Katie’s Beer

My favorite radio station had an interesting discussion this morning about teen beer parties and the Lewiston mom who was recently arrested for contributing to the death of a teen. My kids are 15 and 12 1/2 and I’ve already been surprised by the, shall we say, diversity of parenting styles and family rules of my kids’ peers. My idea of exposing my teens to drinking is for them to occasionally see me and my husband enjoy a beer responsibly in their presence.

One reason I was so interested in this radio discussion was that on the same radio station Dr. Joy Browne, about three months ago, gave shocking advice on teen drinking to a couple. I clearly remember the call and that night. I was driving in the dark of winter about 8:30pm to pick up my daughter from a dance class. I also remember the call very well because I repeated the story over and over the next day, feeling compelled to share the strange advice with others. I even discussed it with my teen daughter, who was also surprised. Even her teen wisdom told her it was bad advice.

Here’s a recap: A mother called in for advice about her 17 year old son who drank too much beer and smoked marijuana often. He was otherwise pleasant and did reasonably well in school, although he was underachieving. Dr. Browne’s advice to her was to make a deal with him. If he would agree to give up smoking marijuana, she and his father would allow him and his friends to have beer parties at their house. His friends would, of course, need parental permission to do this. (Can you imagine your child asking your for that permission slip???) The parents would also limit them to one or two beers each and would be present for the parties. You should have heard this mom’s response! She was nearly speechless. (And I was nearly driving off the road!) The mother said something like, “Well, I never thought about that. I…I don’t think my husband would think that was a good idea.”

I called my sister to have a witness, like I had just seen a UFO or some other strange event. I wanted someone else to hear what I was hearing, just in case I was somehow misunderstanding her. She was able to listen, too, since the call lasted for several minutes. This morning I searched her website for proof, but the archives aren’t up and running yet. I’m sure many of the radio listeners of this station heard the same call I did. Maybe even the mom from Lewiston???

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