Lowering the Drinking Age

In my opinion if we lower the drinking age after it has been 21 for so long I do not believe it will help the underage drinking issue. I strongly feel it will lower the age of the underage drinkers. 18 year old have a lot more friends that are in the lower teens and will gain help them gain access to the alcohol. This will lead to developmental and behavioral issues. Many 21 year olds are already very irresponsible with their alcohol content, I saw the same idiocity over and over again while my husband was bar tending. I find it more fun to watch drunk people then dink personally, but it saddens me so much to see those same people sneak away to drive home. There have been way too many deaths and injuries due to drunken behavior. I believe we are all connected with someone who has been killed or has killed because of driving under the influence. 18 year old drivers are already among the top to be the cause of accidents, do we really want to risk raising the percentage?
Why is it such a big deal to start drinking at a younger age anyway? Do you really need to add even more mind splitting headaches and vomit to your life? Face it most 18 year olds do not know when to stop. They don't drink just to have a yummy drink, they drink to get drunk, to feel the giddy, I can rule the world feeling.
Now the military has a proposition for making it legal for those in the military to be able to drink at 18 only on base or of course in countries where it is legal. I do believe this is fare considering they are able to go to war and have made that choice they should be able to make those decisions to drink. On base they can also monitor it. What are your opinions?

Keeping Your Kids Out Of Trouble

Honestly Kids will find a way to get in trouble if they have their mind set to it. We were all teens, even if we weren't the trouble makers we knew them,
We also need to not tell ourselves our child is the exception. We discipline those we love and care for it builds respect for us. We still live under our
own self discipline and it first come from learning there are consequences for the things we do. We need to have an open relationship with our kids
where they have a healthy fear of you but can still come to you when they do something wrong and you help them fix it by figuring out a way that they
wont get stuck in that position again that is how you build self discipline, setting up a system that will keep you from doing the things you don't want to do.
Also when we were kids who were the people who were your friends no matter what you chose to do, whether you were partying, going to church, doing
your homework, got in a fight, or got caught doing something you weren't supposed to do. Teach them that true Friends will love them even if they do the RIGHT
thing.
Our children whether we want to think so or not are growing up in a harder world. Kids are having sex in Jr high and even Elementary school, drugs are being
offered to young children, and privacy is given in excess to children. They don't even have to tel their parents when they get an abortion or have an STD. You should be the safest place for them to come to but i should also be a challenge for them to tell you it shouldn't be easy but they need to learn to have courage. I was scared to death
when i found out i was pregnant but i knew my mom loved me and would help me, not everyone has that luxury but many people even if not your parents will hep you.
I was in no way a BAD kid i did things my parents didn't approve of, I didn't go to parties, I wasn't a druggy (i tried Pot a couple times but it wasn't a habit) I didn't
want to be bad. I did have sex in high school and i regret it now but I was in no means a skank of the school. I wish i had waited till i was married but that is another blog.
I just want my kids to be able to come to their mother and father when they are in a bind, if they drink too much and cant drive home and need me to pick them up,
if they get their girlfriend pregnant, if they get caught stealing something, if they are depressed, (i will definitely let them know i am not OK with it but
i want to be there for them through their hard times) it is OK to be mad and they know they are in trouble. I know some teens believe they have the RIGHT to do these things and that is when this doesn't work. But even as a young kid let them come to you when they do minor things and they will trust you with the major things.
Kids will find a way to do what they want to do, just help them find fun things they like to do that they don't need to sneak around to do. But always remember it is
not your fault for the CHOICES they make, everyone has a free will.