This Week’s Mom’s Talk Topic: Underage Drinking
I was intrigued by an article this week in our local e-paper regarding a party that was “busted” by the police where 15 kids were found nearby a home that had received complaints of noise. I found the responses interesting, as someone commented that the police should focus on real crime like rape and murder and not have half the police force and helicopters flying over a residence just to bring in underage drinkers. My gut was telling me that the person that commented was probably a kid, but it definitely made me curious about how effective our police force is in solving serious crimes. I guess I am somewhat sheltered in that you don’t often hear of many major crimes where we live, and it definitely got me thinking. I’m not sure how I would find the statistics, but it would be interesting information to get my hands on.
This topic also brought up a subject that I often consider as well, that the drinking age really should be 18. Although I understand the knee jerk reaction that many lives have been saved because there have been far fewer fatalities related to underage drinking, it’s only a band-aid solution, in my opinion. Americans can be drafted to fight and die for our country, and are considered old enough to vote, if they can do these things, they should be able to have a beer at 18. Keeping the drinking age at 21 makes it a taboo thing and adds to the intrigue–if adults can do this, why can’t I? I think that continued tough laws on driving while intoxicated–and even tougher laws, along with information overload about the dangers of drinking would much better protect our kids and ultimately would save more lives. Removing it’s “no-no status” and showing kids as a society to respect alcohol and drink more responsibly would serve us all much more effectively.
Have something to add? Feel free to join in on this week’s Mom’s Talk Topic:
http://herndon.patch.com/articles/moms-talk-qa-underage-drinking