Anonymous wrote:I have attended about a dozen Senior graduation parties in the last two weeks, both from public and private school parents that where hosting the parties.

Yes, alcohol was served to graduating seniors at every party I attended. Parents were at all events and the kids were not ever over served and the parents checked in with their kids to see how they were doing.

Every family I know has a hard rule that if you have had a drink. or if any of your friends have been drinking, you may not get in the car with them. No questions asked, take an Uber home.

I guess it's different for everyone. We can afford to pay for Ubers so we are lucky. Not everyone can afford that luxury.

My kid is off to college in a few months. I'm sure it's going to be a learning experience. It was for me.

lastly I will say. parents serving 16 year old kids alcohol are ridiculous and should not be doing that!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
For what it's worth, the host families at these things (I'm thinking of 6 families) are all very white-bread Americans.

When this has occurred, I’ve assumed the parents are alcoholics. Almost as bad were parents serving “mocktails” pre-homecoming dance. I thought it was glamorizing alcohol.

Signed,
The strictest and meanest Mom in Bethesda

Anonymous wrote:I have attended about a dozen Senior graduation parties in the last two weeks, both from public and private school parents that where hosting the parties.

Yes, alcohol was served to graduating seniors at every party I attended. Parents were at all events and the kids were not ever over served and the parents checked in with their kids to see how they were doing.

Every family I know has a hard rule that if you have had a drink. or if any of your friends have been drinking, you may not get in the car with them. No questions asked, take an Uber home.

I guess it's different for everyone. We can afford to pay for Ubers so we are lucky. Not everyone can afford that luxury.

My kid is off to college in a few months. I'm sure it's going to be a learning experience. It was for me.

lastly I will say. parents serving 16 year old kids alcohol are ridiculous and should not be doing that!

Anonymous wrote:I have attended about a dozen Senior graduation parties in the last two weeks, both from public and private school parents that where hosting the parties.

Yes, alcohol was served to graduating seniors at every party I attended. Parents were at all events and the kids were not ever over served and the parents checked in with their kids to see how they were doing.

Every family I know has a hard rule that if you have had a drink. or if any of your friends have been drinking, you may not get in the car with them. No questions asked, take an Uber home.

I guess it's different for everyone. We can afford to pay for Ubers so we are lucky. Not everyone can afford that luxury.

My kid is off to college in a few months. I'm sure it's going to be a learning experience. It was for me.

lastly I will say. parents serving 16 year old kids alcohol are ridiculous and should not be doing that!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids at two different Big3 schools.
This past week (end of year parties and grad parties) each of my kids has been invited to KID ONLY parties
where the parents bought alcohol. The kids at one party were 15-16. The other ones were grad parties so the kids were 17-18.
The parents bought the alcohol (not the kids sneaking in). The parents had ice buckets of ice seltzer, etc for age 15+ kids.
They're not tiny parties either (like just the popular or wild kids or anything like that).
It's a normal cross section of the classes.

Am I hopelessly out of touch? My kids say "it's a private school thing mom. All the parents do it."
Is this true?
I am not judging (well I guess I am) but I'm still sending my kids to these things so I guess I'm not really judging.

And if you say "this never happens", I'd encourage you to dig deeper.
My daughter was at a 10th grade girls-only pool party yesterday afternoon and I thought I knew the mom.
I never would have even thought to ask my kid "was there alcohol at this girls-only (no boys were there) afternoon pool party?
I mean, huh?
And yet there was!! She served the kids hard seltzer.

What have you seen? Appreciate any perspectives.
Thanks you much.

Let me cut to the chase. Parents who serve alcohol to underage children are terrible parents who lack sound judgment. If I find out that you’re one of those parents, I will publicly bad-mouth you and my children will never cross the threshold of your home again. The End.

Anonymous wrote:I have attended about a dozen Senior graduation parties in the last two weeks, both from public and private school parents that where hosting the parties.

Yes, alcohol was served to graduating seniors at every party I attended. Parents were at all events and the kids were not ever over served and the parents checked in with their kids to see how they were doing.

Every family I know has a hard rule that if you have had a drink. or if any of your friends have been drinking, you may not get in the car with them. No questions asked, take an Uber home.

I guess it's different for everyone. We can afford to pay for Ubers so we are lucky. Not everyone can afford that luxury.

My kid is off to college in a few months. I'm sure it's going to be a learning experience. It was for me.

lastly I will say. parents serving 16 year old kids alcohol are ridiculous and should not be doing that!

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious how others react if they find out a parent does this. I found out one of my teen’s friends’ parents let them drink alcohol and use weed products several times at their house (they weren’t sneaking it-parent was fully aware) during when they were just turned 16. I’ve had the rule my child can’t spend time in that house. Reasonable?

Anonymous wrote:Not just a private school thing. There was a huge QO party last year broken up by the cops. The kids hosting the party were sophomores. Their parents were home and either allowed the alcohol or provided it and were drinking too. They didn't even try to be discreet. It was in the backyard.

Anonymous wrote:OP here.
For what it's worth, the host families at these things (I'm thinking of 6 families) are all very white-bread Americans.

Anonymous wrote:

The parents should’ve been more exclusive about who they invited. We often get complaints about being cliquey, but the people excluded would react horribly to being invited. Some of us are ok with kids drinking small amounts of alcohol. I grew up in Europe and have had beers with teachers. I think it’s much healthier. The students never do more than sip respectfully. I’d rather be with them during these first, tepid encounters than have them have nothing, to go college, and encounter it for the first time at an American frat house.

You think you are the cool parent, but the teens are laughing at you behind their back. My DC goes to these parties (as do we), and then comes home and laughs about the parents who never grew up and don't know how to act like parents. You should not be deciding for other parents whether their kid can drink. End of story.