leslie

[19yr old girl from new jersey]

i don't think it's all how you raise your children.. my parents are wonderful and taught my 17 year old sister and i how to be nice, respectful citizens. but school/work and general life as a teenager can be hard these days. kids just wanna let loose. most kids don't drink into oblivion, they just drink to feel relaxed. i usually initiate the planning of our family vacations because otherwise it never gets done (lol) and this year i opted to choose aruba over cancun because i knew that i would feel safer (for myself, my sister, and our friend) there. cancun gets craaazy with all sorts of contests and such. aruba is so much more relaxed. my sister, her friend, and i love our parents and they allow us to drink with them and away from them because they know that i know how to handle myself and i watch out for my sister like she were my daughter. but not all teens are like this. some are just gonna do what they want and they'll sneak around.. you wouldn't believe what some (supposedly) good kids do. if the drinking age in the US had always been the same as in Europe there wouldn't be so much illegal activity going on. kids in the US start drinking at incredibly young ages now.. try like 11yrs old! bad examples that older kids set has trickled its way down to middle school level. it doesn't really matter how much "control" parents think they have over their children because they can be missing a whole world of information if they don't have a close relationship with them. anyway, i'm really looking forward to getting down to aruba for the second time this saturday!... (first was when i was 10). sorry to you folks who don't like seeing kids having fun, why don't you try bermuda next time.