What would you do? Teens drinking.

[Les Paul]

My son and I and one of his bandmates built him a studio/party bldg 6 years ago. When he was 14. The party part I didn't count on. We built it to keep he and his bands/noise out of our house. Well the first year or 2 it was strictly music. His junior year it got pretty wild at times. Luckily there was a breaker on the back of our house that supplied electricty to the building which is 40 feet from our back door. We live in a neighborhood of big houses and big yards. Luckily nobody ever called the cops for loud noise. When it strated rattling the dishes in our kitchen cabinets after several calls to turn it down with no results I'd pull the breaker.


I guess the best thing that happened was in my sons senior year of hs the chief of police moved in right across the street. When my son went to college several years ago I cleaned the building out to make room for my treadmill, weight lifting stuff and a saltwater fish tank. In doing so I probably found 10 or so empty bottles of vodka, and other hard crap, numerous empty 12 and 20 pack empty boxes etc. All stuffed under couches. A couple of mj pipes and bong with mold growing in it etc. I really didn't have a clue until then. He lived through it luckily and so did we. He came home last summer and luckily had a hot gf that precluded parties in the bldg. The gf is an ex now and I doubt he'll be home for the summer again. We'll miss him but Austin Tx is a whole lot greater party town than where he grew up.

[dtw]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I missed the ages in some of these posts. Why are any 18 or 20 yr. olds living with their parents?

Agreed. I came home for my first summer of college and it drove me bonkers. The next two summers I rented a room, over the strong objections of my parents (the first summer, at least). Thing is, I had great jobs lined up each summer that made my argument ironclad. When your 19 year old says "I need to do this to enhance my marketability in the job market when I graduate", what are you going to say?!

By all measures, I was a pretty good kid. I 'tested' a lot but didn't cross many lines. No drugs, ever. Good grades, athletic, dated a lot but abstained, had good friends, etc.. Had to yell at me to get out of bed Saturday morning and mow the lawn, but that was about it. That all being said, when the parents went out of town, I threw big parties.

[gprsh924]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I missed the ages in some of these posts. Why are any 18 or 20 yr. olds living with their parents?

The 1st summer after college my friends and I were all set to rent an apartment together that was about 8 miles from home and 1 mile from the country club that we work at. When I mentioned it to my parents my mom was dead set against it. She told me that if I could afford my own apartment for the summer, I could afford college too. Needless to say, the apartment was out the window. Last summer I didn't try to live out of the house because I still worked close to home and it isn't really worth spending 30%-50% of my summer income on temporary housing. This upcoming summer, however, is still up in the air as a potential internship could take me away from home. This will be the last summer though, because when I graduate in may 2010, I am going to move from my college apartment straight into a new one in the city where my job is (hopefully downtown Chicago).

[ramonesfreak]

partying has always been one of my top priorities :-) however, while a teenager, after attending many house parties at friends or strangers houses and engaging in all the usual activities like, pissing in the sink or on the floor, puking on the sofa, seeing the houses generally get trashed by drunk teenagers, lawnjobs, etc.....i could and would never ever have been so disrespectful as to have a party at my own parents house. If me and my friends wanted to get drunk and we didnt have a house to go to, we took our beer and whatever else, deep into the woods at the park

even as a 13 year old drunk, i had enough brains and heart to realize that an open invitation to your parents house is just totally wrong

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by phred68

I have a great relationship with the parents, and they (the kid too) pretty much know I'll report back to them anything that goes on while they're out of town. And for the most part I tell them that he's had friends over, and they've already known.

So, what would you do? Or have done?

Like many of the posters in this thread I have a, uh, checkered past when it comes to teenage mischief...no parties when my parents were out of town (I had an older sister who would rat out a nun if she took an extra sip of the Merlot) but I took full advantage of the opportunities that were presented when parents of my friends happened to find themselves out of town and out of touch (I am firmly convinced it was out of my hands: if not me, who?).

That said, tell all. If you don't let them know you'll lose the respect of both the parents and the kid. Getting busted is almost the best part of growing up

[legion]

I came home the first two summers in college.

One night, the second summer, I nearly came to blows with my father after my mother refused to let me use the washing machine to wash my clothes for work the next day. (My mother is/was somewhat OCD and didn't like other people touching her dishwasher, vacuum, or washer and dryer.) I stormed out of the house with both of them hitting me and they locked me out. I knew I had to be out of there.

I never threw any parties. Heck, my parents didn't allow any of my friends in their house when they were home. (It was like a museum.) Just footprints on the carpeting or dirt on the floor would have been enough to give me away...

[Langers]

Next time it happens call the cops immediately. Hopefully they throw the book at them, and the supplier of the booze ends up in prison.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by legion

I never threw any parties. Heck, my parents didn't allow any of my friends in their house when they were home. (It was like a museum.) Just footprints on the carpeting or dirt on the floor would have been enough to give me away...

Cameron, is that you?

[gprsh924]

Hey battabattabatta hey battabattabatta swiiing batta he canthit he canthit he canthit he canthit swiiing batta