FreeOwl

On my way home from the gym I passed a sign saying that waiting until you're 21 to drink reduces your risk of addiction by 90%.

I google that statement, and it brought me to a site called wait21.org that has some really interesting statistics and information on it.

This is an area that I think about frequently as I wonder about how I'm going to speak with my own kids about alcohol - recognizing that they will begin seeing the pressure to use alcohol and other drugs in the relatively near future in their lives. Already my 8 year old has had questions and statements ranging from "What ARE drugs"? to "Mom says you drank a LOT".

I find myself trying to find a consistent way to be honest and factual about alcohol and drugs with my kids, while not appearing to just take a "JUST SAY NO" line and losing credibility with them in juxtaposition to all the peer influence they will face....

Anyway - I thought I'd pass on the insight I got from that site and open a dialogue;

How many of YOU started before 21? For me it was 14....

And also - what will you say to your children?

hopeful4

I began drinking at 15. I am not an alcoholic, but drank very heavily through high school/college.

I have told both of my children (ages 15 and 9) that some people have a problem with alcohol and cannot stop after just a little bit. That when you are an adult you can taste it and see if it is something you like, and will be mature enough to know how it affects you.

My kids have been exposed to the alcoholic in their life (their father) enough to see so many negative consequences, especially to them. I would love to think this would keep them from going down the same path, but I know better. You are much more likely to have an addiction yourself if your parent is an addict. What I do know is that if their father would actually recover from this, and speak more open and HONEST about it, they would be so much more receptive to him.

I feel as though God was on my side. It's amazing I never hurt myself or anyone else while driving drunk. It seemed all in good fun then, but looking back, quite alarming. I also plan to monitor my children very closely. Sounds like a given, but my mom just entrusted my older sister was watching out for me when she was really partying it up with me. I will have rules and boundaries, and above all else, open and honest conversation with my children.

Hope this helps some!

DoubleDragons

I started drinking alcohol at age 15. My college age child apparently started experimenting the summer before freshman year in college, so unfortunately at age 18, although I don't get the sense it is something that he does much of after some beginning experimenting. The mixed blessing for us is that my mother is an active alcoholic and so my children have witnessed more than once, the disaster of addiction. I am extremely open about alcoholism and the reality of the pain it has caused in my life and the lives of those we love. (My husband's alcoholic father died at the age of 59 and his mother was an alcoholic throughout his childhood and only quit in her 60s due to cirrhosis of her liver.) I do not believe my younger children have experimented yet. My husband and I no longer drink and we are not cavalier in our attitudes about drugs and alcohol, so our children are getting a different experience than we had as kids, where we were actually encouraged to drink along with our parents. Time will tell if this makes a difference or if alcoholism is more of a genetic/biological thing. I am praying that we are breaking the cycle.

KAD

I was 14 the first time I tasted beer. Thought it was the most disgusting thing I'd ever tasted. I didn't experience a "buzz" until I was 17 and, unfortunately, I loved it. I drank 3 or 4 beers on occasion, mostly on weekends, but nothing regular. I could take it or leave it. I was 22 before I started drinking alone and regularly.

thursdayborn

Hi. This is interesting. I've heard before that drinking/drugging in your teens is especially problematic because your brain is still developing, and it doesn't surprise me that a younger person would be more vulnerable to addiction.

I didn't start drinking until I was 22, so clearly you don't have to start young to become an addict.

BlindsidedBetty

I think I will speak to my kids based on my personal experience, which is that although our society has a very lax attitude with alcohol, and it is popping up everywhere from grocery stores to nail salons to toddler birthday parties, it is a very addictive drug, and must be respected as such. I believe my alcohol addiction was earned through hard work (weekly drinking from age 16 to 40 save my pregnancies and a few "low carb" diets), and with any drug, you eventually need more and more of it. Lots of folks have different experiences with alcohol, but that is mine, and so I hope my sincerity and personal experience can knock some of dusty romanticism off of alcohol for them. I never hit any sort of "bottom" with my alcohol, or had any noticeable troubles or binges, but just woke up one day and saw behind the curtain so to speak and realized that for me, my 2 bottles of wine a week was the exact same addiction as someone drinking 10 bottles a week.

Soberwolf

The first time i got drunk/tipsy was around 15 it was off a half pint of lager i wasnt drinking from that age but thats the first time i experienced feeling tipsy

Grateful11

I never drank a drop of alcohol until I was 22 years old. Then I drank moderately for several years.

I still became an alcoholic by age 37 and hit rock bottom a year later.

Justincredible

Interesting post. I first experimented with alcohol at age 15. Realized I was an alcoholic at around 25.

I often think about what I can do to give my children the best chance at not following my footsteps with alcohol. I know my sobriety is the best example I can set for them.

leviathan

also a "15" here! by the time i was 21 i was a pro. ha!

thomas11

Hmm, interesting. I got drunk when I was younger but wasn't a drinker, if that makes any sense. I've gone back and forth with alcohol, I know I drank too much when I was about 31 but it only lasted a few months, and I quit. I didn't drink regularly until I was right around 40, and have slowly cut back on my drinking consistently. I'm 47 now.

Personally, I don't think there is an accurate formula for predicting alcohol addiction. I really don't.

HeartsAfire

Got drunk for the first time at 18 & hated it. Tried again at 21 & drank normally until around 25. Stopped this year at 44. When addiction takes hold it doesn't care your age, race, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status. It's a real "b" in that respect.

johnt99

I first got a good buzz at 15, discovered I loved it and drank to get drunk or very buzzed for the rest of high school, college, and for the rest of my 20s, 30s, and into my 40s.

anattaboy

13 and it was love at first puke.

FreeOwl

you pretty much just summarized my history too....

though there were lots and lots of times in between where I just drank "socially" or pretty moderately.... that was basically just filler in between getting drunk or strongly buzzed.

gettingsmarter

14 for me and loved it but couldn't get more of it. Then I got older and could get more of it.

soberclover

I hit the ground running at age 13; I was in 8th grade.

FindingMe2

I started drinking at age 13. I also experimented with drugs too during high school and college. By the grace of God, I am not an alcoholic/addict. I often wonder why. However, cigarettes have been an off and on issue through out my life. Cigarettes and diet coke are my addictions.

After my separation with alcoholic husband, I found myself drinking more then I had in years. It was social but I could see myself trying to numb the pain too so I stopped. Addiction does run in my family, so I am now hyper vigilant.

I agree that addiction can grab you at any time. I have seen it in my own family. It's just not worth the risk.

Mel12

Thanks FreeOwl, for getting me thinking:

I did not start drinking until about 35. Fast forward, and I am on SR. I am not sure what that says about me.

Mel

drinkingdinos

My first drink was very young, can't remember what age. I didn't get drunk until 15 and looking back, I was an alcoholic drinker from that moment on.