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Original poster

I have a drunk teenager...

59 replies

theluckiest · 31/10/2023 23:19

I've collected him (Uber wouldn't take him).

He's been sick. I've changed his sheet, given him a pint of water, put him to bed..

So worried about him vomiting in the night.

We'll talk tomorrow. He was only at the party for 2 hours!!! His lovely friends called me and told me what a state he was in.

We talked before the party. He swore blind he would be sensible. Well... that totally didn't happen. We've tried to be open and have a good relationship..

How would you tackle the morning after?

OP posts:
Jifmicroliquid · 01/11/2023 09:14

We’ve all been there. I hope his head isn’t too bad this morning!

ABeautifulThing · 01/11/2023 09:16

I wouldn't say much, it's exploring your limits, if he made a habit of it maybe that's a different thing.

Original poster
theluckiest · 01/11/2023 09:35

Morning!

He's fine. Little bit sheepish and doesn't really remember much. Thanks for all the advice!

He's out on a trip with his grandfather today which was planned weeks ago. So he had to get up. It's half term here so thankfully doesn't have school today.

Ate breakfast, had a shower and seems to be fine.

And I don't remotely think he will have learned any lesson from this...oh, to be 16 again!!!

OP posts:
EddieBlackadder · 03/11/2023 16:14

If you say he was only at the party for 2 hours, do you know how much of what he drank? It's possible he has practically no limits and no ability to handle anything other than half a shandy. I'd ask his friends if they remember how much he drank.

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on which way you look at it, my 17 year old DD is unconscious an hour after sniffing vodka fumes. Of course she's mortified about it, her friends, most of whom can drink till the cows come him, think it's funny. My worry is not the amount she's drinking per se, but the state she in after a few drinks, and that people know how to get her like it. I know from experience she sleeps through anything, and got carried home from a party in her socks a while back after someone had taken her trainers off. She's 18 next year, and I can't stop her going to parties. She's 5"8, and I can't carry her unconscious out of people's houses on my own, so I'm on the verge of asking her friends to look after her, leave her asleep on a sofa or to put her to bed. I'm dreading Christmas and new year, but we'll just have to get through it.

Thudercatsrule · 03/11/2023 16:51

Most of us have done it.....and will always remember how out mum/dad dealt with it. I know i do.

MorrisZapp · 03/11/2023 16:55

I was horribly sick after two ciders when I was 16, I didn't drink again until I left home at 18. My parents were very liberal, I just didn't want to.

EddieBlackadder · 03/11/2023 17:27

MorrisZapp · 03/11/2023 16:55

I was horribly sick after two ciders when I was 16, I didn't drink again until I left home at 18. My parents were very liberal, I just didn't want to.

Cider is the Devil's juice. Nasty stuff. I was put to bed by friend's parents when I was 15, 16, and carried back to their house at 18. My parents never officially knew about any of it. That was me done with alcohol. My DD takes after me.

MoonlitStarryNights · 03/11/2023 17:30

NotObligedToArgueWithStrangers · 31/10/2023 23:29

I think the blazing hangover will probably do the job for you. Teenagers do like to learn the hard way.

Ha ha! Yes that feedback did it for me. Only ever did it the once. My parents were worried but just said they’d been concerned for my safety and left it at that whilst tucking me up in their bed for the night with my Mum to keep me safe in the night and told me about the wild and wonderful hangover cure options in the morning. I went for paracetamol, water and toast!

TeaGinandFags · 03/11/2023 17:34

theduchessofspork · 31/10/2023 23:32

The hangover will do that job!

Until next time.

Teenagers will be teenagers and we all remember those heady ill-advised days.

I believe there's even a song about this sort of malarky

Your teenager will come home drunk again as they get older. I would advise handing them a bowl for the night and a mop for afterwards when they miss the bowl. It's all part of the hangover experience.

The Dubliners - Wild Rover

https://youtu.be/9iRRvjjHDkw?si=II91MnTeB-zcxPfv

PumpkinsAndCoconuts · 03/11/2023 18:09

I wouldn’t be too concerned about this.

except for the issue that he was there for 2 hours and was (presumably) considerably rather more drunk than his friends.

if this ends up being a reoccurring issue, I would have a serious talk. Could be due to him having problems metabolising alcohol. Or due to him not having an “off-switch”.

PegasusReturns · 03/11/2023 18:20

He’ll feel terrible tomorrow. If the hangover doesn’t do it “the fear” will Grin

the first time I had a drunk teen it was terrifying. I sat with her most of the night. A few years later I’m a little more relaxed with her siblings.

They learn from it!

EddieBlackadder · 03/11/2023 18:24

His mum, and he himself, needs to know what he drank and how much of it he drank. Drinking enough to put himself out in 2 hours in a party environment, and I'm assuming he was unconscious if the taxi refused him, is reasonably difficult unless he was drinking neat spirits, or if he had cider that someone had put vodka in, that would knock him out. His friends not being in a state points towards a metabolism problem. You could try getting him drunk in a controlled environment and see if and when he goes spark out again. That's as much to his benefit as yours. You'll know what his limits are, and when he wakes up, you'll be able to tell him.

Caswallonthefox · 03/11/2023 19:10

I have told my ds to never mix his drinks and drink lots of water. I've also told him he's cleaning up his own sick if it happens.
Fortunately he hasn't been totally wrecked yet, but then the first time I got totally bladdered was when I was 19, he's that next year.
There isn't a great deal else you can do. Getting angry just means they'll be more secretive.

Notquitegrownup2 · 03/11/2023 21:28

Bless him! Don't give paracetamol for a hangover, however. They metabolism in the liver, and so does alcohol. If the liver is still busy sorting out the alcohol it can't deal with the paracetamol, which really isn't good for the liver - or so a medical friend told me. Other painkillers - ibuprofen or aspirin or better still alka-selzer metabolise elsewhere . . .

Angrymum22 · 03/11/2023 21:56

DS doesn’t like being sick so although capable of drinking 12pts+ during an average evening out, he does it very steadily. He has only been sick once and claims that was due to eating a bucket of KFC too quickly.

He was spiked earlier in the year, it was very obvious that something was different. He ended up putting his hand through the glass in the front door and I spent all night in minor injuries with him.
Everything about his behaviour was different to when he was just drunk.
What gave it away was we had to carry him into the car and he was talking rubbish on the way to A&E. By the time we arrived, 20 mins later, he was coherent and able to easily walk into the hospital.
He woke up the next morning after 4 hrs sleep, was very chatty but had absolutely no recollection of the night before between 9.30 and arriving at the hospital at 3.30am.
If I hadn’t been familiar with drunk DS I wouldn’t have spotted it.
When he checked his bank account he had spent £10 in the pub and bought a kebab. Since at 18 they tend to buy their own drinks (ID issues) and he wasn’t allowed in the nightclub he just couldn’t have drunk enough to be in the state he was.
He still is bumping into people who tell him what he got up to and it has slowed him down a bit.

Be vigilant about spiking, it is not just used as a date rape drug. Some idiots just think it’s funny to see how others behave so they can have a good laugh.

Cyclebabble · 03/11/2023 22:05

Have unfortunately dealt with this more than once. A faze my kids went through. Make sure he bulk of vomit has come out before they sleep. Bucket by bed just in case. Morning after a stern talking too is required along with being clear that it is there responsibility to clear up the mess. When my son was sick in my car I took it to the specialist valet company and then got them to pay it (£80). It happens, but the message is that drinking leads to consequences and they need to take accountability.

Ormally · 03/11/2023 22:06

Be vigilant about spiking, it is not just used as a date rape drug. Some idiots just think it’s funny to see how others behave so they can have a good laugh.

It's to pick off other members of a group at the same time who would be able to defend their friends if only selected people were spiked (sometimes randomly, but often men being spiked if the real 'target' is women they are with). It's calculated, and now getting much less rare than in the past.

lljkk · 03/11/2023 22:18

what a lucky lad, sadly he may need another occasion to learn his limits

HardcoreLadyType · 03/11/2023 22:28

DS got similarly drunk at about the same age. He then had the whole next day in a debating competition (it was in lock down, so online) starting at about 8 in the morning.

I didn’t have to say anything!

He is now 19 and rarely drinks, because of wanting to be healthy for the sport he does.

MistyTrains2 · 03/11/2023 22:37

My first drunk experience, I asked my mum how much it took someone to get drunk and she said about 2 drinks. I said what size and she said a tumbler. I thought she meant the whole tumbler of neat alcohol! Honestly I think I scarred my liver, I was still drunk and practically hallucinating the next morning. Also surprised she didn't cotton on to why I was asking!

Teens have no idea of the strength of alcohol.

EddieBlackadder · 03/11/2023 22:47

I wondered if, due to lockdown a few years ago, we now have a whole generation of 18 year olds who've never drunk in a party environment, and who have no idea of their limits. Most kids who are now 18 were 15/16 at the time of lockdown, and they missed out on learning to drink socially at the sort of age when many kids start going to parties where there's booze.

Cece92 · 03/11/2023 22:57

Aaaaaah back in the day! He's lucky to have you. I used to get drunk and do the whole walk in a straight line go straight in the shower when I got in and brush my teeth 😂 or I'd be laid passed out in my friends house. Xx

Ugzbugz · 03/11/2023 22:58

Before I read the entire thread I thought he would feel OK but think I have slept in the same room after some worrying experiences.

Lucyintheskywithadiamond · 03/11/2023 22:58

I have had this with both of my kids, similar age to your DS, the most recent time being on Halloween. Nothing you can say really, they have to learn. be just be thankful he has responsible mates who call you. The hangover will be punishment enough.

PeriodAhPeriodUh · 03/11/2023 23:01

I got blind drunk once at 16. I vividly remember vomiting in my grans toilet.

I was 98% teetotal rest of my life.

I've never thought the hangover was worth it.