or did get robbed...maybe that is a rite of passage but I call BS on that and would prefer my kids to not have to worry about that. Plus the bums usually charge exorbitant tolls for the service of breaking the law for you....a penny saved is a penny earned. |
Anonymous
| Weird and creepy. |
Anonymous
| I wouldn't call this "weird and creepy", this is pretty common in European households. I have to be honest, I blame American exceptionalism/puritanism. |
Anonymous
|
My mom is European and had this same sort of mindset and I am really screwed up from it. She let my BF sleep over all the time and surprise, surprise, I ended up getting pregnant. I had to get an abortion, which was extremely traumatizing. To my mom even that was no big deal...her "have an abortion and have a party" mentality really f-ed me up...
To the dedicateddad, don't make the same mistakes. Talk to your kids, by all means, but don't go over the top with this. |
dedicateddad
Member Offline
Member Offline
| I wish there were less anonymous posters in this thread...I can't keep track of who I am having a productive conversation with and who is trolling me. I will continue to raise my kids as I see fit but I was interested in some real people having a real discussion about this. The Euro philosophy does work well. In my extensive European travels I have seen a lower incidence of kids going crazy with alcohol and drugs like American kids do...and I do blame boring white puritanical people for making it seem so mysterious because of the way we hide drugs alcohol and sex. To those who just keep saying this mindset is "creepy" I encourage you to elaborate...that's the point right? Discussion? |
Anonymous
dedicated, I could not agree more. It is not as if my wife and I are buying the kids poor-quality alcohol at a corner shop. We only shop at Whole Foods, and try to buy organic wines/liquor/beer in order to stay on the healthy side. Also, teens have to learn their limits, and we would rather have them safe at home than driving drunk or going to wild beer parties. |
Anonymous
Not true. It's common for children to have a small taste of wine or beer at a family meal and to be included in a toast, but European parents do not provide a venue for their children and their friends to get drunk. I really hope that these are the postings of trolls. If not, you are severely misguided in your attempts to "protect" your children and you are, in fact, doing them more harm than good. You are not teaching them to drink responsibly, and allowing illegal drugs only encourages them to abuse other drugs. I agree with the PP who said that if you allowed this in your home and did not inform parents, they would sue. Maybe you should examinie your own relationship with drugs and alcohol. It sounds like you might have a problem there. |