Perhaps the real problem is the unrealistic attitudes about alcohol that are becoming dominant in our society.
One is not supposed to touch a drop of alcohol until one's 21st birthday. In Maryland, the legislature toyed with the idea of making it illegal for parents to permit the consumption of alcohol by their own children in their own home at any time prior to a child's 21st birthday.
Which raises the question: Why do we believe that a magical fairy touches a person on the head on his 21st birthday with the fully-developed ability to drink in an appropriate way?
Myself, I began "drinking" at age 4. That's right. Age 4. A sip of my dad's beer, a sip of wine. As we got older, a sip of scotch, or of a whiskey sour, or of some other cocktail. As we got even older, sips turned into our own glasses of wine at dinner, maybe a half ounce or an ounce. A little older, a little more in the glass.
By the time we were of "drinking age," we all knew how to drink appropriately. Four kids. No drunk driving arrests, no alcohol problems. Of the four of us, we have our fair share of life's problems. We aren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But none of us have problems with alcohol. We're all hard-working, taxpaying citizens who drink socially.
Why? Because our parents didn't trust that the "Alcohol Fairy" was going to wave a magic wand on our 18th birthdays (that was the legal age when we were young) and make us responsible drinkers. Our parents TAUGHT US how to drink responsibly, how to prepare for adulthood, from the time we were small children.
sitetest
Well said.