By: Heather

Heather — Mon, 10 May 2010 08:14:20 +0000

When I was 17, my mom always told me I was weird because I didn’t drink. She made me feel like an outcast because I didn’t want to go to parties since I knew what kids my age were doing. She would make me drinks all the time and she made me a drink my sophomore year before prom claiming it would “help ease my nerves”. When I got to college and I had been hearing all about how strange I was for hanging out with my friends who didn’t drink, I went wild. I drank all the time, and strangely enough my mom liked me more. I got into a lot of trouble, and eventually forced myself to quit, and I met my now husband about six months later. When my mom first met my husband, she tried to get him drunk. When he told her he wasn’t interested, that he didn’t like it, she got angry and told me she didn’t want me to marry him because he was “no fun”. It was then that I realized that my mom pushed alcohol in every situation because when she was with her friends and family, they thought it was required to have a good time. My aunt even served it at 11am on mother’s day. Whenever I am around them I feel tempted to drink, and it is a weakness I deal with all the time. I am fortunate to have the bad experiences of my freshman year to keep me away from alcohol. It is true that parents who encourage their children to drink, even under the context of “I’d rather have you do it under my supervision” are VERY irresponsible. My younger brother now has a HUGE drinking problem, and it started when he was 16. My parents ignore it, and even encourage him not to visit my husband and I because we’re “lame”.

Comments on: Irresponsible parents encourage teen drinking

By: Heather