Teenage drinking

The concern about teenage drinking sets in every weekend.

"It starts at noon and I don't relax until Sunday at 6", said the

parent of one Whitefish Bay High School student.

"There's a drinking party every single weekend - at least one - and

lots of kids think as long as they drink responsibly and don't drive,

there's nothing wrong with it."

Many parents feel they have very limited, if any, control when,

where and how much their teenagers drink.

According to a Milwaukee Council on Alcoholism brochure, "Parents

are caught in the middle, reconciling the high visibility of alcohol

in society with the values they are trying to instill in their

children."

"She finally said to me, 'Mom, it's drinking every single weekend -

no matter what group you're with, and I don't want to be involved.'"

Most of the parents said that peer pressure and the desire to be

popular led most teenagers to drink. "Alcohol helps them open up,

relax, be a little zany," one parent said.

That's why many adults drink, noted one Whitefish Bay parent.

"We hear all the time that we have to set an example," the parent

added. "I think parents in this community are afraid somebody is

going to say to them, 'Put your booze away.'"

(from the Milwaukee Journal "Metro" section, Thursday May 7, 1987)

 

I agree with the wisdom of the teenage girl, "I don't want to be

involved." Even within this short article we can see the classic

double standard, "do as I say, not as I do." When I use to drink, I

knew as a teenager that if I got a few drinks into my date, it was

almost a sure thing we'd be in bed together the same night. I never

got them drunk, but only enough to get them loose enough to forget

about their morals, parents, and sexually arouse them. You can call

it "drinking in moderation" - because they were always sober enough to

know exactly what they were doing.

Well, are you teaching your daughter it's ok to drink

"moderately"? Food strengthens the body, but alcohol is not food.

Alcohol is a poison. Alcohol weakens the body - and dulls the

conscience towards sin. But then, since we can drink in moderation,

why not sin in moderation?

If we read (or look at) Penthouse & Playboy are we committing

adultery? And what's wrong with smoking dope? People can drive

better "high" than "drunk", therefore why not smoke dope instead?

I hope you'll reconsider the alcohol issue, it's not too much to give

up when you consider the rest of your family and the unsaved world.

Bill Bennett

This article originated on The Salvation Online Network

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