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Community Corner

Parenting in Progress: Underage Drinking is Not OK

Parent columnist Jody Montgomery discusses how she handles talking about alcohol with her children.

 

When it comes to what the legal age to drink should be, I, as a parent of teens, emphatically have an opinion of "Keep the age to 21 years!" 

Knowing what I know about the teen brain,  the drinking age should not be lowered and should not be OK at the age of 18! The teen brain’s frontal lobe is developing, growing and is unable to make clear decisions.  

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According to Madd.org,  countries that have a lower legal age for drinking have more alcohol-related problems.

Madd.org states that “European countries have worse problems than America does, as far as binge drinking and public intoxication.  Studies show that Europe has more underage drunkenness, injury, rape, and school problems due to alcohol.  Since alcohol is more available there, it actually increases the proportion of kids who drink in Europe.” 

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Still, there is research that states that with the passing of the Uniform Drinking Age Act in 1984 by our Congress, the rates of underage drinking in our country have not reduced.  

According to The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 85 percent of 20-year-olds surveyed stated they have had alcohol on one or more occasion and to excess. So why are we holding firmly to the belief that 21 is the appropriate age for adulthood drinking?

James. C. Fell, a public health researcher at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation states that enforcing the legal drinking age of 21 reduces traffic crashes, protects young people’s maturing brains, and keeps young people safer overall.  

Then I read The Harvard Journal of American College Health, Vol.50, No. 5 where numerous frightening statistics of college binge drinking both on and off campuses, females vs. males, underage vs. of age etc are given. This is a document many should peruse as it holds data regarding many factions of college drinking.  

There are however seven states in our country now in disagreement and considering placing measures for legislation. Three of those states — Kentucky, Wisconsin and South Carolina — are asking for the change only for the military young men and women.  

The message is clear:  If one is old enough to fight, one is old enough to drink.

The other four states, Missouri, South Dakota, Vermont, Minnesota, are vying for the age to be lowered for all 18 year olds.  

Of course the Youth Rights Activists are excited.  

Their stance?  

If given availability, the romance, the lure will dissipate and teens will lose the want of experimentation.  

I wonder if they have researched the European data?

There are many reasons for drinking.

Transitions  (changing schools, living locations, etc.) , stress, peer pressure, more freedom (parents working, not available), environment( if alcohol is present, available), genetics (children who come from a family with a history of alcoholism are at an increased risk for alcohol dependence), curiosity, personality (disruptive, hyperactive, depressed tend to be more prone for drinking) can all lead a person to experimenting with alcohol.

Whether you believe a sip of wine or of beer is detrimental or will lead to alcoholism, the fact remains. Be a responsible parent or guardian.  

If you drink, model responsibility.  

There is a thought that "Parties at my house are OK…I know the kids are safe and I collect their keys.”  

I neither agree with condoning breaking the law, nor do I really want my child at your house getting plastered and feeling this is “safe” and “okay”.  

So it is my job to meet the parents, know the addresses of my children’s friends and share my views on these subjects.  

It is my job to keep my children active and make them feel that their body is important and vital.  

It is my job to talk about their brain and how it is developing.

It is my job to discuss before children hit the teens the effects of alcohol, binge drinking, how alcohol affects the body’s defense system and nervous system.  

I need to discuss the facts. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, "every year approximately 5,000 people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking. This includes 1,900 deaths from car accidents, 1,600 homicides, 300 suicides, and hundreds of other accidental deaths such as drownings, falls, burns. "

It is my job that I instruct them before they get behind a wheel to picture every other driver is high or drunk.  

Drive defensively. We’ve already discussed the importance of never getting into a car with someone who has been drinking.

I have told my children if they should try alcohol, I will be there at any time, day or night to pick them up (provided they live with me or close in distance).

Their safety is the utmost concern.

Seventy percent of children say that their parents are the leading influence whether they drink or not. That is a weight upon our parental shoulders.   

I cringe as I have made some mistakes with alcohol in my past. I was a lucky one. No DUIs, no accidents, no mishaps.   

My best friend in high school wasn’t as lucky. I attended her memorial and was given a gift from her, a gift she was carrying the night she died. I cringe knowing how forgetful, at times, I’ve been. Because my children are my treasures, and because they are watching, I accept that weight and breathe deeply for their futures.  

I may be the most uptight parent according to my kids, but I will smile and know I’ve done what I can do the best way I know how.  Then I will take another deep breath and pray.

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