Teens drink. A lot.
According to a 2017 survey, 7.4 million minors in the U.S. had consumed alcohol in the previous 30 days and 4.5 million of those were binge drinkers (defined as consuming five or more drinks within a couple of hours).
Based on these statistics, many parents want to educate their children by allowing them to drink at home. A glass of wine with dinner or a beer at a family barbecue can be a safer first drinking experience than, for instance, your daughter doing Jell-O shots at a house party where she doesn’t know her tolerance and could find herself in a dangerous situation. (Better the devil you know, right?)
In many states, it is actually legal for underage drinkers to consume alcohol in their parents’ presence with their parents’ permission. That said, no state allows an adult to give alcohol to an unrelated minor, even on private property. Through Social Host laws, adults who host unrelated underage drinkers on their property can be held criminally or civilly liable. So, although you might permit your teen to drink, you should be cautious about letting your teen’s friends drink at your house. The
Three Risks
There are three risks of allowing underage consumption of alcohol in your home:
- Criminal consequences
- Civil consequences
- Psychological and social consequences
Keeping Our Kids Safe and Out of Trouble
To learn more about Drinking at Home and other issues that parents and teens face click below to purchase my new book Keeping Our Kids Safe and Out of Trouble: What a Criminal Defense Attorney Tells His Kids and Wants You to Tell Yours.