Attitudes must shift on teen drinking

When it comes to teen drinking, there are a few common "solutions" that all miss the problem.

A recent Daily Herald article on the alcohol-related deaths in Deerfield makes a call to arms to the police and merchants. However a teen's "I won't get caught" mindset and unparalleled creativity when it comes to getting booze will prevent that from making any impact.

Other people feel the blame falls at the other end of the spectrum -- that parents need to be punished if kids drink in their homes, so they will prevent it. But in this situation, the kids will just find another home or just drink outside somewhere.

These both look back at whom they feel is to blame for underage drinking's danger and attempt to punish them, instead of looking for what we all agree is important, a solution making teens safer. As a teenager, I have a different idea of what should be done.

Teens have been drinking as long as there's been booze, so it's foolhardy to think that we can change that all of a sudden. Once we accept that there will always be teens drinking, we can address the real problem: teens drinking recklessly. Doing this comes down to recognizing that the blame doesn't fall on one group. We all need to change our attitudes.

The adult attitude needs to change from "Drinking is bad, m'kay?" to something recognizing that kids will be drinking, in order for parents to watch that kids aren't overdrinking or drinking and driving. To allow this to happen, the legal attitude needs to be updated to allow parents to protect the kids.

The attitude of the kids needs to change from something that celebrates drinking oneself into oblivion ("Oh man. Jonny, you were so trashed last night. Awesome!") to something that ridicules overdrinking, thus using the power of peer pressure to protect.

I always do my friendly duty to make my friends feel as miserable as possible when they drink too much. I'm doing my part to make teen drinking safer; are you?

Jordan Feldstein

Buffalo Grove