Prom Night

Last weekend Central Patti and I were out on the town and it was hard to miss that it was prom season. All the young adults were out in all their full dress glory riding around in the Limos and eating at some of the finer establishments in Kansas City

I could not help but comment that for one, when I was that age I could not have afforded to rent a Limo or to eat in any of the establishments that we watched the kids go in and out of. I seem to remember that working part time in high school I made something like a dollar and a quarter an hour.

Secondly, while I did not have a lot of spending money the one difference between me at that age and these kids was I could drink in bars! I know most of you are saying what the hell? But that is how different the times were when I was a senor in high school I turned 18 in October of my senior year and I could legally enter and drink in bars in the state of Iowa.

I know you may not believe this as do most of the younger bar flies and colleagues I tell it to, but it is true. I even remember going to parties when I was in eighth and ninth grade where there were full well stocked bars.

What is interesting here is there are no statistics to prove that raising the drinking age has done anything useful. DUI arrests have gone up since that time and that is for a variety of reasons not just the drinking age

None of the friends that used to throw house parties when we were all underage have a drinking problem (at least the ones I have kept in touch with)

I have always believed that education and not prohibition is the best method to resolve underage drinking. People should teach their kids about drinking and the consequences of drinking no matter what age they are. I always advocated that drinking was not wrong and that alcohol was not a taboo. Alcohol in my house was simply an adult beverage just the same as using flavorful language was “adult language” not good and not bad.

After several rounds and lots of fun discussion with others at MySideOfTheBar we all wished the kids a good night and were all in agreement that they probably, while not legal drinking age, had some alcohol (and maybe other) types of refreshments.

Cheers
The Professor

Comments

  1. edbellmcseApril 27, 2011 at 10:34 AM

    I too never understand where the kids get the money for these Prom Events. My personal speculation is that the parents (always wanting to upstage their own upbringing) are footing the bill.

    I also totally agree that teaching responsible drinking is the way to go. When I was younger, living in Europe, kids knew how to handle thier liquor. Now they (the UK and EU) have tried putting restrictions on it, and it has lead to kids binge drinking more. Rather than restricting, teach them the correct way to drink...responsibly.

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