Way to halt teeny boozers

4:09pm Thursday 3rd April 2008

KEEP it quiet, because I wouldn't want my mum and dad to find out, but - had my first drink at the age of 14.

Pernod and blackcurrant was my dubious choice - well, it tasted like sweets, didn't it?

And I thought I looked so cool swanning around at a party with my "cocktail", until it reappeared later on my mate's mum's living room carpet, leaving a nasty purple stain that never quite went away.

I didn't have my next alcoholic drink until I was 16, when I was tempted by the offer of a Cinzano and lemonade. Colourless, you see. Less messy to clear up.

I was reminded of my introduction to the intoxicating world of alcohol when I read Monday's Advertiser and the story about the police crackdown on teenage boozers.

Last week officers stopped youngsters in the north of the town to find out more about why kids drink, what they get up to when they have been drinking and where they are getting it from.

One group of lads found clutching cans of Carling on a street corner were aged between 13 and 16. They said they did it to impress their mates and look good, as well as helping them to relax.

Now I know kids mature earlier these days, but I'd have issues with a 13-year-old going out after dark, let alone meeting his mates in the park to get plastered.

It's a sure sign that this binge drinking thing is out of control when children only just out of primary school talk of drowning their sorrows with a few beers.

So what is the answer? Teenagers (and these days that means anything from 12 up) will always be tempted by all things adult, alcohol included.

Teenagers will also always find a way of getting their hands on what they want, whether it's from the back of mum and dad's Christmas drinks collection or from a dodgy corner shop.

Should we do what the French do I introduce our children to wine from an early age?

Maybe, but a sip of wine with mum and dad will never have the allure of vodka poured into a bottle of Coke and passed around your mates.

Or should we encourage our children to drink what they want at home in the hope they won't take it past the front door?

I saw that idea in practice at a party recently, where all the 12-year-olds were drinking beer in full view of their parents.

But it's a risky strategy, I reckon. Almost like training them to handle a belly full of booze.

No, I'm sorry to say the only answer is to look closer to home. If we don't want our children to be binge drinkers, we have to stop binge drinking ourselves.

If we don't want 13, 14 and 15-year-olds getting hammered down at the rec, we have to stop showing them that getting hammered is a fun thing to do.

Either that or give them a few Pernod and blacks. And then make them clean up the aftermath.

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