Teenage drinking

[pintofsnakebite]

DS is 15 (y10). He has a good group of local friends who hang out together.

They tend to congregate at a friend's house who has a converted garage (and a large house).

They seem to be drinking quite a lot. I don't mind DS drinking in principle, but don't really want this to become a pattern.

I'm nervous about the summer holidays coming up.

I've never been able to tell he's been drinking when he comes in and don't think he enjoys it.

He says some of his friends get very drunk and he finds it boring.

I don't want to stop him from hanging out with his mates but worry they're too young for this to be a thing.

You need to keep him busy, so he has no time for these friends. Does he have any hobbies or can he get a little PT job? Maybe encourage exercise/gym.

We go to the gym and he plays football, but the season is now over.

We are away for two weeks of the summer, and i may go and stay with some friends for a week or something.

They’re bang on the normal age for the drinking in parks/random garages nonsense to start, it’s just a regular thing to do. To be honest I don’t think that you have anything to worry about, your DS sounds sensible and not overly interested in it which is a good thing. DD was the same - now 19 and although she does drink, go clubbing etc she’s still a lot more restrained and less interested in it than most of her friends. Very rarely gets properly drunk meanwhile most others are practically being carried home on a weekly basis. Better to learn to do it in moderation is my saying rather than go wild with the ‘forbidden fruit’ at 18

Yes to keeping him nice and busy over summer. Volunteering or a casual job (dog walking, car washing - that sort of thing) would be a good place to start along with sport camps if he’d fancy that. Have a think about what sort of non-drinking activities he could arrange with friends and try your best to help facilitate these

Thank you @stressedespresso I agree.

I've had another chat with DS and he seems fairly sensible. Pretty sure I was also drinking at this age (although my mother would have killed me if I was caught drinking in a park) so hopefully he'll work it out.

I'd be equally worried probably if he was alone in his room all night.

Not all teenagers drink
At 15 mine were all still heavily involved in sports ,Guides etc
Eldest 2 are fairly light drinkers now as adults and youngest does not drink
I would try and encourage non drinking events