Safe Grad Parties

:covereyes I'm a newbie and this is my virgin post , so please be gentle ;)
Parents supervising illegal underage drinking is a newish trend which hasn't produced any clear benefits. Binge drinking is a major youth (14-25) issue,
impaired driving and accidents involving young drivers is on the upswing despite the 20 yr MADD campaign,and Ontario colleges are experiencing huge headaches dealing with underage students who "party" on the weekends and involve the police in laying assault,noise,mischief,property destruction charges.
In Ontario since the demise of "Grade Thirteen", thousands of underage post secondary students are arriving at college or university ready to party. This is a major issue that affects all institutions and wastes thousands of dollars.
I don't believe it's the result of kids "running" wild and not being taught to drink responsibly. If that was truly the result, wouldn't the statistics from twenty years ago be worse than today ?
The "get it into ya" culture of rural Canada has always been present in our society. Combine a grade 12 (or less) education,lack of culture, add 75% boredom and you end up with a society that is focused on alcohol.
Minors can't be taught to drink responsibly if their parents have alcohol issues
and from the perspective of the poster from Estevan, this is the underlying issue.
 
It's definitely a culture of alcohol here, no question of that. If you go to some gathering, the expectation is that there will be alcohol served. If you offered something else to drink, your guests would think you quite strange. When they are told that you don't drink alcohol, people think there must be some health issue that prevents you from doing so, and they feel sorry for you because you can't get hammered like all the normal people.

The thing that really gets me is how proud they are of their drunken silliness. "Oh man, I was so drunk I can't even remember getting arrested. That was such an awesome party!" And everything is a reason for a drink. It's Wing Wednesday. It`s Thirsty Thursday. It`s F*****-Up Friday. It`s Christmas. It`s Canada Day. It`s Rememberance Day.
 
When I graduated, the drinking age was 18 so there was no real issue; of course we were going to drink at graduation parties, whether it was from a cooler that we brought or somebody's kegger.

If parents are looking to do this, 10 is way too many drinks. I'd say 3-4 max and maybe those are light beers. Try to make the focus more on the party than the partying with lots of food and entertainment options.

BTW, if you get busted by the cops for serving alcohol to underage kids, don't expect the "I was being responsible by making sure nobody drove," argument to have much effect on a judge.
 
Sir Robin Goodfellow said:
It's definitely a culture of alcohol here, no question of that. If you go to some gathering, the expectation is that there will be alcohol served. If you offered something else to drink, your guests would think you quite strange.
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I would think it equally strange to offer only non-alcoholic drinks as I would to offer only alcoholic drinks - you seem to be implying that the latter would be normal, or am I picking you up wrong?
 
Brainster said:
When I graduated, the drinking age was 18 so there was no real issue; of course we were going to drink at graduation parties, whether it was from a cooler that we brought or somebody's kegger.
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When I was in high school, it was still an issue, since the majority of kids at any given drinking party were 16 or 17. Bush parties seemed to lose their attraction as soon as you could legally go to the bar instead.
 
Jaggy Bunnet said:
I would think it equally strange to offer only non-alcoholic drinks as I would to offer only alcoholic drinks - you seem to be implying that the latter would be normal, or am I picking you up wrong?
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If you go over to someone's house, my experience is that they'll offer you beer. Alcohol is expected (and usually present) at virtually any gathering, even if you're stopping at someone's house to offer condolences after a funeral. I don't keep any alcohol in the house, as I don't drink it myself, but I could offer a guest a soft drink, water, milk, some kind of fruit juice, and a couple types of tea. I don't keep coffee either, as I never drink it. I don't really ever entertain company, so I'm not typical. My parents drink only perhaps two or three times a year, but they do keep beer, and some liquor for mixed drinks in case guests arrive. They always offer guests a drink.

Mind you, I'm not opposed to anyone having a drink, as long as they don't put others at risk or damage property when they do so.
 
Madalch said:
When I was in high school, it was still an issue, since the majority of kids at any given drinking party were 16 or 17. Bush parties seemed to lose their attraction as soon as you could legally go to the bar instead.
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That doesn't really seem to be the case here. In the bar, there's rules (however poorly and arbitrarily they may be enforced), and there's last call. Anything goes at a bush party. There's a reason why some campgrounds refuse to rent space to under-twenty-fives. There's a reason why the provincial parks are "dry" on long weekends. Too many boozebags wrecking everything they can get their hands on.
 
Annika Henson said:
:covereyes I'm a newbie and this is my virgin post , so please be gentle ;)
Parents supervising illegal underage drinking is a newish trend which hasn't produced any clear benefits. Binge drinking is a major youth (14-25) issue,
impaired driving and accidents involving young drivers is on the upswing despite the 20 yr MADD campaign,and Ontario colleges are experiencing huge headaches dealing with underage students who "party" on the weekends and involve the police in laying assault,noise,mischief,property destruction charges.
In Ontario since the demise of "Grade Thirteen", thousands of underage post secondary students are arriving at college or university ready to party. This is a major issue that affects all institutions and wastes thousands of dollars.
I don't believe it's the result of kids "running" wild and not being taught to drink responsibly. If that was truly the result, wouldn't the statistics from twenty years ago be worse than today ?
The "get it into ya" culture of rural Canada has always been present in our society. Combine a grade 12 (or less) education,lack of culture, add 75% boredom and you end up with a society that is focused on alcohol.
Minors can't be taught to drink responsibly if their parents have alcohol issues
and from the perspective of the poster from Estevan, this is the underlying issue.
Click to expand...


Annika,

I went to high school in rural(ish) Ontario in the early 90's and I saw everything you are telling me is a problem now back then.

We used to throw crazy parties in fields and at peoples houses. Massive drinking would ensue as would lots of sex and other drugs like lsd. The youth of today is no different than the youth of yesterday. I actually think most of them are more savvy in the ways of the world due to being able to get more information through the internet

Bottom line, kids have always taken these risks and there isn't anything adults can really do about it without turning high school into a police state. Making mistakes is how you learn. Sometimes those mistakes cost you or your friends their lives. Let's please try to minimize that by giving them safer ways to express themselves.

Also for the record I won't personally be holding any parties like that. It's clearly illegal to do so and that's not a risk I'm willing to take. However I still think it's a safer way to go by some small margin.
 
Supervised parties would draw more kids if there was free drugs with the booze. And sex. And rock&roll. And fights. That would be cool.
 
Sir Robin Goodfellow said:
If you go over to someone's house, my experience is that they'll offer you beer. Alcohol is expected (and usually present) at virtually any gathering, even if you're stopping at someone's house to offer condolences after a funeral. I don't keep any alcohol in the house, as I don't drink it myself, but I could offer a guest a soft drink, water, milk, some kind of fruit juice, and a couple types of tea. I don't keep coffee either, as I never drink it. I don't really ever entertain company, so I'm not typical. My parents drink only perhaps two or three times a year, but they do keep beer, and some liquor for mixed drinks in case guests arrive. They always offer guests a drink.

Mind you, I'm not opposed to anyone having a drink, as long as they don't put others at risk or damage property when they do so.
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Maybe I misread your original post, but you seemed to say if you offered something else it would be thought strange. Do you mean if you only offered something else? If so then I would agree that would be thought a bit unusual (although not having coffee in the house would be thought a lost more unusual than not having alcohol!)
 
Yes, if you came over to my house I wouldn't offer you an alcoholic beverage, because I don't have any. I don't know what you'd think of that, but if someone from my work came over and I didn't offer them alcohol, but tea instead, they'd think I was crazy. They'd likely ask why I didn't have beer in the house. If I told them I didn't drink alcohol, they'd think that was very strange. I've told people that I don't drink, and they are very surprised. They think you're either a recovering alcoholic or have some medical condition. They can't imagine anyone not drinking voluntarily.
 
That's weird. It's a perfectly valid lifestyle choice. It'd be the same to me as having to justify why you're not a smoker when someone offers you a cigarette.
 
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