Legal Age 21 Marginalizes Parents
The 21 year-old drinking age minimizes the role of parents in encouraging responsible decisions about alcohol, placing them in an untenable position. They must either ignore the reality of alcohol consumption among young people and forbid their children from drinking or break the law by serving alcohol to their under-21 children. Neither option is acceptable to a responsible parent, or in a society governed by rule of law. Parents need to be re-enfranchised, again involved in the process of teaching their children how to make informed, healthy decisions about alcohol and its use.
Despite evidence that young people who drink with their parents are less likely to report drinking and getting drunk with peers, parents in most states who choose to introduce a son or daughter to alcohol in the privacy of the home violate the law. Imagine an analogous situation. A young person reaches legal driving age and secures a learner’s permit. But if a parent sits in the front seat advising him or her how to operate the vehicle safely, both parent and child violate the law, and the state loses 10 percent of its federal highway funds. Such a situation would be laughable, but this is precisely the situation in a majority of the states where alcohol is concerned.
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I wrote about this above, but feel the need to repeat. If a person is old enough to carry heavy ordinance, drive tanks, and take lives, the person is old enough to have a drink.
Are all 18 year olds prepared for alcoholic beverages? No. But not all 18 year olds are prepared for warfare either. But we do not discriminate against that. We actually call it patriotic and doing your duty. Do not get me wrong. I agree that it is 100% patriotic and believe we should all serve our country. But if we are entrusted to be defenders of the free world at 18, we should be able to have a beer at the end of the day after defending it.
I would say that I disagree with this as well.
However, I believe that the law is the law and if it says that you cannot drink until you are 21, then you cannot drink until you are 21.
What is my responsibility to my children? Teach them that drinking at any age is not good. Teach them that there are reasons not to ever start drinking. I am a firm believer in education on every thing.
Exampl: I began at a young age teaching my children about guns and the responsibilty of owning and using them. Why? Because are a family of hunters. They now have a respect for them and as a result, know how to properly handle them.
My daughter also knows how to handle weapons responsibly and we taught he well before 18 how to clean a gun and shoot and how to secure it. I would like to teach her the same about alcohol and that is my responsibility as her parent to choose, not the government.
I'm not really sure why you would argue that the drinking age should be lowered from 21. What is your agenda here? Who can argue that not serving drinks in bars and restaurants and not selling beer to 18 year-olds is a bad thing?
Do 18-20 year-olds have a big problem with it? Do parents have a big problem with it? Perhaps beer sellers have a problem with it, but who else does?
This specific argument claims that the law marginalizes parents. Well I'm a parent and don't feel marginalized and I don't think I can name one other parent who would like to see the drinking age lowered.
Would I ever choose to have my 18 year-old drink a glass of wine at a family gathering? Maybe. Would I feel like I'm breaking the law? Of course not!
Actually, I am a parent of a 17 year old and I have a problem with the 18 drinking age. Ever visit you local grocery store around high school graduation? See all the parents buying kegs for their kids HS graduation parties. Like you, I would like my daughter to have a glass of champagne at family events but it IS BREAKING THE LAW and our children know it. You may not feel like you are breaking the law but you are. What are you teaching your child? I think maybe a graduated drinking age would be appropriate, just like driving. First, only with parental supervision then just beer and wine and then finally everything. I would like to work with my daughter to ensure that she knows what effect alcohol has on her in the privacy of our home, without breaking the law.
If you can't let your daughter have a glass of champagne at a family event you should work to get the law changed.
In my state, it is legal for parents to serve their children alcoholic beverages at home, no matter what their ages. But they cannot if they are not in their own home, e.g. Sunday dinner at a relative's house.
Thus my parents gave me an education about drinking that stood me in good stead when I went off to college at 17.
But they could have done even better if the laws were those of a nearby state, where not only do parents have the right to teach their kids about drinking while under their supervision at home, but anywhere including bars and restaurants. The only requirement is that the person's parent be there to supervise. I think it should be the law in every state that underderage drinkers may drink anywhere so long as they are under parental supervision.