Despite the crappy summer weather telling you otherwise, the teens of today are in that heady summer space between the end of exams, and the start of the summer holidays. Results Day looms far away in the future, and it’s easy to ignore it. They’ve earned their freedoms, some pocket money, and some time out.
I first started drinking in bars with my mates when I was 14. We had pre-drinks at my friend Jenny’s house - her parents were lovely, generous and relaxed. We started on Taboo and lemonade (can you still get Taboo? I really hope not…), and then we went out-out and drank alco-pops. Building up to this, I’d been allowed Babycham at Christmas, and small glasses of wine with meals on special occasions. I’m not here to hit out at 90s parents - everyone was doing it, and we were told it was European and a social way to educate kids about alcohol. But I went from having small sips, to being a binge drinker, like all my mates, and being very drunk in fields / bad nightclubs / bars that didn’t pay attention to your age.
My kids aren’t teenagers yet, we’ve got a long way to go. But their experience might be different to mine. They know I don’t drink alcohol, and I’ve told them I don’t like how it makes me feel. The fact that an adult they know, trust and love doesn’t drink alcohol sets them very apart from 14-year-old Anna. I didn’t know ANYONE who didn’t drink. My parents drank GnTs in the evenings and wine at weekends. My cool older cousins drank beer and Bacardi. My beloved aunts, uncles and godmothers drank too. There wasn’t a single adult in my life who didn’t drink alcohol. So when I turned 14, I didn’t know there was an alternative. I didn’t know that not drinking was an option. Nobody was ordering a lemonade, unless it was a bottle of Hooch at 4% ABV.
How mad is that? I think it’s pretty normal too - but let me know in the comments if you had adult role models who didn’t drink. I love that my kids see me dance, laugh, party, socialise and hang out with people without drinking. I love that they know that not everyone gets on with alcohol - if you don’t like how it makes you feel, you aren’t a weirdo. I love that they have an alternative to drinking, even if they choose not to take that path.
Because knowledge is power, and power gives you options. A beer, or actually, a soft drink. I didn’t have any other options, because they hadn’t been shown to me. If you can’t see it, you can’t be it. So if you’re not drinking this summer, and your teenage kids are watching, know that you are showing them another path, and laying down the message that a life without booze is just as valid.
I wish someone had shown that to me. Think of all the awful Taboo and lemonade’s I could have discarded….