Stuck at an office party or family gathering that doesn't allow alcohol? Spending Christmas with your Mormon neighbors?
Fear no more! Life hacker Kipkay sent Wise Bread the solution:
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Sneaky Way To Drink A Beer Anywhere! - The most amazing bloopers are here
What you need:
What you need to keep in mind:
I find this tip especially helpful since I'll be attending quite a few tedious family gatherings where any alcohol consumption would freak out all the parents in attendance. Of course, Lela from Parenting Squad makes a strong argument for drinking in front of your children (responsibly) to prepare them for the real world:
What we all have to ask ourselves is what is our tolerance to let our kids experience pain? What is our level of faith that they can endure minor hurts and come out the other end better for it? We’ve got children who will never ride a bicycle because they’re afraid to fall, and their parents are afraid to let them. At some point our children are going to face major pain and not we cannot experience it for them. Then what?
Lela, maybe I should bring you to my Christmas dinner instead of this can-mouflage.
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Not only is this an excellent idea, I was heartened by the advice you quoted from the parenting blog. My son is only 11 months old, but I fully intend to continue drinking beer in moderation around him so that he understands that there is nothing inherently evil about alcohol. I think this is sound advice for most parents. Adults can make the decision to drink (or not drink), but scaring children is not the appropriate thing to do.
Glad to see I am not the only one who thinks that Pam is totally drop dead gorgeously HOT !!!
Alcohol in moderation is not an evil thing. Still, it is a pretty good idea to be more responsible and sneaky when drinking alcohol in front of certain people or in certain gatherings. And it's not just during the drinking that we have to be responsible but after it as well. Don't drink and drive.
Dumbest idea yet. The comments about drinking in front of your children as a good parenting tactic to teach tolerance is ludicrous. I sure hope these parents are also smoking around their kids. Can't have too much of these brilliant life lessons.
If you want to have a beer or two, fine. Why be a coward about it? Hiding your beer can? It's juvenile. But if you're at a party where drinking is not allowed, and you can't wait until you're home to drink, then you have a real drinking problem. Get help.
I enjoy your web site, but this is just stupid. Sorry.
There are parents who want to shield their children from any form of evil, perceived or real. This seems like a good idea when the kids are preschoolers but when they are in their 20s, kids need better, more sophisticated tools to navigate real-life situations, say at a college party where drinking abounds. Realizing that alcohol is not inherently evil and that you can enjoy a party while drinking in moderation (or not at all if you choose to or are underage) is valuable knowledge. It helped me when I was an RA at a co-ed dorm nicknamed the "zoo."
Apparently the program that Lela writes about condemns drinking (at least in some places where it's been implemented and in the interpretation of the child), making parents feel that they must or perhaps should hide; the program has been proven to be ineffective by several studies.
The style of the video cracked me up, too.
As for my two cents about modeling alcohol consumption, I'm all for the European way of doing things. If it's never demonstrated responsibly, it's difficult to develop those skills on your own for the first time at college. Or like Julie said, being able to comfortably and in a socially adept way avoid drinking at a party altogether if you so choose.
But, others obviously feel differently. To each his own, I guess.
Lex, I agree with you completely. My parents believed in the "scare tactic" school of parenting, and for a large part of my life I ended up looking both ways while crossing a one way street. It is not a good way to face life and I don't want my children to go through the same thing.
Drew, Pam is a super hottie. Have you checked out her Myspace blog ? It is truly wonderful (music after the jump).
Jay, that's why I posted the video. I want to respect the wishes of other parents who don't want their kids to be exposed to alcohol.
Guest, it is kind of a bit of stupid fun. Hope you weren't too offended. I guess the post had a confusing mix of funnies, DIY-ness, and some commentary about parenting. I'm not a parent yet so everything I'm saying right now is just theoretical. Perhaps you can take it up with Lela and she can explain it better (happy holidays Lela, don't say I never send you any readers!)
As always Julie and Myscha can explain things better than I can. Thanks glory hogs!
The hacked beer can is just doing it all wrong. You have to know the smokers who carry a flask to spike your soda. The other side of the family has a bunch of members who find all drinking evil. Everyone else just drinks under the table in order to deal with them.
We take the more European view on alcohol, seeing it done in moderation is more honest and hopefully makes it less of the forbidden fruit thing. On parenting we lean more toward helping them understand things and how to deal with them rather than sheltering them from everything.
lol, Nice idea :)
but you can't do it in Saudi Arabia, coz it's hard to get a beer there :)
Beer yes, but wine and hard spirits, not so much. Or . . . uh . . . so I hear. I . . . er . . . never drank a single illegal drop when I was there . . .
Wanna buy a bridge?
easier to just dump beer in an empty coke can :)