drinking/driving age

[mistylady]

I think the ages for drinking and driving should be 18 if you can enlist at 18.

 

[DuckLady]

Just because you are mature enough for one thing it doesn't mean maturity for another. Different responsibilities carry different maturity levels. Enlisting in the military has absolutely nothing to do with drinking alcohol. It is comparing apples to broccoli.

18 and 19 YO are often still in high school and the potential for aiding and abetting underage drinking increases.

What 18 YO is not going to want to be cool by allowing a 16 or 15 YO to have a beer. Not going to hurt right? Right.

The age should stay where it is, IMO.

 

[spatcher]

I agree with mom'sfolly and Israel has it right!

 

[BearSwampChick]

And sometimes being the best parent you could possibly be won't stop your kids from drinking irresponsibly or doing drugs, etc. It has a lot to do with the awful peer pressure combined with an insecure personality of wanting to be part of the "cool" crowd, right or wrong. I know, it happened to me, twice.

Disclaimer: not saying I was the perfect parent. Just saying I tried my best, but my best wasn't good enough to overcome those factors.

 

[JohnL11935]

Quote:
This one won't win me any popularity contest.

These days 18 year olds are far less mature and have had far less responsibility to make them accountable for their actions.

I wouldn't have a problem with either the drinking age or the driving age if parents were more responsible and raise children to know right from wrong. Remove yourself from your high and mighty throne if you think your kid is perfect and would never even be tempted. They are all tempted at some point. It is your parental teaching that prevents them from following those urges and to be responsible on their own.

Look at all of the unsupervised, disrespectful, wouldn't work in a pie factory eating pie teenagers in this world who would love to buy alcohol and then roll with their friends and could not care less if they hit your car and killed you, your kids or your grandkids because they just want to have a good time.

If an 18 year old in the military has a military ID they should be able to buy a beer. I would prefer they have to buy it and consume it on base.

Amen to that, Miss Prissy.

 

[the simple life]

I don't know, I like the driving age where it is.
My son is 16 and 8 months and got his license two months ago, right at 16 and a half.
As did all of my older children.
All of them are excellent, cautious drivers.
Especially my son, I always get nervous riding in a car when someone else is driving other than myself, except now for my son. I am totally comfortable with that.
But I know adults who are absolutely terrible drivers and should not be on the road.
I like that my kids can drive themselves to work or school and sports.
Its good for them to have that responsibility in paying for their own gas use and car insurance.
I have never agreed with sending 18 year old boys off to war and I never will.
As for the drinking age, I know it doesn't seem fair to let kids into the military at 18 but not drink, but its been proven that the drinking and driving deaths for kids in that age bracket had gone down dramatically.
Of course now they are all being killed fighting in the war.
So what do you do.
I personally like the drinking age at 21, as a mom of kids in those age ranges I feel that an 18 year old has not got the ability to drink responsibly. Or at least most 18 year olds.
Who wants their kids missing school in the morning because they have a hangover.
How can you tell an 18 year old kid who is legally allowed to drink, WHEN they are allowed to drink. Only on the weekends? How does that work?
I know that when we were kids and you could drink at 18 it was the big thing to turn 18 and be able to drink.
Now all the kids I know when they turn 21 and are able to drink they don't go hog wild, like woo hoo lets go get hammered, I can legally drink.
They are three years older and seem more mature about the fact they can drink.Its not as big a deal.
Lastly, any kid, anywhere can go and drink if they really want. There is always some kid who can score some booze for them and their buddies.
My vote is drinking age 21, driving age left where it is and if kids want to join the military at 18 fine( I do think the military is great for alot of kids as an option, I come from a long line of military men and my husband is a marine) but I don't think they should go off to war at 18.
Let then serve in every other way, get their education that way and then at 21 do what they have to do to defend our country.
If they are not responsible enough to drink at 18 then they should not be given a gun and dropped off in a strange country either to hopefully not be killed or to have to live with the fact that they killed someone either.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
This one won't win me any popularity contest.

These days 18 year olds are far less mature and have had far less responsibility to make them accountable for their actions.

I wouldn't have a problem with either the drinking age or the driving age if parents were more responsible and raise children to know right from wrong. Remove yourself from your high and mighty throne if you think your kid is perfect and would never even be tempted. They are all tempted at some point. It is your parental teaching that prevents them from following those urges and to be responsible on their own.

Look at all of the unsupervised, disrespectful, wouldn't work in a pie factory eating pie teenagers in this world who would love to buy alcohol and then roll with their friends and could not care less if they hit your car and killed you, your kids or your grandkids because they just want to have a good time.

If an 18 year old in the military has a military ID they should be able to buy a beer. I would prefer they have to buy it and consume it on base.

Amen to that, Miss Prissy.

I agree that a lot of it goes back to the parents, but sometimes no matter what you do, things don't go as you planned. My husband and I raised our kids in a no alchohol home, church every Sunday, knowing right from wrong. They always worked on our farm or for someone else. We wanted to be an example to them that you could have a good time with friends without drinking or doing drugs. Did it keep them from drinking......nope not one bit. In fact I think since it was forbidden it made it all the more fun to them. By the time the 3rd was older we could see it hadn't had the effect we hoped so we relaxed the rules and she's the only one it wasn't fun for and she's the only one who behaved herself!! We had a good relationship through all the ups and downs of the teen years for the most part. We always told them if they made the wrong choices they were responsible for their actions, but we'd deal with it as a family and we did. They weren't afraid to come to us when they messed up. They've all grown up to be responsible adults with their own families.

I agree there are too many parents with blinders on when it comes to their kids......I've known quite a few!

 

[hollyclyff]

I'm not sure it's really wise to raise the driving age to 18 and end up sending all those brand new drivers out into the world with no parental supervision. I like the graduated licensing programs myself.

Along that same line, I believe I read that some country (can't remember which) had a lower drinking age for consumption of alcohol with parental supervision and then a higher age for unsupervised drinking. Seemed to make some sense to me. Or at least it would if you could trust parents to be responsible.

 

[bluey]

Personally, I believe that the drinking age should be 18 when individuals are considered adults. It seems wrong to me to restrict legal adults anything available to the general public although as a parent I certainly won't be beating a drum to get it lowered. Let the laws in place punish adults that buy alcohol for minors. If the laws need to be more punitive to dissuade the practice, so be it.

As for driving, I kind of like the age of 17 with permit driving (w/ an adult) at 16. Not too early but gives a person a year or two to get in enough practice before they are potentially on their own. I also believe that everyone over 70 should be retested periodically. I believe that older drivers are as much of a hazard as younger ones.

Just my two cents on the issues.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

The drinking age should be 18. At 18 you are old enough to go and fight for your country, but you cant sit down and have a drink with your friends and family before you go.