Letting your kids drink & curfew - survey and opinions please

[brushtrooper]

I am 52. Have 2 boys now age 24 and 22. We had a early curfew weekdays and weekends were midnight. We also had parties and I did buy the alcohol. I would check with parents of the other kids attending, made it clear of what would happen. If you drove over and started to drink, I took the keys and no one left. before the next day. I did not see this a being a friend, my boys will attest to the fact I never tried to be friends. When drinking some where else, I had very little control over the actions. Parties at my house were under my control and I had very little trouble through out the years of doing this. I was a product of a hard core parents, early curfew, no drinking and it did not end well, I would drink into the wee hours of the mornings. To each their own on providing alcohol to minors. To this day I am the DD when they are in town.

[Death from Above]

I don’t drink...and now my kids don’t.

I always had a problem with doing one thing and telling them to do something else.

They learn by modeling, not teaching in my experience.

When they have their own homes, they can do as they want.

[Trevor73402]

Something I’ve noticed reading this.....most all of you drank underage. Many of you did much worse as well. Many had no curfew. I think it’s safe to say that most of you would claim “you turned out good or decent”.......yet you are all hypocritical when it comes to what you think is ok for your kid/young adult. Why?? It’s not that I’m stupid here, just playing devil’s advocate for a moment to hear the responses.

Also....I’m amazed at how many have 20+ year old kids still living at home. This blows my mind.

Like many of you here, I grew up with no curfew. Hell even at 12-13 I stayed out as late as I wanted. Let me say I wasn’t raised in a “normal” environment. Having some drinks at a party was child’s play compared to what I grew up doing even at 14-15. I’m not proud of it, but at 15,16,17, and 18.....I drove home absolutely smashed many times. Never had a wreck or a dui, but that was pure luck. I was smoking weed at 13-14, but never really took to it the way others did. I’d hit it if it was there, but I didn’t go out and buy it or even smoke it on a regular basis. The last time I burned a joint was my second year of college. I’m 40 now and haven’t had a hit since. Hell I rarely even drink these days. I guess I got a lot of that out of my system when a lot of you were still watching cartoons.....lol!

Let me be a little hypocritical as well here. I overcame the odds that were stacked against me growing up. I went to college. Got a degree. Was working full time long before I finished college. Been pretty successful ever since. If I had children, there is no way in hell I’d want them doing the stuff I did, or even the stuff many of you did. However, I think there is a balance. I see many kids these days that are so sheltered their entire life and are never exposed to anything at all. Once they finally get out in the world, they either go buck wild and/or don’t know how to handle themselves. These are the kids that their parents made them wear a helmet riding their bicycle.