alcohol

[raiderette]

Maybe I have more knowledge than I would like to have experienced in my years but my son was in the pledge class at the University of Oklahoma where a young man died from alcohol poisoning. For some reason the age has been set at 21, the young man that died was 19, I being the mother of three boys and one girl have seen that the law needs to be obeyed. Young men and women take it to whatever limit they think they can handle, at the age of 19 they don't know their limits. I for one would not want to be responsible for something happening to someone under the age of 21, therefore if Regent says that 21 is the age which someone can have a drink, I think it should be followed.

[noddie11]

This has turned into an interesting discussion! Here in the UK the legal age is 18 but most kids are probably drinking at least 2 years prior to that.The majority of parents in my circle of friends introduce their children to responsible drinking and discuss the dangers of abuse with them. As always though there are those parents who do not police what their children are doing and this can cause problems with binge drinking. My daughter at 18 is away at university and is to all intents and purposes an adult with full responsibility for herself. I can only hope she has listened to our words and does not behave irresponsibly. To date she has shown no sign of doing so and although she drinks she does not get drunk.I am not sure whether denying alcohol for another 3 years has any effect on misuse or not. I know that in the USA proof of age is much more widely asked for than here where pub staff sometimes seem embarrassed to ask. In my opinion if we asked for proof here it would solve some of the problems with under age drinkers.

As always I think it is the example we set our children that is more important.

We are going on a cruise to France and Spain with Regent, where it is very easy to get alcohol at any age but I have seen very few drunken teenagers there.

[RachelG]

I am very familiar with the incident at OU. And I am of the opinion that it, and similiar incidents, are mostly the result of parents not teaching their children to drink responsibly. The kids are totally forbidden to touch alcohol, so when they go off to college on their own, they go wild and have no concept of how much is too much.

My oldest son is a Marine (one of those who could go off and defend his country but not legally buy a drink when he first joined, though he is now very legal to do that), and he has observed and commented on this in the military too.

[cwc]

I like my family method of alcohol training :)

When I was little (like 6-7), I used to pour my dad's beer when he got home from work. One time, I asked if I can tried some (since it looks like cream soda but with extra foam on top) and he said "go ahead" So I took a BIG gulp and all I got is foam and BITTER liquid. YUKE! So from that time on I hated beer. Now, I am slowly getting into micro-brew which my husband loves, but I still don't drink beer :D.

Then my uncle was a wine nut and I was wine tasting with him since I was 12 (at home of course), and all his wine were in the 50-100+$ range which I can't afford. Those are the only ones I like, anything else is just rotten grape juice.:p

[raiderette]

I agree in part to what has been said in past post, but I also believe in the law. Anyone serving alcohol to an underage person is in violation of that law whether or not the child is their own or someone elses. Whether or not you teach your child to drink responsibility is not the point. The point is that there are laws in effect to protect the common good. That being said I also believe you should teach your children about moderation. I know that on past cruises when I have seen intoxicated people the majority of them looked to be around the age of 21.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Well, but what is the law, when you're at sea? No reason for it to be American law, for example. (Although I believe that's the standard they try to maintain.) The legal age in Italy is 16, for example.

[raiderette]

Well, but what is the law, when you're at sea? No reason for it to be American law, for example. (Although I believe that's the standard they try to maintain.) The legal age in Italy is 16, for example.

 

Wendy,

Would it not be whatever Regent's policies are which I believe I read somewhere that the age to drink on their ships is 21.