pwhittle

this is on my doorstep - and we actually live a reasonable area
must be rife elsewehre too

New Clampdown On Teen Boozing (from York Press)

PeteBrant

Yup, that is pretty mental. I mean I will have the odd tinny with my 17 year old sometimes at home, but no way is he walkign the streets drinking.

GC8WRX

WTF are 16/17 year olds supposed to do? Cant go to the pub cos they will get id'd, cant go to a playing field to drink cos the cops will be there in force(while muggers and rapists walk around scott free), summer will be fun in this area!

Cops should tackle the real problems(knives, class A drugs), and leave kids who are almost old enough to drink alone!

Leslie

With all due respect, that kind of attitude is at the very root of the problem.

There is no way that children should be encouraged to drink at such a young age in this way and the parents are guilty of extreme lack of care of their children. This will be the start of alcoholism in so many cases of course.

Les

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

I disagree. It's the 'forbidden fruit' effect that leads to excessive drinking. Kids are told 'no, no, no...' right up until their 18th birthday, then all of a sudden they can drink all they like - just around the time when they're also leaving home and leaving full-time education.

With the sudden lifting of all the barriers at once, is it any wonder young people overdo it?

Maybe if it were permitted - even encouraged - from an earlier age in a family environment, drinking simply wouldn't be such a big deal, so there would be less of a reason to abuse it?

PeteBrant

Not drink alcohol supplied by thier parents in the local park?

PeteBrant

They are permitted. I allow my kids to have small amount of Alchol on given occasions.

It's taken all of the mystery out of it - End result - My 17 year never, ever comes home drunk

r32

Sensible parents can gradually introduce alchohol to their children, it happens at an early age in France and they just dont have the same level of problem as we do in the UK. Its disgraceful that parents supply bags of booze and drop the kids off at a park. Just bad parents. I cant believe that any sensible person thinks thats OK or condones it.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

I think there is something to both sides of the argument here:

The forbidden fruit notion definately applies: I think parents should introduce their kids to alcohol in the confines of the home before the age of 18: remove the taboo and remove a lot of the appeal.

I don't think youths should get to a position where they should need to hang around the streets for amusment in the first place: boredom and teenage energy and rebellion are bad combinations and alcohol would just make it much worse. I think letting bored kids out with alcohol with the idea that they are ok to get inebriated is just asking for trouble!

The real failing in parents is not encouraging their kids to make more constructive/enjoyable use of their time: whatever happened to hobbies etc???

Ns04