Any parent that does this should be prosecuted and have their own children removed from the home. God help anyone who allows my kids to drink alcohol. God help my kids if I catch them.

Stop making excuses for your son, Brenda. Time for a bit of tough love, don’t you think? I agree that parents should be held accountable for providing alcohol to minors but that doesn’t relieve drinkers of the need for personal accountability. Stop enabling Jr and tell him to step up and get it together.

Let’s keep the discussion centered on whether parents who sponsor parties are doing the right thing. Some parents think their kids will drink no matter what they do.

Of course these parents are wrong…legally, that is. The law strictly prohibits adults from providing alcohol to minors. Yet, at the same time, teens always seem to manage to acquire large quantities of booze.

As the parent of a 19 year old son I discourage him from drinking and driving while knowing full well that he will be drinking. I’m not condoning underage drinking but it’s what they do…it’s what I did. The real trouble comes in when they take lives in hand and try to operate a vehicle.

I allow my son a drink while watching a movie in the family room but would never provide his buddies with alcohol or host a party.

In my business, it is a well recognized fact that the greatest tragedy of the family is the un-lived lives of the parents. Parents should never consider themselves failures when they sincerely do their best to love, teach and care for their children. Perfection is not required. And they should never permit themselves to do anything that they are not willing to see in their children. Set the example, and the kids will imitate! And parents should make decisions affecting their kids without regard for their kids’ reactions, but rather based on simple, mature decisionmaking.

Parenting itself is really simple. Making it complex causes failure. But “parenting” is not necessarily the same as “friendship”. And to sponsor underage drinking parties is not something a parent would do, and quite frankly it is nothing a “friend” would do.

Parents who grow up make the best parents.

I had my first drink when I was 19 in the back yard of my parents house while having a bonfire. A couple of friends from the ‘hood came over with some beer and we got drunk. My mom was home and was fully aware of what was going on. The next morning my parents told me that they’re fully aware that kids will drink, it’s a rite of passage for some kids, but they told me that if they ever found out that I drove after drinking, there would be heck to pay. I can honestly say that my partying days were over prior to my turning 21 and I’ve never driven after drinking even one drink. Were my parents wrong for allowing me to drink? Legally, sure they were, but realistically, allowing me to experience alcohol in a controlled environment allowed me to get the feel for what I could handle and what I couldn’t. Every kid is a special case and is at a different maturity level. Maturity level should be considered when answering this question, it’s not a cut and dry issue.

I am the parent of two teenagers, 16 and 18. I know a little about underage drinking. My experience has been there are a lot of parents who condone this in their homes. My 18 year old was invited to a send off party for a friend going into the service. The parents were home and there was alchohol served. My 18 year old was robbed of a cell phone, digital camera and $300 in cash. The parents thought it was a supervised drinking party but with texting it gets out of control quickly and there were kids that came that were not invited and allowed in the home. I felt strongly that these parents should have recovered my kid’s loss but they felt differently. Does anyone else have an opinion about this? I wonder if I am the only person who thinks they should have been held accountable. Thank you

Scientific research shows the negative affect that teen drinking has upon later addiction to alcohol. So why in their right mind would any parent ever condone drinking in the teen years? Stop the denial about “controlled environments”. There is no control when a parent is ignorant enough to think it is ok for their child and others to drink in their home, or to drink at all. And if you parents think that one “controlled experience” is all that will happen, think again. The kiddies will now go out on their own and chase after that buzz with or without you. That is the whole meaning of “addiction”. Parents who hold parties with alcohol for teens should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

In many other countries, having a drink or two with your child is a common place thing. In fact, when I was in high school and visited an exchange family in Germany, their son’s local high school held a keg party for the last day before summer. If you are naive enough to believe that high school and college age kids dont drink then maybe you should stop reading. However, providing the alcohol, especially to OTHER peoples children, is starting to walk a thin line. Just like any other lesson, a parent can teach that their are responsibilties that need to come with choosing to drink alcohol. If you KNOW they are doing it, wouldnt you want them to do it responsibly?

To seriously:

No, i do not think the parents should be held accountable for your son losing his belongings. Had the cell phone and camera been in his pocket they would not have been taken. I highly doubt they were robbed right out of his pocket and if they were, was he drunk to not do anything about it? Im not sure how you think this was directly related to alcohol anyways. If this was a party without alcohol this is likely to have happen also. It is a teenage party, what do you expect? I find it amusing that you are trying to hold someone else accountable for your sons lack of responsibility. Didnt you say he was 19???

Next time tell your son to keep track of his things.