The other night, I was at a function, and as I was ordering drinks, a woman came up and ordered a couple of Shirley Temples. At that point, my inner Nancy Reagan piped up: “That’s a gateway drug!” My first inclination was to tell Nancy to shut up, but then I thought, Damn! Maybe she’s right after all! Maybe a Shirley Temple *is *a precursor to a lifetime of heavy drinking. By way of context, this was a harder-drinking crowd than I normally associate with, though I didn’t know the woman doing the ordering.
So I put it to you, esteemed millions – is ordering a Shirley Temple a way to introduce kids to the culture of drinking? Are the people who order Shirley Temples usually drinkers themselves? (And as a side question, do adults ever order a Shirley Temple for themselves?)
What is *in * a Shirley Temple? I’ve never had one. At 29, I would never order one. It sounds like such a silly drink, and I was called a “Shirley Temple” as a child, because of my cherub-like face and curls ( :rolleyes: ) and I’ve hated her ever since. Well, you know, not really, but I hate being compared to others.
I went through a Shirely Temple phase when I was maybe thirteen. Ordering a drink from the bar made me feel grown-up and sophisticated. My parents pointed out how insanely expensive bar drinks were and I grew out of it.
As far as a gateway drug? Didn’t work for me. I average maybe six beers a month and almost never drink hard liquor.
I could see maybe ordering one at a party because they look like real drinks. If you’re self-concious about not drinking, it might be a good substitute. (although you could just drink a cok and pretend it’s rum and coke or something)
I am cracking myself up over here, remembering how my sisters and I used to order Shirley Temples to go with our lunch at the NCO Club when we were kids (like under 11 or so.) We thought we were so sophisticated! So cool! I’m just surprised one of us didn’t order our Shirley Temple “shaken, not stirred.” All of us barely drink alcohol at all, so the indoctrination didn’t work for us.
As for it being a gateway drug, I agree with Maus Magill. Kids are always going to pretend to do grownup things, and drinking is one of them. Then, when they get to be older kids most experiment with drinking, even when they’ve never heard of a Shirley Temple. It seems like a non-issue to me.
First I started with the Shirley Temples. Then I moved on to the harder stuff - Roy Rogers. That stuff was like kiddie crack to me. Then in the holiday season my parents would let me drink sparkling apple cider in a clear glass so I could feel like a “grown-up drinker.” From there I spiraled into sneaking peppermint schnapps. From there I went on to “the pot”. Next thing you know I was doing LSD.
Then I went to high school. I graduated to jug wine purchased oh-so-nonchalantly while underage. Got hooked on the Vivarin next, then stealing valiums from my dad, occassionally exchanging them for things like Xanax with some of the other kids at my school. Then I went to rehab (it didn’t work.) Then I tried speed. After that I got into cocaine. Senior year I started smoking hashish, and tried heroin for the first time (but not the last).
Then I went to college. In college I did damn near everything named above, adding crack, psychedelic mushrooms and GHB to the list. After college I also tried DMT.
All because of the Shirley Temples. Just say NO to letting your kids drink “The Grenadine”!!!
Shirley Temples are made with ginger ale, you philistines.
You probably make your martinis with vodka, too. Young people today (mutter mutter)
Anyway, I think the comparision to candy cigarettes is apt. It’s not just a glass of soda, it’s a cocktail…for kids. So it’s about doing something “adult”. Like smoking.
Is that bad? Depends on how bad you think drinking is. Most kids will grow up to be adults who will at some point drink cocktails. Yes it’s associating drinking with adulthood (shouldn’t it be?) but I don’t think it’s going to turn anyone into a lush…unless there were going to be anyway .
But the point of my question really is about parents who order a Shirley Temple, as opposed to, say, a Sprite for their kids. Are these parents who typically drink themselves, and are they helping their kids play-act drinking? To me the parental drinking-Shirley Temple connection seems pretty strong, but I could be wrong.
Another vote for Shirley Temple being made with ginger ale and grenadine.
The book Family Words notes that, in some circles, this is called a Boyhatten – by boys who wouldn’t be caught dead drinking anything with a sissy name like Shirley Temple.
Just so you know, when you order ginger ale or something with ginger ale in a bar, you’re getting a glass of 7-Up or Sprite with a splash of cola (for color…doesn’t do anything to the taste). I’ve never seen actual ginger ale on tap anywhere, and it would be a highly unusual place that would keep it around in bottles. So even if you think you’re getting ginger ale, you’re most likely not. The first time I had real ginger ale–Sprecher Ginger Ale–I just about gagged; it actually tastes like ginger. It puts your Canada Dry and Schweppes stuff to shame.
And I have to point out with regard to this “gateway drug” business that I was permitted limited quantities of wine and beer at a tender age; when the time came 'round that my contemporaries were ever so excited about cornfield keggers I was pretty unimpressed with the whole business. Some people are naturally inclined to excess when it comes to mood-altering substances, of course, but demystifying the whole experience of it kind of takes away the early blush that leads to peer-induced binge drinking.
That, and thanks to a grandfather whose taste in beer ran to imports back when they were a speciality item, I’ve never learned to stomach Budweiser or “lite” beer.
I’m highly suspicious here – I know the taste of Canada Dry/Schweppes style ginger ale. It’s not remotely like that of lemon-lime drinks like Sprite and Seven Up. I think I’d know the difference.
What bars have you been going to?
The Sprecher Ginger Ale thing is a beside-the-point. Vernor’s doesn’t taste like the stuff you get in bars, either, but that’s not the issue.
I concur with this, and if more parents would introduce their teens to responsible drinking under supervision, fewer of them would bomb out of college as freshmen.
Probably one of those things that a lot of people practice but you’ll never see a PSA advocating.
When my brother and I were kids and out for dinner with the folks, what appealed to us about the Shirley Temples was the fact that they contained cherries. The underlying logic was presumably that dining out was a special occasion
My dad used to order them for me when we would go out for a fancy lunch or dinner together, and my dad would have a coke (my dad has the odd beer but is by far not a big drinker). I didn’t think of them as a faux cocktail, it was just a fancy drink I only got when we were out, like a milkshake or a float.
Drinking culture is a part of culture. When I was a young adult, I felt hugely out of place in bars. They were always a forbidden zone to me and it took a long time to feel like they wern’t going to yell at me or kick me out. It was a social set back- when people went out to a bar after class, I never went with them. I missed out on a lot of the stuff in college where people make their social connections.
Bars are a part of business and politics and all manner of things we’d like our kids to get in to. It is important to teach them moderation, of course. But I think there is value in training our kids to look forward to these parts of adulthood and to see that there is some class in adulthood. Our culture now is way based on teenhood, and I think we could use a little bit more of a celebration of being an adult.
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