Anyone Else's Older Teenagers Not Drink?

[Icequeen01]

I just wondered if anyone else has an older teenager who is tee-total or if it is as unusual as all my friends say. My DS19 is completely tee-total and has absolutely no interest in trying it. I was certainly drinking a little at his age but only got drunk a few times and these days only drink very occasionally when out with friends. I'm happy he doesn't drink to be honest as he drives so that's one less worry but I'm starting to get irritated by the comments of some of my friends who say it's weird.

My 26 year old ds doesn't drink and never did. It was very unusual amongst his friends when he was 18/19 but not so much now he's older. My 20 year old DD drinks a little but can take it or leave it.

DD is 21 doesnt drink alcohol. She's very sociable, goes clubbing, to parties etc. She drank a small bottle of Smirnoff Ice at her prom aged 16 and hated how it made her feel. She drives, has a horse to care for and a very responsible job. DH and i only drink high days and holidays and shes never seen us drunk but her father and an uncle are destroying themselves with alcohol. Im certain this has contributed. Im proud of her choice.

DS is 20, and was offered the odd drink at home or on holiday from his early teens onwards. When he was about 15 or 16 he got really, really drunk once with friends, drinking a mixture of things in the park, had to be brought home, threw up in his bedroom (I made him clear it up himself) and that seems to have put him off.

He will occasionally have the odd beer or glass of wine with family meals at Christmas etc but usually says no thanks, and seems to have survived socialising at university without drinking, though he's not really a party person. I had heard that drinking rates are going down among younger people.

My DS is 29 now and has never drunk alcohol! Me and his Dsis do (not alcoholics though!) so it isn't because of that. He's just never fancied it and he says he doesn't like the idea of losing control in any way. He's never even wanted to try a sip. As a pp said, some people see it as "odd" when they're late teens but it really isn't, and people don't think that way as the child gets older.

I'm 22 and teetotal.
I never really cared for drinking in the first place because of hearing how awful people owd feel after a hangover. Have tried sips of different types of alcohol and really dislike how it hurts my throat.
Ignore the comments. TBH, I have never been teased or ridiculed for it. Perhaps maybe your friends with teens that do drink are just extremely worried about what their children are up to, and projecting.
I will say the only down to this, being at university, is that it can sometimes be very difficult to find others who aren't partying over the weekend. I don't think that people party just to "be cool", they do it to release stress.

My ds19 doesn't drinkat all

I have 2 DD’s in their early 20’s and neither of them are interested in alcohol.

DD almost 17yr, teetotal.

Actually, is it not teatotal??

No Shady

TBH I am struggling to believe that roughly 25% of young people don't drink. DD is 18 and likes the occasional drink. All her friends who are at university drink a lot. Her boyfriend gets drunk nearly every night, even the night before an exam.

my adult ds (mid 20's) has never drunk, even has a straight edge tattoo(hope I got that right) never been a problem for him, his DP is the same, he also spends a lot of time in venues with bars. I think its the new norm.

Lonicera - I guess people tend to gravitate towards others who have similar tastes, or alternatively tend to acquire the habits of their group.

I would guess that for example middle-class white British university students, as a group, tend to be among the heaviest drinkers as that has grown to be the culture for students, but even some of them (e.g. my DS who is a white middle-class British uni student) are not drinkers. If you look at other population sub-groups, e.g. the relatively large Muslim population in that age group, fewer of them would drink.

Also, anecdotally (from what 16-year-old DD reports), there seem to be quite a few teenagers who don't drink but do smoke dope, or use various other drugs.

My 18yo DS doesn’t drink, he barely had a sip of champagne on his birthday. He’s at uni now and still doesn’t drink.

My 16 year only drinks water, not even squash, coffee or tea.

My 18 year old is teetotal. He says he hates the smell of it. This makes me very happy!

I'm in my twenties and don't drink.
It's actually something my mum gets a little upset / frustrated about. She likes to have a glass of wine over dinner or pop open a Prosecco with friends on a Friday. Her circle of friends enjoy wine tasting and are v sociable - and I think drink too much!, a few glasses at least 2 or 3 times a week.
I'm made to feel like I'm not fun or spontaneous or something because I don't drink alcohol. I often get left out of nights by my own friends as well.

About 8% of the late teen population are Muslim, so assuming that almost all of them either don’t drink or won’t admit it to a researcher, that’s a fairly large slice of the teetotal 25% - but doesn’t account for the whole increase.

My DS is 18 and is pretty much teetotal after getting horribly drunk on his 18th birthday. The experience seems to have put him right off drinking! LOL

My son 18 doesn't drink or do drugs I am staggered at how many kids do drugs anyone else think the same??

DS1 (19) rarely drinks. He doesn't like the taste of beer but will have a fruit cider or a rum and coke.

I was very much NOT teetotal at that age.

A few glasses 2 or 3 times a week might well still be within the recommended drink unit guidelines, so I don't think that is too much.

You are probably right exexpat. The BF is in a particulatly heavy drinking, party crowd and regularly consumes over 60 units a week.

Wow! Just got in from work and so surprised at how many replies I have had. Thank you.

I'm really pleased to hear of so many other teenagers who don't drink. I agree that sometimes they can be left out of things. DS is at Uni but lives at home. A couple of times he hasn't been invited along when a group are going out to the pub as they said they thought he wouldn't want to go as he doesn't drink. He had to explain he doesn't drink alcohol but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to socialise!

I actually admire him as I know he gets a lot of peer pressure but he sticks to his guns. He's another one who just doesn't like the taste.

I hope when DD goes to university she has some nice friends who don't go out every night with the intention of getting legless every night.

Lonicera DS1 ended up with a lovely lot in halls. No heavy drinking and when Bake Off was on they all rushed back to the flat to watch it.