Government to blame parents for teenage drinking . fgs. who has some better ideas?

[SenoraPostrophe]

not strictly news I guess, but now they're talking about legislation.

here's the story

police to get "tough" powers to "disperse" people (which is a bit scary isn't it?), and asbos to be given to parents of drunken teens (presumably to encourage them to tie teens up and not let them out of the house). Jack Straw says behaviour could be changed, in the way that football fans' behaviour had been changed. (a ridiculous assertion. as if the small minority of fans who were/are violent are in any way similar to the clear majority of teens who get bladdered sometimes)

I am quite angry about these proposals, some of which have a ring of the police state about them.

I have 3 questions:

1. is binge drinking actually a problem, or is the problem really the excessive number of late bars in town centres (with the really loud music because if you talk less you drink more)?
2. do teenagers now drink more than we did?
3. what, if anything should the government be doing about it? (I have some ideas - I'll post them in a minute)

am i right in thinkig that he is talking about the younger teens who hang around outside shops asking "will you go in the shop for please?" and not those who are in nightclubs at 16/17 or does he mean both?

in either case its only harder punishments for the liscence holders and people who are willing to go into the shops that will discourage this.

i remember when i was a teen most of us did drink on the sreets while our parents thought that we were at youth group or wherever. actually our youth club was in a disadvantaged area where drinking amoungst teens was more than common and we were encouraged to drink in thier tennis courts where we were safe and could be kept an eye on if there was any trouble, providing we didnt bring any alcohol onto the premises.

a lot of the teens who drank came from good families who would have been mortified if they actually knew what thier dt's got upto while they were out, so i dont think that it is fair to punish the parents.

experimenting with alcohol unfortunately is just one of those things that teens will do and as parents all we can do is punish what we find out about and teach them how to handle drink responsibly.

police already hae those powers.

i the LA area where i live the police have the power to disperse my three teenage children if they walked home from school together last year.

i do think its ultimatley the parents fault.

i do
i do
ido

but the govt response to this 'problem' ( apeasement of the readers of the daily hate in response to knife crime i would wager)is the wrong response to a problem which IMO is indicative of a greater and growing culture of parents not giving a shit.

yy - i'm with Custy on this. there needs to be some kind of social responsibility, but I've no idea how to encourage that!

I blame Tony Blair for letting his son binge drink.

in some cases it is the parents fault because they just let thier kids come and go as they please with very little disciplin and no regards as to where they are going.

but my friends and i still drank and we all came from families who needed to know where we were going, when we would be home and who we would be with.

we were all punished with grounding and no pocket money (although that rule couldnt apply to me as i earned my own pocket money) if we were caught drinking, yet we all still did it and so did many many teens that i know. one of my closest friends came from a family who were very strict and very involved with the local church she didnt drink that disgusting tasting white cider with us.............she drank alcopops instead!!!!

teenagers unless you dont let them leave the house could be up to anything while you cant see them.

if the government want to stop this they need to focus on the liscenee's and giving the kids better things to with thier time.

micci25 on Tue 03-Jun-08 20:00:58
a lot of the teens who drank came from good families who would have been mortified if they actually knew what thier dt's got upto while they were out

Maybe they need to know what their teens are up to.

I think teenagers drink a shocking amount and this then leads to very promiscuous behaviour. When I hear the kids at school talk about their pissed up weekends and what this leads to I find it very shocking.

twinset - I don't think they do actually. and if they do, why not just tell them, rather than threatening them with an asbo? I agree with micci25 that it's something teenagers generally do.

some teenagers take it too far. alienating them further, by making draconian laws like this (really, custardo, can they already disperse teenagers?) will not help.

it may be that there are slightly more not-giving-a-shit parents than there used to be though. but I think they are still in a minority.

If all they are doing is getting pissed every now and again and not harming anyone then that is a family issue to be sorted out.

But I know of young teenagers getting pissed and smashing things up, terrorising neighbourhoods or shagging anything with a pulse. Those parents need to know and they need to take responsibility.

asbos are bull shit
parenting orders - bullshit
acceptable parenting contracts -bullshit

its bullshit pandering politics

It depends where you live and the community you are referring to, in the school I currently teach in I would say the not giving a shit parents are a sizeable minority.

acceptable behabiour contacts (ABC's) not parenting* sorry

I do think however there is an element of giving out parental orders/ contracts to parents who don't give a shit at all, so it will have no effect TBH the kids should just be removed. It really pisses me off that bad parenting can ruin the life chances of not only one child but possibly every child they come into contact with.

because making the real changes needed to address teenage drinking would mean a lot of expensive inconvenient truths for the government about the society they claim to govern.

so until then it's the pass hte buck game.

here's my plan:

1. discourage street drinking by increasing tax on cider (it currently has a lower tax than beer, hence tramps drinking white cider) and on beer and alcopops when sold by off licenses.
2. encourage more sensible drinking by lowering drinking age to 16 for mild-medium beers and reducing the tax on those beers in pubs. Publicans have a responsibility to ensure patrons don't overdo it.
3. also introduce new licenses for cafes allwing them to serve some mild alcoholic drinks (to remove the cultural abyss between cafes where teens can hang out and pubs. they sell beer in ice cream parlours in spain and teenagers hang out there all evening)
4. ...and some more money for youth clubs etc wouldn't go a miss either

then start with your "tough" stuff. carrot and stick. basic stuff really.

I am interested what inconvenient truths you mean?

I have just been covering this issue with my PD classes and I was shocked at some of the things I heard. My year 9s who are 13 and 14 in particular.

I think poor parenting is the root of most of society's problems.

Well, what are the reasons behind poor parenting, TSAP? Consider these and you'll have some of the inconvenient truths.

It's not PC to go after poor parenting anymore than it is the results of poor parenting.

twinset - I think another thing which has changed (possibly more than anything else) is students' attitudes to teachers. Children are much more likely to brag about eg alcohol consumption in front of a teacher than my generation would have been. we did drink though. mad dog 20-20 mostly, and from 15 beer in pubs.

st, that may be true, but how does blaming the parents help?

It doesn't, SP. That's why I mentioned that hte goverment is just passing the buck with this.

As Custy pointed out, this will fail just as ASBOs have.

the causes of poor parenting are very expensive to fix and you may step on some toes because it will seem 'ist' - as in classicst, etc.

so it's pass hte buck and hope for the best, same was with ASBOs.

In the case of my school poor parenting on the whole is caused by:

1. Single mothers with no male input trying to control a huge brood of children
2. Drug alcahol abuse
3. Illiterate or innumerate parents.
4. Families continually moving to get away from loan sharks, debt, fraud
5. Parents never having worked and perceiving that they have done alright out of it so why should the children bother with school. 6)Mental illness
6. UNstable families, new partners, step children moving in and out all the time.
7. The parents were abused, negelected themselves so they have no clue how to parent.
8. Poor parenting is allowed to happen, it is the easy option so people choose it.
9. Families having more and more children that they cannot control, house or nurture.

I could go on.

I was a wayward teenager and drunk quite a lot, I mixed with people of my age and older who drunk and we did not behave in the way these young people do.

its not the odd drink we used to have as teenagers that is the problem being talked about ( i think)

its an immerging pack culture outside the corner shop or local convenience where you are intimidated - not simply becuase there are more than 3 teens tgether ( i have three i can kick ass)

Increasingly in some areas this continus to be the norm.

i know where my kids are - i phone parents, i drop them off, i do spot checks - becuase i can be bothered.

expat is right - there are underlyig problems that would take too much effort

your childrens behaviour is your responsability full stop. but it will not make a difference to society to simply state this and not back it up with something more