I know state and even local laws vary but how do the states handle 18-20 year olds drinking alcohol purchased by others in their own homes or apartments or the private residences of other adults?
Is it legal in the US for 18-20 year olds to drink alcohol provided by others in private residences?
Lots of adults get into big time trouble for providing alcohol to minors under any circumstances even on their own property. However, Louisiana has always had some screwy loopholes for that and I think that some states like Wisconsin? allow consumption with parental supervention. I will leave it up to others to elaborate.
Here is a list of exceptions. The date of this is 2005, so things may have changed. From MADD:
From here. I couldn’t tell from the site which states have one or more of these exceptions.
I know what word you meant, I just wanted to point out that this new one you’ve invented cries out for a creative definition.
Sounds like a perfect word for individual acts of helicopter parenting.
What would educational purposes be?
I’m going to make you drink all of this so you’ll never drink again?
I’m going to let you taste a little Bordeaux?
( Aaaah, America, land of freedom… :p)
I don’t know if anyone actually does this but it does not seem unreasonable for high schools to offer classes in wine making, etc, especially in regions where this is an important industry. I can’t find it now but I could swear I read an article where certain high schools in the Western Cape wine producing regions in South Africa were doing exactly that. No doubt this would involve tasting of wines, and it makes sense that a school would be able to do this with parental consent.
I’m surprised that parental consent doesn’t feature more prominently in US regulations. Are there places in the US where it would really be a legal issue if you introduced your kids to alcohol in a responsible manner in your private home before they were 21?
If I were a parent, I would not have a problem introducing my child as young as, say, eight to wine with dinner. Maybe only half a glass, but I think it would serve to demystify alcohol and s/he would be less likely to abuse it later.
The “in a responsible manner” is the key issue. In my state, New Mexico, if you sip a glass of wine with your dinner, the authorities will never find out.
On occasion, though, we have had a few incidents where parents bought beer for their kid’s parties. Somebody got arrested for driving drunk, they traced it back to the party, and the parents got arrested for “contributing to the delinquency of a minor”.
Alot of under-21s also attend culinary schools or college winemaking programs (I know CA has a few) and would need to taste wine as part of their education.
I took “Gourmet Foods” in HS and we were allowed to cook with wine, but it was kept doubled-locked by the teacher and she had to measure it and add it to food herself. We were never allowed to actually taste it. This same teacher also ran a catering business on the side and would hire students on occasion and had no problem letting them sneak the odd drink.
The wife of Chrysler’s CEO (that guy with the moustache that was in those creepy ads a few years ago) got in trouble for serving beer to kids at a party her house.
(I don’t know anything about that site, just it was the first relevant hit that came up when I googled the story to find a cite)
I agree with this post, suppose you do introduce your kids to alcohol and they become drunks. The state will come down on you, you’re liable to get some slick lawyer to convince the kid to sue you for letting him drink to early.
The potential for so much to go wrong outweighs the potential for things going wrong
While I don’t think it’s the word he wanted, Shagnasty didn’t invent it – it is a [del]real[/del] previously occurring word.
The definition for supervene here has:
Items 1. and 2. certainly look like the sort of parental involvement illicit under-age drinkers might want to avoid.
In a conversation on a parenting board several years ago I expressed a similar view and was prompted shouted down by a group of mothers who stated that any amount of alcohol has dangerous health effects if consumed prior to the age of 21, and a social worker chimed in to say that giving your child a sip of wine with dinner was abuse and she would take the child from the family that did so.
Since then, I believe there has been a study that does link problem drinking with early (supervised) consumption of alcohol so I’d do further reading before I made up my mind on the issue. Update: Found an article about the study, which says that early supervised exposure to alcohol is more harmful than beneficial in our (Australian) culture. Early exposure to alcohol in Southern Europe isn’t linked to later problem drinking because of the differences in the way alcohol is used in those regions.
Is that because it’s watered down so much? I had always thought that in places like France where wine was given to younger kids, it was super watered down so they were getting used to it while not really getting the full effects, and then slowly the amount was increased.
I don’t know Freudian Slit, the article isn’t very specific. I speculate that Australia (US/UK/Northern Europe) have a drinking culture where binge drinking by young people is not just accepted but in some respects expected. Going out drinking is an activity itself, not just a component of the evening. The countries with lower rates of alcoholism (I’ve read) don’t treat drinking to the point of drunkeness as an amusing way to spend a night out.
Drinking to the point of drunkeness as an amusing way to spend a night out was not the way I was brought up. Not to say that it didn’t happen; but it wasn’t the point. As I’ve said in many threads, my dad was a Naval officer; pretty much the epitome of what I consider ‘an officer and a gentleman’. I inherited my sense of decorum from him. (And he was always willing to pick me up if I was responsible enough to admit I couldn’t drive. He never had to.) So if it’s the home environment that sets the stage, I think I’m good there.
Freudian Slit: I almost said ‘wine mixed with water’, but I didn’t.
Not that it matters anyway, as I will never have children.
It’s because it’s wine. In my (anecdotal, but extensive) experience, children may learn to tolerate wine at a younger age than beer*, but they won’t learn to enjoy it until later.
Think about it this way: when was the last time you heard of a youth binge-drinking culture which centered around wine? I’m sure there are a few, of course, but nothing like the prevalence of beer cultures.
I was given both beer (actually, shandy most of the time) and wine about equally growing up, FWIW.
*Beer, or at least European beers, are generally unpalatable for pre-adolescent kids because of the bitterness. I didn’t try an American pilsner until I was about 15 so I can’t comment on what it would have tasted like to my eight-year-old tongue.
You mean I was the only one who threw a wine tasting and not a kegger for her 21st birthday? I knew I was out of touch with youth culture!