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)

The dispersal thing bothers me when it's so easy to label teenagers being guilty of anti-social behviour just because someone takes exception to it.

I can't imagine how parents can plead ignorance of what their children are doing. My eldest has quite a bit of freedom to be out and about these days but I sure as hell would know if he'd been boozing and he wouldn't be going out again if he had been.

However I think it should be much harder to get hold of and more expensive. If you can buy it in every corner shop and garage no wonder kids can get hold of it. We all know 14yr olds that look older.

Why on earth are they suggesting that banning parents from giving kids alcohol at home is a good idea?

My eldest is 9 and we are already planning to go down the continental route (where they look upon us drinking day-glo coloured bottles and vomiting on the town centre fountain as being somewhat alien) of introducing drink at the table and trying to educate them that there is no taboo about enjoying the odd glass of something with a meal and no need to secretly drink a bottle of Buckfast on a park bench to be defiant.

Surely forcing parents to hide the issue under the table and yet then see us enjoying a drink is a ridiculous state of affairs?

"plus its exciting to do when you're not supposed to."

Damn good point Penelope.

EXACTLY.

Well - my 4 yr old started on the beer but now she is onto two peach shnapps every day.

I drank quite heavily as a teen (ages ago now ) mainly for the reason Penelope gives - its exciting to do when you're not supposed to.

I'm not sure that teenagers now drink more than we did but I do think that drinks are aimed at young people much, much more. I used to get drunk on cider and sherry - would have been much more pleasant on alcopops. They are the work of the devil IMO and should be banned. Seriously.

Agree saggar. Not too keen on alcopops as I don't usually like sweet alcoholic drinks. But I was given a cranberry breezer once and it went down like squash. Tasted so innocent but had about 2 units a bottle I beleive.

The taste of booze must have been one of the major preventatives for children wanting it in the old days . Hard to get a taste for scotch or gin. When I was about 13 we went to visit an 'old India hand' who had known my granny. He gave me a pink gin under the mistaken impression I'd like it. Vile, unutterably vile! You had to be very determined to get plastered to drink something like that.

penelpe - your younger sister acting differently to how you did does not indicate a wider culture change. Younger siblings do usually have to live by fewer rules (which used to wind me right up) and her friends may just be different to yours.

I have been out of the country for 7 years, but since I came back I really haven't seen any rise in the number/aggression of groups of teenagers. you just see more of them in the daily mail these days.

I think the fear of teenagers has grown - and that is partly because few people stand up to them now. When they act the maggot on public transport in other countries they are told off. In the UK people tend to lower their eyes.

Also there is a change in the power balance, a friend who is a teacher reports threats from the children that if they are not allowed do as they want they will make allegations about the teacher. The children at her school are frequently verbally and even physically abusive towards their teachers, knowing the teachers would be fired if they retalliate in kind, and that there are no effective sanctions against pupils' behaviour.

SP, i think it does indicate in my area a clture change, all the kids are drinking vodka to excess on a friday night not just my sister. but accept that it may just be friend/ discipline differences. I think there has been a wider culture cnage in the loss of respect, I look at my peers and think how much respect we all have for each other, and people we don't know. I look at how my sister and her friends speak to people and its a totally different attitude, but that could be just the difference in age (im diverging from the issue here sorry!)

I think drinking does vary from area to area, 7 years ago my area wasnt the cool place to be drinking, now it is, wich can make it seem in places like the problem has got worse and vice versa.

But I have never approached a group of scary teens who didn't respond more or less positively to a 'hello' or a smile. It helps that I might well know some of them round here but generally I think they get demonised unfairly.

I would ban alco-pops. When I was a teenager there was drinking but you had to develop a taste for it. I didn't really like the taste of alcohol until I was 17/18. Some alco-pops taste just like fizzy pop hence lots of 12/13 year olds drink it round where I live. Of course their bodies are just not ready for that amount of booze.