Alcohol and teens

[Nimbus1999]

How is everyone approaching alcohol with their teens? My son will start 6th form in Sep and isn’t interested in trying alcohol. He is AuADHD and doesn’t socialise much, prefers being at home.

His plan at the moment is to go to Uni and he would have only just turned 18 as birthday end of August.

I’m worried about his starting uni having never touched alcohol! Is this normal to be tee total before uni? I worry about him then drinking and getting too drunk. Or maybe I am overthinking it!

I wouldn't worry about this yet tbh. A lot can change in 2 years.

My eldest is nearly 18 and off to university in September - I’d say at least half of his friends don’t drink much if at all, including him. He knows we’re ok if he drinks and can call us if anything goes wrong but so far is pretty steadfast on not wanting to!

My youngest is 16 and also no interest in alcohol at all, again at least half his friends are same. Definitely seems to be a different culture than when I was a teenager

It’s not unusual these days to not drink at uni … I was a bit worried about one of mine not fitting in if she was the only one not going out drinking but it wasn’t a problem. She found her tribe. Your DS might be the same.

With our oldest, we let him try some alcohol at home with us at 16, ready for the post GCSE party’s and festivals. He is in his 20s now, at uni and drinks responsibly.

Youngest is now 17 and has only just showed an interest, so again, she’s tried some drinks at home with us.

My YP doesn't drink and started university this year. As others have said, it's not that unusual for yp not to drink now. My ds had unofficial initiation ceremonies at his place during freshers and all the non-drinkers had to down milk at the appropriate times. When I visited him there was a half-drunk bottle of wine and empty lager can under his bed but he says these were from other people when they had pres in his room. Who knows but I do think drinking later rather than sooner is better from a health perspective. Ds has had years of watching friends go too far and seen the consequences of that so, even though he doesn't necessarily know his own limits he has some understanding of how far to go.

Thanks everyone. I think times have changed since I was a teen. If he wants to, I’ll probably let him try some at home when he is 16.

Its nice uni doesn’t have to revolve around drinking too much!

Mine is similar. Has access to alcohol at home. I allow her to try it and share mine. She’s knows if she asked I’d say yes (a beer / glass wine etc) but she’s not bothered. Her circle of mates don’t drink either

We used to allow ds to have a drink here and there in the six form. Eg small glass of wine with Sunday meal.

Times are definitely different compared to when we were ar uni (thank God there was no Instagram or TikTok back then). I aggree with previous posters, not a problem at all