Sacrificing for our youth: alcohol

Many youth workers were not raised to be teetotalers and in fact “enjoy a glass of wine with friends” or “a good beer on a hot day.” Most are confident that they are not a problem drinker and their drinking is only occasional if not rare. So for most the question does not arise that they may have to give up all alcohol except for rare situations. The overriding question is: Is there any chance any of their youth will find out that you drink alcohol. The overriding problem is that since they look up to you, whatever you do is ok for them also. Whether it is legal for them or not will not enter most of their minds. So, as a role model, your “freedom” can be a stumbling block for a youth. Some of them will have a natural inclination to alcoholism and research has demonstrated conclusively that that youth that start drinking alcohol before age 18 will be much more likely to become “problem drinkers.” We don't want to contribute to their beginning of alcohol use.

Not being a teetotaler myself, I would allow myself to drink with friends in other communities, but in any situation where there were people that even knew any of my youth I stayed with coke/pop/soda.

Does it really affect youth? On a trip with college youth, we were at a sports bar to see a football game. I decided that they were mature enough to handle my having a beer. They weren't.