Kids And Drink I Gotta Get This Off My Chest

[mozzman]

OK hi everyone not been on for a while but as this is the only forum i am signed up to i thought i would run this by you and hear your ideas and comments on this subject.WHY DO KIDS DRINK SO MUCH THESE DAYS, i am a regular bloke with 5 kids who mixs with all ages,i am just as happy socializing with young as i am with old so i think i am in touch with youngsters pretty well,i cannot understand why politicians can't see they have driven kids(not all kids but a significant number)to socialize in parks and other quiet places where they drink all they want as there are no adults about.when i was 15 in 1975 i drank in a local pub with my mates we stayed quiet so not to be kicked out,the landlord knew we were under age but ignored us as we were no trouble,we did not get trousered as we knew if we were banned our social life with the mates was over,plus a big lad would give us a slap.so we were controlled within our group.SO up steps mr politician lets make everyone have ID to get in everywhere nice one, NOT now the 16 & 17 year olds are on the streets still having a drink but HEY we got no rules now lets get blasted where can we go,oh yeah the park and so it begins 16 & 17 year olds plus the 8 9 10 11 12 year olds that went to the park for the swings and a game of footy now mix and get offered drink so the spiral begins.its thier social gathering place now they have been taken from relative control to no control by short sightedness.Now i live a reasonable area but its in my local park,and i bet you have seen the bottles and cans in your parks. theres not a quick solution to this now,my kids know and have socialized in the parks with others but are sensible so they are ok.but for the weaker sheep amongst them who follow the crowd,wanna be the big man etc he can have 5 years getting smashed before he even gets in the pub,NOT GOOD. so give me your views on the subject NO POLITICIANS PLEASE YOU COULD NOT TELL THE TRUTH IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT.

 

[arieliwish]

Yup, hands up for under age drinking cider on way to school disco, and hitting the pubs from 16, but I definitely agree with you that its much more of a problem now.

My kids aren't at that age just yet but a friend has a boy of almost 16 and his social circle involves parties at weekends at various friends houses. He doesn't really like drinking but has an odd can of cider or two, but never any more than that. He comes home every week with tales of his mates literally legless and throwing up in gardens! And this is at parentally supervised parties!

I don't have a solution I'm afraid but it's interesting when you look at the continent where they have social drinking from a young age but very few of the binge drinking problems we have in this country.

Lynn

 

[BingsingsWaltDisney]

Mozz,

I can see how old you are, and i'm the same age ish. what we had was self regulation and corporal punishment. sorry the kids of today just throw the old clique you cant touch me i'm not old enough. what worries me is what are the next generation going to be like being brought with parents (not all) with this kind of attitude.

sorry mate there are no easy answer to this, only thing we can do as responsible parents is to bring our kids up with a sense of resect and responsibility for their actions

 

[Graeme]

I'm with you all the way on this, but I don't want to start on about it because it's really one of those subjects that can quickly get me p***ed off.

More prisons, less tolerance, lots more birches and a van full of 'big lads' to go round handing out liberal slaps. I'll drive.

 

[Goofyish]

It seems to be a society problem in the UK. It seems that people seems to think that they need to get bladdered to have a good time!
I'm just watching the 'Bouncers' programme on ITV. The state the kids get into makes you embarrased to be British.
It's up to reponsible parents to teach their kids how to use drink responsibly and to set a good example.

 

[natalielongstaff]

It's up to reponsible parents to teach their kids how to use drink responsibly and to set a good example.

and hope they are not influenced by those kids whose parents don't bother

 

[Minniespal]

and hope they are not influenced by those kids whose parents don't bother

Yes.

 

[angel659]

This is a tough one. I think perhaps if there were more activities or social areas offered. When I was younger there were community centres offering pool tables, snooker, disco etc with soft drinks. Yes there were some teenagers who had drinks I think it was one or two lagers or 20/20 drink. That was it. Even though we or they had a drink we still behaved. We never got chucked out and we had the upmost respect. I am only 28, so it has been a relatively quick with the new generation of teenagers. I really dont know. I know our local community centre stopped these activities due to the vandalism and abuse from todays teenagers. I dont really know if more activities would stop this or just get those places abuse I really dont know. I sure do know there is no respect anymore. Since when was it allowed to not be scared by the police. I remember and still do quivel with fear when I see the police. Even though I have done nothing wrong. Could be early teenage pregnancy? That wouldnt really make much sense, because I see older people who have children and who do not give a monkeys what thier children do? Could it be computer games influences. How many parents do you know let thier child sit in front of the XBox or Playstation for hours upon end. TV or film influences? I know many children who are now couch potatoes or just sit and play with the computer. There could be alot less adult attention and guidance.

I dont know I really dont.

 

[carolfoy]

I agree with you all, drinking really is a social scourge. It IS up to parents to try and teach that there is a right way and a wrong way to drink, also I agree with arielwish that the continental attitude seems to work, but then again the legal prostitution system in the Netherlands equates to a VERY low underage sex and pregnancy problem, as opposed to this country.

 

[natalielongstaff]

i have to agree Michelle, there are hardly any activities for kids around here and when a club was proposed recently all the NIMBY'S kicked up a fuss

i sometimes think adults forget they were kids once

 

[Cinderella2006]

I drank from an early age, I can remember Friday nights down the alley with a bottle of lamberini!
My aunty would buy us girls a bottle to share before we went out which between 4 of us would make nearly a glass each! I guess she done this to stop us rebelling.
We were not making a nuisance of ourselves, just wanted to be grown up I suppose. Not once did I abuse the trust I was given, never rolled home at goodness knows what time drunk.

My dad was a bouncer in town so I had to be careful when I was going out sometimes just in case I bumped into him! I didn’t live with my parents and don’t think he would of been too keen! When I reached 16 I used to pop in to see my dad and he would buy us a drink and make sure that all his bouncer friends kept an eye on us! He or my aunty would drive us home later on.

I think I started going out in town at 15, never once got asked for ID, my b00bs were my ID I certainly didn’t look like a 15 year old, I don’t think kids do these days! I never drank a lot just wanted a good time.

Well to cut a long story short, I rarely drink these days so it obviously has not done me any harm. By the age of 17 I soon got fed up of it!

My youngest is only 9 and not mature enough to understand yet but when the time comes I might have a difference in opinion!

 

[scottishsue]

i have to agree Michelle, there are hardly any activities for kids around here and when a club was proposed recently all the NIMBY'S kicked up a fuss

i sometimes think adults forget they were kids once

Same round here Nat !!

Mozzman....... I have 2 boys, one who quite likes a drink or 2, but the youngest at 17 isn't that keen at all. He's into sport and fitness in a big way, and says there's no way he will ever drink much - would spoil his fitness routine !! So I guess they are all different.

I'm around the same age as you, give or take a year or two, and agree with BingsingsWaltDisney that they should bring back corporal punishment. The attitudes of the younger generation (not all) is so different from when I was a child.

Graeme - I'll come with you !!

 

[carolfoy]

I think National service would work better than corporal punishment. Give them something real to worry about.

 

[wideeyes]

Here we have a the police going around the town, parks etc and they take the alcholol of them and give them a bottle of water which has a label about the dangers of binge drinking. My sister also said that there is a social worker who goes and takes kids home if they are drunk in the street as they are a dabger to them self.

 

[mozzman]

This is a tough one. I think perhaps if there were more activities or social areas offered. When I was younger there were community centres offering pool tables, snooker, disco etc with soft drinks. Yes there were some teenagers who had drinks I think it was one or two lagers or 20/20 drink. That was it. Even though we or they had a drink we still behaved. We never got chucked out and we had the upmost respect. I am only 28, so it has been a relatively quick with the new generation of teenagers. I really dont know. I know our local community centre stopped these activities due to the vandalism and abuse from todays teenagers. I dont really know if more activities would stop this or just get those places abuse I really dont know. I sure do know there is no respect anymore. Since when was it allowed to not be scared by the police. I remember and still do quivel with fear when I see the police. Even though I have done nothing wrong. Could be early teenage pregnancy? That wouldnt really make much sense, because I see older people who have children and who do not give a monkeys what thier children do? Could it be computer games influences. How many parents do you know let thier child sit in front of the XBox or Playstation for hours upon end. TV or film influences? I know many children who are now couch potatoes or just sit and play with the computer. There could be alot less adult attention and guidance.

I dont know I really dont.

i agree there are not many things to do for the kids today,i talk to many kids and they feel thats all there is to do.something else in my opinion is both parents workingleaves some kids fending for themselves alot rather than in the family unit,thats a politicians fault again in my book for forcing both parents to work to keep a roof over there heads

 

[Graeme]

my b00bs were my ID

 

[Lizzybear]

I know what you mean. I wasn't 18 all that long ago (i'm a month away from 23) and due to my late birthday all my friends were 18 before me but I always went to our local pub with them and wasn't told to leave (was from one or two other places though, even when I wasn't drinking!) as the landlord knew we weren't troublemakers and just wanted to socialise rather than drink as much as possible. I still get IDed now sometimes and they definitely seem to have tightened up even more.. I can see why but I don't think it's getting to the root of the problem. I think a big part of it is that the drinks, advertising and packaging are often blatantly appealing to young people. I don't know many people outside of their teen years who actually enjoy blue WKD

 

[PoppyAnna]

i have to agree Michelle, there are hardly any activities for kids around here and when a club was proposed recently all the NIMBY'S kicked up a fuss

i sometimes think adults forget they were kids once

Here here.

Welcome back Mozzman, your trip report was stuff of legend!

I'm about ten years younger than you and come from a family with a very sociable attitude to booze - nothing was banned, I was allowed to try from a young age, lots of house parties etc.
However, when I got to 16 booze was the last thing on my mind, this was the mid 80's and other things were shiny and new and begging to be tried, I didn't start drinking until my mid twenties. Since then alcohol has really cheapened, alco pops were the start of a big problem and cheap booze is also a real issue, certain chains of "boozer" sell shots and pints for shocking prices. Females drinking large amounts from a young age is also a fairly recent thing, when we used to be in the park sharing a bottle of something girls used to hold back, not wanting to be seen drunk. Young females now don't care and want to drink men under the table
I worked in an NHS hospital in central London for ten years and although non clinical I used to leave late and walk through A&E, believe me the drain on the "services" of this country caused by booze is more than you could imagine but then the tax from booze going into the "public purse" is huge.
What to do, I know not. Raise the legal age to 21?

 

[mozzman]

Here here.

Welcome back Mozzman, your trip report was stuff of legend!

I'm about ten years younger than you and come from a family with a very sociable attitude to booze - nothing was banned, I was allowed to try from a young age, lots of house parties etc.
However, when I got to 16 booze was the last thing on my mind, this was the mid 80's and other things were shiny and new and begging to be tried, I didn't start drinking until my mid twenties. Since then alcohol has really cheapened, alco pops were the start of a big problem and cheap booze is also a real issue, certain chains of "boozer" sell shots and pints for shocking prices. Females drinking large amounts from a young age is also a fairly recent thing, when we used to be in the park sharing a bottle of something girls used to hold back, not wanting to be seen drunk. Young females now don't care and want to drink men under the table
I worked in an NHS hospital in central London for ten years and although non clinical I used to leave late and walk through A&E, believe me the drain on the "services" of this country caused by booze is more than you could imagine but then the tax from booze going into the "public purse" is huge.
What to do, I know not. Raise the legal age to 21?

i suppose we are a little out of the ordinary,i wont be doing another next year unless i do a THIS IS ME ON HOLIDAY CHANGING MY ******* KITCHEN REPORT really looking forward to that NOT i will be back though when i have time to speak about out of term time holidays that was great i nearly got my kids banned till the next time