When i see this question i cant help but think of european culture. a culture where drinking is not made into such a huge deal..i think that drinking in this country(usa) is such a problem because of the additudes we have towards it.

My teenage nephew just piped in: lower the drinking age. (I, of course, disagree).

Lower the age limit and stop making it so taboo. In Europe we grew up with wine at the dinner table. The kids would get a glass of half wine half water. We drank shandy (half beer and half sprite), and when I was a kid - hard cider sometimes. It was never such a big deal, so nobody went crazy.

Yeah it's called being an involved parent and while I am not saying that all the parents of underage drinkers aren't involved in their kids life many of them are not because they are so obsessed with earning the almighty dollar so they can give their kids a better life than they had growing up and to them that is what being a good parent is all about making sure their kids have what they want and that there is money to send them to the best schools etc and while I am not saying any of these things are wrong because I think all parents want their kids to have the best it becomes wrong when we allow ourselves to be more concerned with giving them the best that we allow ourselves to not have time to be involved in our kids lives we are only asking for trouble now that is not to say that if we attend every single school play or every soccor game or every dance recitial our kids will not become underage drinkers it could happen but the chances are way less when parents take an active role in their kids lives than when they concern themselves so much with other things that they don't take the time to be involved in their kids lives thus giving their kids too much freedom When I was growing up in the 70's and early 80's it was rare to see kids out on the street after 8pm on a school night and after 11pm on weekends and summer vacation unless the parents were there with the kids to watch over them Parents also instilled the fear of God into their kids back then to moreso than they do today in my opinion My dad always told me if he ever as much as even caught me with one marijuan cigerette he would put me in my grave and if I was ever to get arrested for anything I had better pray the cops threw the key away before calling him otherwise I was dead when he got me was this right aI don't really know I think a big part of the problem today is what was considered the norm 30 or 40 years ago in reference to parnets spanking their kids when they did wrong today is considered child abuse Me my younger sister and my younger brother got regularly whipped as kids with dads leather belt when we did something we weren't supposed to, do something like that today and you'll end up going to prison for being a child abuser now while I don't think it is right to beat your kids so bad you leave bruises and welts on them I see nothing wrong with a firm pat on the behind or the hand to correct a child when they do wrong the old saying is so true spare the rod and spoil the child before I run on for ever I am going to stop to restate I am not saying being completly involved in every aspect of your kids life is a gurantee they won't turn out to be teen drinkers but it is alot less likely than if you totally ignore them and allow them to have too much freedom