Do most 14-y-olds drink?

baconsmom

There's this lame piece over at Babble about how the terrible twos are nothing compared to parenting a 14-y-o girl, because: "At 14, the girls are in a hurry to grow up, are worried about their weight, are experimenting with alcohol and want more freedom."

That just doesn't sound right to me - not as a sweeping generalization. I remember being scandalized by rumors of drinking when my peers were 14 (I was only 12 at the time; by the time I was 14, 16-y-olds drinking didn't seem quite so scandalous, but it still wasn't a majority of kids.). 

And I'm too tired to touch the "worried about their weight" bit. I just - I can't lift my tiny spoon today. 

jojobrn

I don't know many 14 year olds. The ones I do deal with are pregnant, so I wouldn't put it past them. Hopefully not while pregnant, but one never knows.

ReturnOfKuus

The ones whose parents don't bother actually parenting them, sure.  I'll bet they do.

hmonkey

i didn't when i was 14 because that was when i got my first job. 

Cant_wait!

I didn't when I was 14, but I was also super sheltered. None of my friends did, either.

[Deleted User]

When I was 14 I knew plenty of kids my age who drank, but more along the lines of sneaking afew swigs from their parents' liqour cabinet trather han getting drunk every weekend.

But in my opinion, kids are getting worse. My mom, a middle school teacher, agrees and says she's worried about the future because the kids suck more and more each year, even her honors classes. her 6th and 7th grade students can rattle off more drug and alcohol names than most adults.

DG1

I, too, am thinking things are not quite like they were 15-20 years ago. 

We did have a pregnant 14yo in our class.  And I think even I was taking test swigs at the time (though I later quit drinking entirely until well into college). 

But I'm not sure I'd say it's a matter of course.  Then again, what do I know?

I love how the 14yos who are worried about their weight are also trying alcohol.  Alcohol isn't exactly a weight loss tool.

6fsn

My parents let me drink some of their stuff at 14.  My friends and I certainly go out drinking though.  I didn't drink outside my parents home until college.

I'm not sure it's a good example, but friend's daughter was certainly drinking with her friends at 14.

lharri12

(I'm 30 now, so this was 16 years ago.)  I remember being about 14 years old, spending the night at a friend's house, and sneaking a few swigs from her parents' liquor cabinet.  We probably took a total of 2-3 shots each and definitely felt it a little.  It was a very rare occurrence and maybe happened once or twice again before I was 17 or 18.  I'd call that experimenting, so yeah, I'm not shocked by this.

NOLABridesmaid

I think the ones that are move very fast to the harder stuff. That seems to be easier to get than the booze.

baconsmom

Huh. I never sneaked liquor, but I was allowed to have wine with meals if I chose (when my dad had it). There wasn't any mystery there for me, I guess. 

boatkicker

In my opinion "drinking" and "experimenting with alcohol" are different. Drinking implies that they drink alcohol regularly or getting drunk, where experimenting is more sneaking a sip of something when no one is looking just to see what it's like. I would say a lot of 14 year olds experiment with it, but I can't think of very many who actually drink regularly or get drunk.