Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A better choice would have been iced tea, lemonade, smoothie, seltzer with lemon or lime slices.

That would taste gross to 99.9% of teenagers.

Really? My teenager would be fine with all of those. I guess she's 1 in 1,000!

Anonymous wrote:I would pose this question to those who responded, what if they have faux cigarettes or cigars? I could care less about the make up stuff

https://www.partycity.com/fake-cigarettes-6ct-175731.html?extcmp=pla%7CGoogle&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9vKQno_v2wIVwiSGCh3CrwITEAkYAyABEgL4VfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

still not a big deal?

I'll bite. It's still not a big deal to me. If my kids are going to smoke, it's not going to be because of some fake/joke cigarettes. All my kids are in MS/HS so this is the time they'd likely start experimenting - and I guarantee you that my family history of substance abuse is far more tragic and extensive than OP's. The best way to prevent your kids from going down the wrong path is not by imposing your own fears/insecurities on them but by having multiple conversations with them that include facts. At some point, they're going to make their own decisions about what they put in their bodies, what they do with their hair and who they have sex with. All you can do is hope they make better choices based on knowledge, not emotion.

A 12/13 year old is old enough to have learned about the dangers of smoking, drugs and alcohol in school. If a pack of gag cigarettes is a slippery slope to you, you need some serious help. Come back and offer your opinions when you have teenagers and have already navigated these waters.

Anonymous wrote:A better choice would have been iced tea, lemonade, smoothie, seltzer with lemon or lime slices.

That would taste gross to 99.9% of teenagers.

Anonymous wrote:A better choice would have been iced tea, lemonade, smoothie, seltzer with lemon or lime slices.

No way! Those are all mocktails! Long Island iced tea minus the vodka and triple sec, Lynchburg lemonade minus the whiskey, daiquiri without the rum, gin rickey without the gin!

Actually I dislike the word "mocktail". I also know that there isn't actually any iced tea in Long Island iced tea. The point is: any drink can contain alcohol if you add alcohol to it, and there are lots of drinks that you can make non-alcoholic by not adding alcohol to them.

I would not have been happy about the mocktails. Maybe at 16 it would be ok.

A better choice would have been iced tea, lemonade, smoothie, seltzer with lemon or lime slices.

Anonymous wrote:I would be worried about the attempt to go to Duck Donuts, teach your child that a real donut is not cake with crap dumped on it.

Is this real? I can't imagine OP exists in real life.

Anonymous wrote:Growing up we always had sparkling apple cider at special events. The adults toasted with champagne, we toasted with apple cider. We all used the same champagne glasses.

We did this at holidays, or on a birthday, on New Year's eve too. I never even thought about it being a "mocktail" but it certainly was. Same as shirley temples etc.

I think I'd be more annoyed if they called them "mocktails" instead of just "fun drinks" but whatever.

We also used to buy candy cigarettes when I was little! I never cared for smoking the real thing, but I did enjoy that little puffft of sugar you could blow out of those things.

Yeah, we didn't call them mocktails, but we certainly had non-alcoholic versions of alcoholic drinks. Often in "fancy" glasses. I think the name mocktail is kind of stupid, but they're basically just slushies that taste like coconut or limeade or whatever.

We also used to buy Manic Panic at the mall and streak our hair with it. My two closest friends did it one night at a sleep over (just the three of us) when we were 14. I declined because I wasn't interested. My mom was the one who would have been TOTALLY fine with me putting pink in my hair. My friend's mothers were not happy at ALL.

And that stuff took a long time to wash out. My mom's stance was always that hair wasn't something to get worked up about. It grows out and soon you have all new hair. She was not a fan of tattoos because they were permanent and you could never change your mind.

Growing up we always had sparkling apple cider at special events. The adults toasted with champagne, we toasted with apple cider. We all used the same champagne glasses.

We did this at holidays, or on a birthday, on New Year's eve too. I never even thought about it being a "mocktail" but it certainly was. Same as shirley temples etc.

I think I'd be more annoyed if they called them "mocktails" instead of just "fun drinks" but whatever.

We also used to buy candy cigarettes when I was little! I never cared for smoking the real thing, but I did enjoy that little puffft of sugar you could blow out of those things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter, 13, and I wouldn't have been happy about it either, not the fake drinks and certainly not the pink hair. Guess I'm just a stick in the mud.

Didn't you ever play around with colored hairspray or glitter hairspray in middle school? I am pushing 50 and I remember doing that at 12 to 14. The hair thing is harmless, washable fun.

We used to color our hair with Kool-Aid. Real hair dye would bother me, but the spray-on stuff is temporary. So who cares?

I would be worried about the attempt to go to Duck Donuts, teach your child that a real donut is not cake with crap dumped on it.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter went to a party with an Indian friend and came home with henna all over her arms. I was not pleased that we had something that lasted weeks without checking with us first.

How old was your daughter when this happened?

My daughter went to a party with an Indian friend and came home with henna all over her arms. I was not pleased that we had something that lasted weeks without checking with us first.