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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To worry a lot about DD growing older and getting into drugs and alcohol?

50 replies

Londonder · 07/07/2023 21:15

I find that the UK has a huge problem with alcohol. Being from a different country, I see this very clearly and it scares me a lot. We don’t drink at home and will try and raise DD to have a healthy relationship with alcohol but still, it does concern me.

On top of this I also worry about drugs. I hear drugs usage amongst teenagers is very high these days (I never even got close to drugs as a teen or ever in my life actually) and this really scares me.

AIBU to worry so much?

OP posts:
FortyFacedFuckers · 07/07/2023 21:57

My DS is 17 he & his friends are drinking a lot less than I did at that age & younger.

My DB & SIL are in their early 20's and they don't really drink either.

Goldenbunny · 07/07/2023 21:58

Don't worry about this just yet there will be plenty of other thing to worry about before drugs and alcohol.

My dd is 16 and she is aware of the dangers from drugs and drink because we have talked to her about them over the years. At the end of the day we have enabled her with all the facts and now we just have to trust she won't take drugs, we can't stop her she getting older and needs to take responsibility for her own life at some point. I'd be disappointed if she took drugs but would still be there for her.

At some point we have to trust our children will so the right thing because we have taught them well.

Tiredalwaystired · 07/07/2023 22:00

Parent of teens here.

I am far, far more worried about mental health problems from the sheer pressure to succeed in kids these days than I am about drink and drugs.

No e of their friends drink or take drugs. Lots suffer from anxiety.

toomanyleggings · 07/07/2023 22:00

Save your energy for the stuff you will inevitably have to worry about in the here and now. I do worry about the teenage stuff but at the moment the childhood illnesses/ lack of sleep/ relentless extra curricular demands/ friendship problems etc keep me pretty busy

JazbayGrapes · 07/07/2023 22:01

I think a lot of parents of teenagers are very naive re. booze and drugs. "oh, mine is not interested, they are excellent at school and well behaved at home..."
Come one... like we hadn't been there ourselves.

gogomoto · 07/07/2023 22:02

One of my DD's drinks more than the other, both are fine with not drinking and neither have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol (both in 20's). We let them drink at home appropriately eg with a meal from around 12, they weren't bothered then.

user1471453601 · 07/07/2023 22:03

As the mother of a 53yr old, all I can tell you is my approach.

As a young child I encouraged my daughter to talk openly with me, as I did with her. I would advise her how to handle situations (fall outs with friends and other more important things.). But I would never insist she followed my advice.

As she got older, we had a mantra "if you think you are old enough to do it, you are old enough to tell me you are going to do it". The opposite, of course, was also true. If you are too afraid to tell me what you are going to do, that should tell you something important.

When she went to university, I told her never, ever to buy drugs from people she didn't know, because you never, ever know what those drugs are cut with (and also never to get into rounds with people if you couldn't stand your corner).

She tried drugs, of course, a bit of blow, a few Es. But she was safe, didn't get into the hard other stuff. I was lucky.

But I wasn't going to sit there with a G&T in my hand and give her a lecture on the evils of drugs.

On the whole, I'd say she/I were very lucky. But I'm pretty sure most of that luck was laid down when she was a child, and she knew she could, and did, talk to me about anything, without fear of judgement.

JazbayGrapes · 07/07/2023 22:03

We let them drink at home appropriately eg with a meal from around 12, they weren't bothered then.

That doesn't really matter. Drinking with peers is the rite of passage, not sharing a sip of prosecco with mum.

StarDolphins · 07/07/2023 22:06

I took drugs & drank as a young adult & it scares me too. I really don’t ever want my dd to do this but I can only guide her & advise her. Plus, imo there are more perverts round these days & boys respect girls less too which is a worry.

gogomoto · 07/07/2023 22:06

@JazbayGrapes

But mine weren't bothered about drinking with friends, they could drink at home if they wanted, chose not to. All their friends were allowed to drink at home if they wanted too, consequently it just wasn't the forbidden fruit

MindPalace · 07/07/2023 22:11

DDs 20 and 22 don’t drink and their boyfriends and friends barely do. No drugs ever and smoking and even vaping are heavily frowned upon. And it’s all about healthy eating and veganism rather than the takeaways and kebabs of my youth.

A different world.

Orchidgal · 07/07/2023 22:16

Try not to overthink it. As for alcohol, I did the wild drinking in my youth and now as a 30-something never choose to have more than one drink in an evening, and probably only every couple of months.

I don’t think experimenting with alcohol in my youth was necessarily a wholly bad thing:

  • I learned my limits
  • I learnt with drink do / do not agree with me
  • There is no denying it helped me socially, I was quite an inhibited teen and it did help me to relax and make new friends.
  • It was fun!

Drugs, I feel, are a whole other thing, I have never so much as seen any let alone taken any, and I never would. It’s not something my friends and I were ever interested in seeking out, probably because of all the horror stories we grew up with (Leah Betts). Besides, drugs are illegal, alcohol is not!

My advice would be to relax a bit about the alcohol, then hopefully she won’t want to go seeking out drugs.

Thepeopleversuswork · 07/07/2023 22:28

The biggest risk factors for drinking are parental influence and peers. If you don’t drink you are not modelling that alcohol is important, which will help reduce the risk.

Peers you can’t do much about but PPs are right that alcohol is far less central to young people’s lives in Britain than a generation or two ago.

I would also advise you not to be hysterical or judgmental about moderate drinking, as that will make it more attractive. I completely understand your concern but you have to accept that alcohol does play a part in British culture, for better or worse. Most people manage it without problems and you need to avoid pathologising something which people she will meet will do. It won’t help your ability to talk about it with authority if you are very hardline about sensible drinking.

Summerfun54321 · 07/07/2023 22:30

Social media and smart phones has meant being out of control drunk and on drugs isn't nearly as common as it used to be.

Beginningless · 07/07/2023 22:33

I think the impact of social media, mental health issues and gender identity theory are the things that are more pressing risk to your child at this time. Although I agree with you that the uk has a relationship with alcohol that is not to be celebrated.

continentallentil · 07/07/2023 22:39

People drink less than they did. There is a binge drinking issue still but by no means everyone.

I wouldn’t worry about it, most people get through it fine. She’ll probably drink more than you did, but that doesn’t equal binge drinking.

Thinking that being occasionally pissed is shameful is also a bit fucked up.

Createausername1970 · 07/07/2023 22:56

I have dealt with drink, drugs, mental health issues, self harm, being spiked and currently I suspect huffing.

It happens, nothing can prepare you. If your child is still a toddler then you have time to model good choices and drip feed information as and when appropriate. But I would recommend that as your child gets to secondary school age you keep an open mind and read up on signs of misuse. Also, start as you mean to go on with mobile phones and laying down rules of use. It's easier to relax too-tight rules, than tighten too-lax rules.

JazbayGrapes · 07/07/2023 22:57

People drink less than they did. There is a binge drinking issue still but by no means everyone.

My bigger worry that drink is being replaced by a variety of substances that the majority of "normie" adults don't even know about. Like shit they put in vapes.

Londonder · 07/07/2023 23:04

@Wimbo I am from an EU country, not somewhere where women are oppressed :D

OP posts:
SoWhatEh · 07/07/2023 23:07

Worrying won't help you or her, so I do think you need to relax a bit.

It's highly possible that she will try alcohol and maybe (but less likely) drugs. The big issue is not developing a problem with them. And although there are bound to be some exceptions, generally I think people don't develop a problem if they have a good life. If she is sporty or loves performing or enjoys academic study and wants to do well - all these things make it worth her while staying healthy.

Teach her how to take really deep pleasure in everyday life - in appreciating nature, meditation or prayer, uplifting music and comedy, delicious healthy food. People who easily find pleasure in the everyday are far less likely to use extremes to get them high.

JamSandle · 07/07/2023 23:07

Drug use is rampant in so many places now. Drinking is apparently more on a decline amongst the younger generation.

WonderfulUsername · 07/07/2023 23:09

Londonder · 07/07/2023 23:04

@Wimbo I am from an EU country, not somewhere where women are oppressed :D

Yes but what country?

Why so cagey?

Tiredalwaystired · 08/07/2023 07:11

WonderfulUsername · 07/07/2023 23:09

Yes but what country?

Why so cagey?

Why do you want to know so desperately? Will it make a difference to your advice if they say Luxembourg or Sweden?

Jazzybean · 08/07/2023 07:20

Teens these days seem far more straight edge than my peers and I were 10-20 years ago! Even the difference between my year group and my brother’s (he’s 26 now) was very different - they were noticeably less ‘wild’. I’m not saying this trend is definitely nationwide or that it will even continue but I do think that currently that being ‘cool’ is much less tied to drinking or drugs than it was in the past.

I’ve also noticed that drinking and drugs are massively linked to adverse childhood experiences (I’m sure there is research to back this up). The best thing you can do is provide her with stability, love, and honestly.

(Also agree about rich kids!!)

EmeraldFox · 08/07/2023 11:35

JazbayGrapes · 07/07/2023 22:01

I think a lot of parents of teenagers are very naive re. booze and drugs. "oh, mine is not interested, they are excellent at school and well behaved at home..."
Come one... like we hadn't been there ourselves.

I've been there, got drunk a few times then decided I didn't much like it at 18 and just maintaining a level of tipsy was better. DS reached the same conclusion on his own, he doesn't like to feel sick or not in control of himself.

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