sonlymewalter

ahh well. Dole bludging it is then

sammax

Well seeing as he is still under our roof, we see all that is going on, and you never stop worrying about what your kids are doing to themselves, do you?

jad n rich

The just finished grade 12 kid set off for schoolies week. The booze budget for each child was $200. I am like WTF

Other parents seemed fine with it These kid are kids are 16 or 17. ( year 12 qld )

I told him no way, and explained the joys of stomach pumps and choking to death on your own vomit.

Binge drinking alive and well just like in the UK it seems.

As for worrying about your kids, I did with the oldest up to 24, then I went nahh, up to you buddy

spartacus

Then demand the greedy little git shares it with you = problem solved.

scottishcelts

Agreed.

I never drank on my own as a youngster, wouldn't have crossed my mind. Always with my mates out and about at the party scenes. There was hell of a lot of drugs going around then too, so alcohol wasn't the first on the menu for many.

Kids appear to me to drink far more nowadays.

Cheetah7

To be honest I sometimes drink on my own, but no more than half a bottle of wine at the very most and that is pushing it.

If I drank a whole bottle of wine I would be very sick indeed as I am a lightweight. When Mr PP works - which is a lot, I can have a glass of wine with food but I could not drink an entire bottle without being very ill.

carolinephillips

The trouble is that the mentality has changed, from going out to have a good time with mates, to going out with the intention of getting completely bladdered (as fast as possible usually) knocking back booze like their life depended on it, rather than savouring it slowly.

Cheetah7

After next Friday I am becoming teetotal due to some tablet I have to start, and I am not a big drinker at all these days but being told I must give it up is making me think 'Shit, I am going to start craving it'

renth

It was always like that when I was a youngster.

To be perfectly honest I'd rather my kids smoke/vape a bit of weed instead of binge drinking. Shame it's against the law.

Kooky.

Was thinking the same as I read Caroline's post. I've always said there came a time when I stopped going out to get as drunk as I could, as quickly and cheaply as I could, and started to try to pace myself and be slightly less than slaughtered at the end of the night.

I've thought several times about replying to this thread, as I wanted to be honest and hopefully helpful. Apologies, it's gotten very long! Let's call it Memoirs of a Social Drinker Feel free to stop now or skip to the last couple of paragraphs.

I started drinking early. I've never had a problem (yeah, they all say that eh?) and I don't think I have an addictive personality but I was always a bit of a disco bunny. I probably had my first cider at, what, 8? Didn't actually realise it was alcohol for years - we used to go off on extended family car rides on a weekend and usually end up in a beer garden sharing a half with my cousins. We're talking about 1970 here - were things that much slacker then?

Then my Dad went to work abroad and discovered the joys of duty free booze. Neither of my parents were big drinkers, my Mum would make a whisky and orange last all night, but I think they got seduced by the (assumed) glamour and we had a bar built in our lounge - black pleather and chrome it was Talk about fur coat and no knickers So I think I first encountered Bacardi and Coke, and Pimms and Lemon, at 11 or 12. And of course I babysat for the couple across the road, who were big drinkers, and used to pour me a sherry and lemon before entrusting me with their toddlers. Jesus, it just gets better doesn't it By then I was also au fait with Liebfraumilch, and a school trip to Germany showed that a lot of my peers were as familiar with alcohol as I was. The teachers took us to a beer festival and turned a blind eye (we were all 13, and this was a well-respected school BTW).

At 14 I went on my first Spanish holiday, with the fam and my best friend, and we two drank a lot of cuba libre - of course the friendly waiters encouraged us (We were quite cute and achingly sophisticated, snogging waiters outside our apartments at 4am )

Where am I going with this? By 17 I was going out and getting pretty damn drunk. At uni I used to go out on a girls' night on a Friday, 3 for 1 vodka from 7 'til 8 at our favourite meeting point, and I'd get off the bus about 7.40 and sling two of those down my neck before we really started our night out.

So by 23, the age of your son, I was quite a drinker. Didn't drink much wine back then, and didn't drink alone. Where's the fun in that, I was a party girl. Partied my way through the hedonistic 80s, for sure - partner and I worked at the same company and it had a huge social scene - and most of the 90s too as I got divorced and was single for most of my thirties. Was mad for clubbing but never liked drugs, so used to go out early and drink before moving onto water about midnight and dancing 'til 7am. Clubbed about 5 nights a week for a while (2 of them all-nighters, usually several clubs a night). Drank most nights but less of it during the week. Always got up for work and was very good at what I did.

So, 39, all grown-up (ish) and moved to Singapore, socialised with the G&T set, and then onto Sydney. 49 now. (How did that happen?) I can drink a bottle of bubbly when the mood takes me but quite often the mood doesn't take me, I can go weeks and have gone six months without a drink. If I do open a bottle at home, it usually lasts me three nights and I could often take it or leave it after night one but I'm from Yorkshire, can't waste it.

I'd be lying if I said I haven't got myself in some sticky situations due to booze - there's a particular incident in Mexico I'm still surprised I got out of alive - and there have been a few regrets. There's a reason I don't drink Tequila But I've had bloody good fun. And some terrible hangovers. I can only remember a handful of times in all those years that I couldn't get home on my own two feet, but there are a few more where next day I couldn't remember getting home.

I've been to AA meetings with a friend with a desperate problem (lost her job and most of her marbles over it) and I know a few I'd call functioning alcoholics, so I'm not totally unaware of the problems booze can cause.

I think, for me, drinking has mostly been a by-product of my social life. I'm sure it is for a lot of people. Or they simply enjoy a drink? Do I sound like I'm protesting too much? Maybe, but I'm not sure how else to describe it. I've had a lot of shit in my life but I've never used booze to escape it. Chocolate, that's another matter entirely.

Anyway, that's my life story


I don't think any of us can judge whether your son has a problem, based on the details you've given us, and agree with the others that he's 23, he may be under your roof but he's not a kid. If you're worried about him, you need to approach him as an adult.

If he does have a problem, he'll be trying to hide it from you. He'll be cunning. I've emptied my friend's fridge thinking she didn't have two ha'pennies but she's managed to find enough change to go to the bottle-o for more cheap shit. If you don't know what to look out for, do some reading. I sincerely hope he's just being 23.

sheene

I tried to press the 'quote' button, but the computer said no. Anyway, that story appears fairly typical of the relationship many of us have had with alcohol, and isn't a problem. That p word starts to become serious when your habits affect others, or the habit controls you. The part of the OP story which really troubled me was the drink driving. Never have, never will. No grey area. You wan't to kill yourself? Please don't. You wan't to kill someone else whilst dunk and driving a car? Then you are a murdering bastard. And before anyone cries 'manslaughter' - you didn't get drunk accidentally, you didn't drive the car accidentally - it was pre-meditated.

sonlymewalter

well buggar me I declare to agree young man

(before you ask, I didn't actually mean *buggar me*"...just in case you're wonderin like)

sheene

I'll put my trousers back on then

sonlymewalter

please do....your knock knees and droopy skiddies are doing nothing for me

sheene

thank god you didn't notice the skid marks.