The Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (there's a Federal agency for everything these days) has come out with a report that 650,000 people under the age of 21 (note that I don't call them children) were actually given alcohol by... get this... their parents.  Oh the horror!

More than 40 percent of the nation’s estimated 10.8 million underage current drinkers (persons aged 12 to 20 who drank in the past 30 days) were provided free alcohol by adults 21 or older, according to a nationwide report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.  The study also indicates that one in 16 underage drinkers (6.4 percent or 650,000) was given alcoholic beverages by their parents in the past month.

"In far too many instances parents directly enable their children's underage drinking – in essence encouraging them to risk their health and wellbeing," said Acting Surgeon General Steven K. Galson, M.D., M.P.H, a rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service. "Proper parental guidance alone may not be the complete solution to this devastating public health problem – but it is a critical part."

Interestingly enough, Dr. Galson get's it exactly right.  Proper parental guidance is a critical part.  Unfortunately, our society, and many laws, make proper parental guidance in the area of drinking almost impossible for a parent to give.

The assumption by the government (driven by the neo-prohibition madness of groups like MADD) is that any amount of alcohol served to someone under 21 is bad.  Talk about idiotic.  Just as in other areas of life, parents are invaluable in teaching children the proper roll of alcohol in social situations... essentially... we need more parents to teach their children how to drink.  That drinking is not the same as binging.  That having a glass of wine, or a couple of beers is perfectly acceptable... and more importantly... enough.

The problem is this attitude of depriving anyone under 21 of all contact with alcohol, so that when they finally do get a chance to drink, they tend to go overboard in unsupervised situations.  From personal experience (and I was having drinks before I was 13)... if you drink at an early age... by the time you get to college... it's no big deal.  In fact, I spent my 21st birthday in a lab instead of a bar.  Maybe that says more about me... but I can say that turning 21 didn't feel like a milestone to me, because I'd been drinking before that.