I have mixed feelings over this. I am high strung and extremely protective of my son. He is my Miracle and if anything ever happens to him, I will have to be locked away in a padded cell.
I have always been concerned that if he “got a taste” for alcohol he would become an alcoholic. It runs in the family on both sides.
Now that he is getting older I am trying not to shelter him so much but it’s hard because I don’t want him doing any of the stuff I did at his age. Now that he is nearing graduation and many of his friends are 21, alcohol is a serious concern of mine. I do not feel my son is mature enough to handle it but I am also logical and I can’t control his every action, as much as I would like to be able to.
Luckily, Thankfully, he and I have a very close relationship and we talk about these things openly. I have told him my preference that I don’t want him to drink but if it comes to it, I want him at home where I can make sure everything is ok. It’s more of a cop-out on my part because I know the odds of him drinking at home are next to nil, but in his mind he has that option which is safer than going out and risking his life with a bunch of stupid kids.
The parents of his friends are just as protective as I am and there is always a parental unit chaperoning everything the group does. All of us are retired military and a fairly close knit group.
I was 14 the first time I got drunk and I started going to bars when I was 16 but I want my son to be smarter than I was and learn from as many of my mistakes as he can instead of learning first hand.
But then there is the logical point that MadDogMarine brought up. If my son is mature enough to kill people in the service of our country, why is he not mature enough to have a beer to relax? He is mature enough to vote and make a lasting effect on how our country is ran but not mature enough to have a drink when he comes home from a hard day’s work? He is mature enough to own a gun, buy cigarettes, but not have a beer? The logical side of me does not agree with my emotional side. I know people that are old enough to be his grandparents and THEY are not as mature as my son is.
Bottom line for me, it’s my choice whether or not I allow my son to have a drink but if someone else offers it, there will be hell to pay.
~~When he turns 21 his dad and I have decided to take him to Vegas with his friends (that are of legal age) so they can have fun and we can be the body guards and DD's