Should parents give alcohol to their kids?
Studies show that, by the time kids reach the legal drinking age of 21, there's an 86 percent chance they've already had alcohol. And while some teens have to sneak it or even steal it, others are being served by the people you'd least expect -- their parents.
Special Section: Eye on Parenting
With spring break wrapping up and prom season under way, teen drinking is a hot topic of conversation.
Each year, nearly 200,000 underage drinkers visit emergency rooms due to alcohol-related incidents. And that's leading some parents to begin alcohol education at home.
"Early Show" contributor Taryn Winter Brill reported some parents, such as Laura Zinn Fromm, have begun allowing their kids to imbibe.
Read Laura Zinn Fromm's parenting blog
Brill said when Fromm talks about her teenage son, she sounds like any worried parent.
"I don't know what goes on in school," Fromm told CBS News. "I have no idea. I only know what he tells me."
However, Brill said her behavior is far from typical when it comes to letting 15-year-old Matt try alcohol.
Fromm said, "I'll have a glass of wine and if he looks at me and he wants to try it, I'll say 'OK."'
Fromm, and parents like her, are trying to teach their children how to drink responsibly by allowing them to occasionally consume alcohol at home.
"I don't want to be so strict that they are running in the opposite direction and being as rebellious as they can," Fromm said.
Underage drinking is widespread, and parental guidance is not always included. By age 21, 86 percent of kids will have used alcohol, with some starting at alarmingly young ages.According to a recent government report, nearly six percent of 12- to 14-year-olds admitted to drinking alcohol in the past month. That's roughly 700,000 middle-schoolers.
Dr. Peter Delany, director of the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, said, "We know what happens when kids get into trouble when they drink alcohol. They can be in risky sexual situations; they can get in physical fights."
Fromm says she's not encouraging her son, Matt, to drink. She's just trying to remove alcohol's allure.
Fromm said, "I'm certainly not pouring him a glass of wine and saying 'salud.' ... I really do believe that you should expose your kids to things that are going to be something that they're going to experiment with."
In Matt's case, Brill noted, Fromm's technique may have worked.
Matt said, "The fact that I now, I wouldn't say have experience, but I've drunk it before. I've sort of experienced the mini-feeling of (being) buzzed sort of, and yeah, I think it does help."
Brill visited a high school PTA meeting in New York to see what other parents thought about letting their teenagers drink at home.
One mom said, "I don't think it's right."
Another said, "They're just going to have to wait until they're of age."
A dad said, "I specifically remember once in a party environment she wanted to try some wine."
Brill asked, "What did you say?"
He replied, "Absolutely not."
However, another mother was more flexible.
She said, "I think it's good for them to be exposed to it, so that that curiosity of what it is hopefully is a little deflected."
This approach is frowned upon by many community leaders who would prefer parents take a tougher approach to underage drinking.
Kathleen Rice, district attorney of New York's Nassau County, said, "We all know that kids are doing this, because that's what kids do, but it's our jobs as adults not to make it easy for them. What we need is more parents who are willing to be parents to their children, and not their children's friend."
The dangers and consequences associated with alcohol are not lost on Fromm. But by being open with her son, she hopes to help remove some of its risks.
"If we talk about something, maybe he'll have a little more knowledge, a little more insight," she said. "Maybe instead of doing 10 shots, he'll do one."
For more on this practice, co-anchor Chris Wragge spoke to psychologist and "Early Show" Contributor Dr. Jennifer Hartstein.
- no previous page
- next
1/2
- Dad Punishes Daughter with Free Babysitter Ad Play Video
- How to stop junk mail - forever
- Best Wheeled-Luggage for Your Budget
- Reporter's Anorexia Problem Play Video
- Legit Work-from-Home Websites - and the Scams
- 'Sex And The City' Premieres Play Video
- Lorena Bobbitt, 15 Years Later
- Best Low-Tech Cell Phones Suitable for Seniors
Now...will he be "confused" by why he could drink in Quebec and not at school in Boston? To some degree, sure. But he's a smart kid. I took this opportunity to show him the difference between gulping and enjoying.
there is a pretty good chance they would have anyway. Americans are really idiotic when it comes to how to let kids grow up.
BUT??? You're an idiot.
I hope you don't have any kids.
I drink once in a while, but i know my limits, and never push my luck with pushing it to the limit. Kids need to have the experience of what it's like, otherwise they'll be getting their experience from other drunk college students.
They how to know what it is like for the experience of it, otherwise they will never learn. If you told you kid to never jump off the swing at a park and they never fell down, how would they learn?
I'm not saying alcohol is a great thing, or a bad thing either, but it is a critical part of life, for everyone. I'm sure if you have gone to a wedding you drank some champaigne, that's booze too.
Kids need to know what having small amounts of booze is like to better prepare themselves. Obviously if you gave them aspirin for a headache you'd want them to follow the directions of just taking 2 pills or whichever the recommended dose is.
Why would you believe that it would take 2 beers to make all kids drunks? Doesn't work that way it's different for everyone. So let you kid get to 21, the legal drinking age, and then what? Let him/her get so drunk they die of alcohol posion?
It's a fact of life that they are going to drink, and some may turn out to be alchololics, but if you never coach them, how are you going to help them learn that they are going down that road?
You could also easily get your kid killed because you refused to teach them how to drive and they somehow pass a driving test and drive someone's car and get into a bad accident.
Not if you don't want them to be drinkers.
Are they going to experiment? Probably. But if you think for one moment that by allowing them to drink at home is going to stop them from drinking when they are out....THINK AGAIN.
And if you are a drinker, then you are teaching them to drink.
My husband and I used to drink on weekends, when we had friends over, but only after the kids were in bed. When they started getting up, that ended. No more drinking. I didn't want my kids seeing it. I didn't want them thinking that you had to drink to have fun. They did end up doing some drinking, as probably most teenagers do, but it didn't last long. Now, they don't drink at all.
I also used to smoke, but stopped when they were little. Did they try smoking? Yes, I do believe they did. Are they smoking today? NO.
I believe children follow what their parent's do. They may try something for a short time, but eventually they come back to what they learned as a child.
My kids were taught REALITY.
In real life, yes, people drink. But not all people. Maybe YOU drink, but that doesn't mean that everyone drinks.
"That in real life people can drink when they want in moderation."
The reality is that most people that drink, do NOT drink in moderation.
Alcoholism is epidemic.
I taught my children that they do not need to drink or do drugs to enjoy their lives. There are people that have addictive personalities and once they start, they don't stop. Children are more at risk because they don't know their limits, and before you know it, they have a big problem. Alcohol is ADDICTIVE. It's illegal for children to drink, so if you are giving it to them, you are not only being irresponsible, but you are breaking the law.
Children learn what they live.
I didn't order my children not to drink. I told them what the consequences could be if they did drink. Then I set a good example. I showed them that I didn't need to drink to enjoy myself. I didn't need a drink to function in the real world.
Most of my kid's friend's parents drank. Those kids were always in trouble. They are now drinkers, and still lead troubled lives. My kids were never in trouble and do not drink. I wasn't willing to take chances with my kid's lives.
You don't actually believe that if you give them booze at home that that will stop them from drinking when they are out, do you? If you do, you are deceiving yourself. Most kids are going to want to go out and drink with their friends, not stay at home and drink with mommy and daddy there. Unless they are already a LUSH, and they will take it wherever they can get it. I mean, I guess if mommy and daddy are going to buy it for them, why not?