Drinking not inevitable

Rebecca Mack’s column on proms and drinking was a jaw dropper. Was this supposed to be satire? Evidently it is an accepted fact that today’s parents are so inept that they can instill neither wisdom nor sensible behavior in their children. Wow!

My adult children were teenagers in the ‘90s and they managed to get through high school without drinking at all. As stage performers, perhaps they were unique. They went to school dances and parties with their friends and tore up the dance floor, having a wonderful, crazy time. They never needed to be drunk to have fun. As a family, we thought the whole idea was incredibly sad and worried together about troubled classmates who had been sucked into addictions.

My suggestion to any parent who seriously is concerned about illegal drinking at a post-prom party is to review how they ended up with a child who would do this in the first place. We all have years to teach our children our values. My father’s explanation for the loose family rules of my adolescence was that if I hadn’t picked up the family beliefs about right and wrong by then it was too late. He was right on!

James Becker

Spokane