• not_woody_shaw@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Teach them to drink responsibly while they still want to hang out with you when you’re drinking. Prohibition until 21 just encourages binge drinking.

    • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      Can confirm. I grew up in the Carribean and I was allowed to drink beer and wine at a very young age. My mother taught me how to drink. I was definitely prepubescent, which is important because I hit puberty at ten. She explained that drinking can make you feel sick and that if I felt my nose feel funny I needed to stop and drink water.

      Binge drinking and being fall down drunk is seen a something stupid, embarrassing, and something that only alcoholics do. I still find it strange and embarrassing when I see people racing to unconsciousness. What is the point of being blackout drunk before 9:00pm? We used to party until the sun came out, then we’d get breakfast and go to bed.

        • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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          5 months ago

          It’s a slight numbing feeling on the tip of your nose once you get buzzed. I used to feel it when I was young but don’t even notice it now. She was explaining “getting buzzed” to a kid. It worked for me at least.

    • Fades@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      What the fuck? Prohibition until 21 keeps developing brains from being damaged

      https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/alcohol-harms-the-brain-in-teen-years-before-and-after-that-too-2021011521758

      In a recent editorial in The BMJ, a trio of scientists pointed out that there are three periods in life when the brain goes through major changes and is particularly vulnerable to the effects of alcohol. Two of those periods are at the beginning and end of life. When pregnant women drink alcohol, it can damage the developing brain of the fetus, leading to physical problems, learning disabilities, and behavioral problems. When people over the age of 65 drink alcohol, it can worsen declines in brain function that happen during aging.

      The third period is adolescence. During those years of transition between childhood and adulthood, the brain grows and changes in many important ways that are crucial for that transition to be successful. When teens and young adults drink alcohol, it can interfere with that process of brain development in ways that affect the rest of their lives.

      https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4691

        • Laser@feddit.org
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          5 months ago

          but you obviously don’t want 14 year olds to get drunk.

          Which is totally legal here as long as the 14 year old is under supervision of a legal guardian.

      • TassieTosser@aussie.zone
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        5 months ago

        A glass once in a while isn’t going to harm thier development and will teach them that alcohol is to be enjoyed responsibly in moderation. No one is saying get shitfaced with your kids.

  • best_username_ever@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    A few times ago, I was drinking beer in the street in front of an American coworker. He was a bit shocked and I said “of course you can drink wherever you want, it’s the land of the free!” and I loled. I thank the internet for teaching me about weird customs all around the world. The end.

  • nexussapphire@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    I didn’t learn about that law until my 21st birthday. To me having a glass of coniac especially on special occasions was pretty normal. We also had red wine with pasta, and martinis when my parents decided to break out the shaker. Oddly enough I don’t really drink alcohol outside of social settings now and even then I drink the same glass over the course of hours.

    • ButtDrugs@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      Who knew, you can establish a healthy relationship with alcohol with your kids if you don’t treat it like some Forbidden fruit.

      • Fades@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Who knew drinking alcohol when the brain is still very much in development is totally healthy!!!

        Oh wait

        https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/alcohol-harms-the-brain-in-teen-years-before-and-after-that-too-2021011521758

        In a recent editorial in The BMJ, a trio of scientists pointed out that there are three periods in life when the brain goes through major changes and is particularly vulnerable to the effects of alcohol. Two of those periods are at the beginning and end of life. When pregnant women drink alcohol, it can damage the developing brain of the fetus, leading to physical problems, learning disabilities, and behavioral problems. When people over the age of 65 drink alcohol, it can worsen declines in brain function that happen during aging.

        The third period is adolescence. During those years of transition between childhood and adulthood, the brain grows and changes in many important ways that are crucial for that transition to be successful. When teens and young adults drink alcohol, it can interfere with that process of brain development in ways that affect the rest of their lives.

        Linked paper: https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4691

        • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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          5 months ago

          We’re talking a small glass of wine with a meal. We’re not handing them a bottle of Jack and going “chug chug chug!”

          • nexussapphire@lemm.ee
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            5 months ago

            Yeah, my parents didn’t really let me have more than a glass and these events were weeks sometimes months apart. It was very much intended to foster a healthy relationship with alcohol at a young age.

            Also in my household you didn’t offer to pour a glass for someone you just told let them help themselves if they wanted unlike things like lemonade or tea. I’ve noticed as a result less people tend to drink or drank less if you didn’t offer to get them a glass.

    • can@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      Exactly, I really wish I had drank a bit more before moving out. I would have made way less of a fool of myself once I did. Only bright side is we were all fools and amazingly I wasn’t the biggest one.

  • far_university1990@feddit.de
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    5 months ago

    𝕯𝖎𝖊𝖘𝖊 𝕶𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖘𝖊𝖐𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝖎𝖘𝖙 𝖓𝖚𝖓 𝕰𝖎𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖚𝖒 𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝕭𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖗𝖊𝖕𝖚𝖇𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕯𝖊𝖚𝖙𝖘𝖈𝖍𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉

  • QuentinCallaghanMA
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    5 months ago

    The legal drinking age here in Finland is 18, and feels weird how it is 21 in USA.

    • Laser@feddit.org
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      5 months ago

      German here with similar laws to yours, though wine and beer legal with 16: legal age of 21 is in line with experts’ recommendations regarding brain development, however it’s questionable if this approach achieves the goal. If you want to discourage teenage drinking, make it unappealing, not illegal; but then we might have to acknowledge that we have an industry that heavily profits from a risky substance that puts a huge burden on society (several billion in damages each year) and we might have to regulate some aspects instead of just blaming the unfortunate people who got screwed over.

    • vaionko
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      5 months ago

      That sounds super late indeed. Teens will always drink, I think it’s better they can do it in a safe place instead of a forest with a bottle of vodka they got somewhere.

      • Aux@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Getting totally wasted in a forest on cheap beer mixed with antihistamines and vodka was the best thing as a teen!