Quote Originally Posted by littleindiangirl View Post
Is drinking and driving the SOLE reason you believe the drinking age should be 21? Nothing else comes to mind? Is drinking to blame for it all??

I too was brought up strict, I didn't drink until I moved out... I drank, then when I turned 21, I drank some more in public. In all, I drank heavily after turning 21 for only a few months... Now I haven't really had a drink since.

If raising a child in a super protective environment has bad results when they get out on their own and party hard, then how is it any different if we "protect" them from alcohol and then let them loose? I don't see the difference, and I strongly believe that making alcohol not a BIG deal, we'd see less stupid mistakes made when kids are either out of the parents house or turn 18.

I didnt get past this post, but I wanted to make sure to respond to it.

How I was brought up around alcohol varied a lot. My parents are divorced and I lived with my mom. My mom was a very open, trusting parent, and pretty much gave me free roam to do whatever I wanted, and I didnt take advantage of that and I was overall a good kid. It was a good system for us because I was responsible enough not to get myself into shtuff that could follow me later. With that said, the other side of the story was my dad. My dad has always been around, and I usually saw him at least once a month until I was an upperclassmen in high school and both of our busy schedules just didnt allow it. Anyway, he is very religious and conservative, and has always tried, is trying and probably always will try to instill conservative morals in me. I could not be much more liberal without being a communist, fyi. It goes without saying, that he is very opposed to underage anything, or anything, even if it is legal, that is "bad".

Now, with all of that said, I drink pretty infrequently, and even when I do, it is usually only a drink or two.

The fact is, Europe has no alcohol problems because they raise their kids without the stress and taboo of dealing with alcohol, so their kids dont go through the "I'm going to drink b/c I am a rebel!" stage, since it is legal and everyone else is doing it.

The other fact is, America isnt and never will be like Europe. Prohibition screwed it up for us for good. The best we can do now is get a majority of the people to feel that there is an issue with the drinking age, and willing to address the issues of lowering it until society becomes more laid back about the issue in general. Once the issue can become passive porch talk and not heated political debate, we have made headway.