Teach them to drink responsibly while they still want to hang out with you when you’re drinking. Prohibition until 21 just encourages binge drinking.
Can confirm. I grew up in the Carribean and I was allowed to drink beer and wine at a very young age. My mother taught me how to drink. I was definitely prepubescent, which is important because I hit puberty at ten. She explained that drinking can make you feel sick and that if I felt my nose feel funny I needed to stop and drink water.
Binge drinking and being fall down drunk is seen a something stupid, embarrassing, and something that only alcoholics do. I still find it strange and embarrassing when I see people racing to unconsciousness. What is the point of being blackout drunk before 9:00pm? We used to party until the sun came out, then we’d get breakfast and go to bed.
What do you mean about the nose feeling funny thing?
It’s a slight numbing feeling on the tip of your nose once you get buzzed. I used to feel it when I was young but don’t even notice it now. She was explaining “getting buzzed” to a kid. It worked for me at least.
What the fuck? Prohibition until 21 keeps developing brains from being damaged
In a recent editorial in The BMJ, a trio of scientists pointed out that there are three periods in life when the brain goes through major changes and is particularly vulnerable to the effects of alcohol. Two of those periods are at the beginning and end of life. When pregnant women drink alcohol, it can damage the developing brain of the fetus, leading to physical problems, learning disabilities, and behavioral problems. When people over the age of 65 drink alcohol, it can worsen declines in brain function that happen during aging.
The third period is adolescence. During those years of transition between childhood and adulthood, the brain grows and changes in many important ways that are crucial for that transition to be successful. When teens and young adults drink alcohol, it can interfere with that process of brain development in ways that affect the rest of their lives.
That’d be a problem, because recent research has stretched the the age at which adolescent development stops from 23 to 25. If you’re going for the medical definition, you’ll need to add a few years to your laws.
Obviously there’s a balance to be struck between 5 years old and 25 years old. The further you push it, the more likely people will use illegal means to drink, but you obviously don’t want 14 year olds to get drunk.
If your kids are going to drink, you may as well teach them to drink responsibly. You’re not going to send your kid into disability by having them try a glass of wine at a birthday. The risks are much greater when they sneak out of the house to get drunk with their friends, who have no idea how to drink responsibly.
I think my parents were smart about it, offering me small amounts of alcohol at special occasions only. None of that sweet mixed stuff, just basic beer or wine. The bitterness put me off actually drinking alcohol on my own initiative until I was at least 18 years old and capable of making my own independent decisions as an adult (legally speaking, anyway).
but you obviously don’t want 14 year olds to get drunk.
Which is totally legal here as long as the 14 year old is under supervision of a legal guardian.
A glass once in a while isn’t going to harm thier development and will teach them that alcohol is to be enjoyed responsibly in moderation. No one is saying get shitfaced with your kids.
Pro tip: Get them started early by drinking during pregnancy.
Based.
Blyat Tips
kek
A few times ago, I was drinking beer in the street in front of an American coworker. He was a bit shocked and I said “of course you can drink wherever you want, it’s the land of the free!” and I loled. I thank the internet for teaching me about weird customs all around the world. The end.
Macklemore: pissssssssssssssssss
Is no one going to say anything about the cups, those are awesome!
I didn’t learn about that law until my 21st birthday. To me having a glass of coniac especially on special occasions was pretty normal. We also had red wine with pasta, and martinis when my parents decided to break out the shaker. Oddly enough I don’t really drink alcohol outside of social settings now and even then I drink the same glass over the course of hours.
Who knew, you can establish a healthy relationship with alcohol with your kids if you don’t treat it like some Forbidden fruit.
Who knew drinking alcohol when the brain is still very much in development is totally healthy!!!
Oh wait
In a recent editorial in The BMJ, a trio of scientists pointed out that there are three periods in life when the brain goes through major changes and is particularly vulnerable to the effects of alcohol. Two of those periods are at the beginning and end of life. When pregnant women drink alcohol, it can damage the developing brain of the fetus, leading to physical problems, learning disabilities, and behavioral problems. When people over the age of 65 drink alcohol, it can worsen declines in brain function that happen during aging.
The third period is adolescence. During those years of transition between childhood and adulthood, the brain grows and changes in many important ways that are crucial for that transition to be successful. When teens and young adults drink alcohol, it can interfere with that process of brain development in ways that affect the rest of their lives.
Linked paper: https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4691
We’re talking a small glass of wine with a meal. We’re not handing them a bottle of Jack and going “chug chug chug!”
Yeah, my parents didn’t really let me have more than a glass and these events were weeks sometimes months apart. It was very much intended to foster a healthy relationship with alcohol at a young age.
Also in my household you didn’t offer to pour a glass for someone you just told let them help themselves if they wanted unlike things like lemonade or tea. I’ve noticed as a result less people tend to drink or drank less if you didn’t offer to get them a glass.
Finally someone points it out.
Exactly, I really wish I had drank a bit more before moving out. I would have made way less of a fool of myself once I did. Only bright side is we were all fools and amazingly I wasn’t the biggest one.
The legal drinking age here in Finland is 18, and feels weird how it is 21 in USA.
German here with similar laws to yours, though wine and beer legal with 16: legal age of 21 is in line with experts’ recommendations regarding brain development, however it’s questionable if this approach achieves the goal. If you want to discourage teenage drinking, make it unappealing, not illegal; but then we might have to acknowledge that we have an industry that heavily profits from a risky substance that puts a huge burden on society (several billion in damages each year) and we might have to regulate some aspects instead of just blaming the unfortunate people who got screwed over.
Weirdly, it’s 5 in the UK. But you can’t buy it until you’re 18.
That sounds super late indeed. Teens will always drink, I think it’s better they can do it in a safe place instead of a forest with a bottle of vodka they got somewhere.
Getting totally wasted in a forest on cheap beer mixed with antihistamines and vodka was the best thing as a teen!
𝕯𝖎𝖊𝖘𝖊 𝕶𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖘𝖊𝖐𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝖎𝖘𝖙 𝖓𝖚𝖓 𝕰𝖎𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖚𝖒 𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝕭𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖗𝖊𝖕𝖚𝖇𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕯𝖊𝖚𝖙𝖘𝖈𝖍𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉
5y/o from Veneto(Italy): pathetic
