"Parents that host....lose the most"

[GER308]

Where I live where Beer and Wine is legal to buy at 16 and drinking with parental permission is allowed at 14. It seems the kids who learn drink at home have the least problems with alcohol.

[Christinerica]

Your society is more inclined to teach order and respect for society in an educational sense.

The Us is a me first society that steps on others to get ahead. This is taught as unfettered capitalism that allowed a failed presidential candidate to brag about "harvesting companies" ( people's jobs) for profits.

In America it's not about the common good, it about the profit for a few. So it's natural for parents to look the other way and not care what their children do.

[Submariner]

During my Active Duty career, I have lived among peoples in a wide array of cultures. Each culture tries to address this topic, in different methods.

For example: in Connecticut drinking in your residence is allowed, or in a restaurant if served by your parent/guardian.

In Italy children are served alcohol from birth. In Scotland we never observed any enforced minimum age in the pubs.

I do not think that there is any single 'right' answer.

I grew-up in California when they had a minimum age set at 21. That was in a decade when most of the nation has minimum ages set at 18. When I first enlisted I could drink everywhere else that I served. When I traveled home, I could only drink on-base, but not off-base.

Our children grew-up being served wine-coolers at dinner.

I was surprised to see how strict Maine laws are. Encouraging binge drinking among 20-somethings is an odd way to do things. And the attitude toward 'Chickenfest's is odd also.

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by inthetrees

Saw this sign earlier today leaving Augusta on the side of the road. Not sure what good this policy does....It only encourages kids to drink and drive. We don't have any kids yet and not sure if we ever will, however I dont see any logical point in this law. Kids are gonna drink somewhere, why would you punish the parents if they are supervising and ensuring no one drives drunk?

I'm not saying the parents need to provide alcohol, but this law does more harm than good.

If the kids drink at a party and leave and drive drunk, then punish the host as if they were a bar if you really want too, however even then personal responsability goes out the window.... why not just punish the person that drove drunk?

I am often confused by the zero tolerance policy when it comes to raising children. And that goes for many things especially in our schools. Kids don't have any opportunities to learn and problem solve most decisions are made for them.

I going a little off topic here.. I have never spent any considerable amount of time over seas but I was under the impression their drinking age is 18 and kids as young as 16 can have a drink with their parents supervision.. I would be curious to see the data comparing our college aged kids to theirs when it comes to binge drinking and or drinking an driving ect

[arctichomesteader]

It would be better to keep the kids somewhere safe. About 2 years ago I was out camping and heard quite a racket at the bottom of the hill I was at. Some drunk kids were trying to drive a jeep up the trail, which is basically a ledge going straight up. If they didn't go into an old cellar hole at the base they would of flipped and rolled down the mountain on the trail. They saw me standing there with a slung shotgun and backed out and took off speeding down the road (nasty winding, mountain forest road). When I went home, I saw in the newspaper there was evidently a large drinking party broken up down the road, all underage. I'm assuming they were trying to get away from the cops somehow by coming further up the mountain to hide. They were lucky not to have gotten themselves killed driving up there drunk. If they were at someone's home and weren't worried about cops arresting them, they never would of put themselves in so much danger. Not every kid has been so lucky.