drinking age -- legally
 

I am reading online the legal drinking age is 21 in TN---

Does anyone know if 18 - 19 yr olds can drink if they are with a parent???

thanks

No

Under 21's can not be legally served alcohol under any circumstances, although I have seen restaurants (not in TN though) pour a glass of wine for a minor when accompanied by adults drinking wine, and not even question their age.

No.

AFAIK all states adopted the 21 age limit due to pressure from the Federal government. There are no exceptions.

In fact parents can be arrested if somehow cops found out that they provided alcohol to their children who are under 21.

Also, I believe some counties in TN are still dry.

No here in Mississippi -- Course the state name tells you enough...............

Thanks~!

A silly law.

agreed--We have asked in a few pubs we have visited the past few mths so see how MS bartenders handle it. They tell us "as long a they see ID of parent and 18 yr , they will serve 18 yr old"..

mine will be 18 next week.

There are many places in the US where under-21 year olds can buy/be served - ask any HS student and they will tell you where.

But it is still illegal and the establishment/server are putting themselves at considerable risk if they choose to do so.

Not commenting on whether or not it is a silly law, just explaining.

In Texas you can legally drink with your parent(s)....here is the law:

§ 106.04 – Consumption of Alcohol by a Minor
(a–b) A minor commits an offense if they consume alcohol unless they are in the visible presence of, and have the consent of their adult parent, legal guardian, or spouse.

Did not know about the TX law - is Texas still part of the US, or has it become part of Mexico?

it's not exactly those words. I found this on a texas govt website via google.

§ 106.04. CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL BY A MINOR. (a) A minor
commits an offense if he consumes an alcoholic beverage.
(b) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this
section that the alcoholic beverage was consumed in the visible
presence of the minor's adult parent, guardian, or spouse.
(c) An offense under this section is punishable as provided
by Section 106.071.
(d) A minor who commits an offense under this section and
who has been previously convicted twice or more of offenses under
this section is not eligible for deferred disposition. For the
purposes of this subsection:
(1) an adjudication under Title 3, Family Code, that
the minor engaged in conduct described by this section is
considered a conviction of an offense under this section; and
(2) an order of deferred disposition for an offense
alleged under this section is considered a conviction of an offense
under this section.

gail, silly, Texas is an independent republic.

ok ya'll come on now --
back to the question.. pleaseeeeee

I googled and found this for Tennessee
Looks like the answer is NO, as it specifically says "CONSUME alcoholic beverages" Other states emphasize no PURCHASING. In some states it may be legal for under 21s to drink in the presence of parents, but it may still not be legal for a business to sell it to the minor (OR the business doesn't want to get involved with selling to under 21s)

"Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), it is unlawful for any person under twenty-one (21) years of age to purchase, possess, transport or consume alcoholic beverages, wine, or beer, with the following exceptions:



(1) Any person eighteen (18) years of age or older may transport, possess, sell, or dispense alcoholic beverages, wine, or beer in the course of such person's employment; and





(2) The provisions of § 39-17-705(1) shall not be affected by any provision of subsection (b), it being the intent of the general assembly that such provisions remain lawful and in full force and effect. Any such priest or minister may utilize and administer alcohol or wine at a communion service, bat mitzvah, bar mitzvah, or other similar religious service or ceremony, in accordance with the practices of such denomination or sect.





[Acts 1971, ch. 162, § 3; 1979, ch. 413, § 2; T.C.A., § 1-313; Acts 1984, ch. 1006, §§ 2, 9, 13-16; 1985, ch. 375, §§ 1-4; 1987, ch. 95, § 1; 1996, ch. 675, § 1.]

The legal - not possible, with or without fake ID - drinking age in the US is 21.

Parents can serve alcohol to their own 18 to 21 year olds (but NOT to anyone else's) in many places. But - many places will NOT serve under 21s - parents or not. (They don;t want the legal responsibility if the underage drinker has an accident or commits a crime - since they woud be responsible.)

Also - there are quite a few counties in the US that are completely dry - no alcohol sold in restaurants (left over from whe Prohibition was abolished).

thanks !

If it's not for a religious occasion or whatever, why shove booze down a kid's throat?

There is a school of thought - the european one - that since drinking alcohol is part of life for most people it's better than children be exposed to it by their parents - in limited amount and controlled conditions - so they don;t run amok with binge drinking as soon as they can get fake ID and or go away to school.

My parents did it that way - letting us have small amount of wine or beer from the time we were 13 or so - and by the time we went away to school it was no big deal.

We both drink - very moderately - and didn't end up making ourselves sick with binge drinking - or simply through not knowing how much alcohol we could consume with no ill effect - as did almost all of our schoolmates. (We had a couple of 17 year old freshman girls in my dorm hospitalized for alcohol poisoning - and I can;t tell you how many had repeated ghastly hangovers that affected their grades.)

Yeah, there is a big difference between letting a kid drink a bit here and there and shoving booze down a kid's throat - LOL.

nytraveler -- my dad also had this philosophy that letting us drink a small amount at home would demystify drinking for us. didn't work -- drank just as much in college as my friends who had never drank before college. but, I can't see how having a beer with dad hurt us either!

I found this thread interesting because our 21 year old, soon to be 22, has recently been carded several times when she ordered wine while dining with us (in Illinois, possibly while we were in Wisconsin and Minnesota but I don't specifically remember). I didn't realize there was anywhere in the US where she wouldn't be questioned because she was with her parents.

For what it's worth, anyone attempting to purchase beer in Tennessee must show ID, regardless of age. A new law passed by the General Assembly which went into law on July 1, requires all party stores and grocery stores to card EVERYONE. I was there over the weekend and was buying diet root beer. The cashier at a gas station attempted to card me (he appeared to be very new to the U.S.). When I asked him why, he pointed to the beer portion of the label. At that point his co-worker who was also apparently a relavtive explained that it was not alcohol that I was buying. Still, a weird experience!

Having a fake ID is now a felony. So these kids with the fake IDs, should not only be careful with their drinking, but they have to realize if they get caught with the fake ID, they can get into BIG trouble.

Most fake IDs look fake if they are compared to real ones.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20249460/

This story may be of interest.

Fred Grandy of WMAL's morning radio show in Washington DC admitted today that he serves wine in the home to his 18 year old daughter. Fire him or tar-and-feather him!

Seriously, Europeans are laughing at us for our Puritan 21 year old drinking age. As they should.

I also feel that it is a good idea to expose your kids to responsible drinking. My daughter knows that we enjoy wine with a nice dinner and when the wine is done we don't move on to tequila shots, at least not often.
I think kids that aren't exposed to at least some alchohol they get the idea that drinking is just to get drunk, not something to enjoy in moderation.

It has been proven that the younger a person is, the more likely to engage in "risky" behavior. Then add alchohol? Europe can laugh at us all they want...they have the same problems. In fact, in France they let kids age 16 drink, but they can't drive until 18! And even then, the test to get your license is much harder, and the penalties for DUI are much stiffer. Give those 16 year old french kids a license and a car and let me know how that works out.........

It comes down to parenting, like everything else.

*I meant to add...

We should have a license to raise children, since there's a license or an age requirement for just about everything else.

We should raise the driving age to 18 here. 16 are much less mature than in the past.
When you think about it at 18 you're old enough to enter into a marrige and raise children but not old enough to have a glass of wine with your family.
At 18 you're old enough to die for your country half way around the world but not old enough to have a beer with your friends before you ship off. Anybody else think this is strange?

We've had several excellent "think" pieces on this in our newspapers lately (IL). And it truly is a bigger issue here in the USA than in Europe, because of logistics.

The deaths are not from alcohol consumption but from the habit of driving AFTER alcohol consumption. And the number of death/accidents (both) goes up as the age goes down of the principles (driver/passenger) involved.

Legal or not, alcohol influenced driving is killing a whole lot of 16 to 19 year olds with a lot of futures over in seconds, after some bad "minor" decisions/choices made. Our greeting/meeting places here (USA) & activities are far apart in distance much of the time.

The articles (newspaper) investigate the same issues just raised in the former post. Voting, military service etc. And the conclusion is that the driving age must be raised.

Honestly, 18 IS like 16 used to be.

My parents always let us drink growing up, they were European immigrants to USA, and it didn't work with my brother at all. LOL!

JJ5, could it be because it is illegal for kids that age to drink? While I don't think 16 year olds should be allowed to drink, I think a responsible 18 year old could.
Because it's illegal they tend to binge drink while they have access to it. If 18 year olds were allowed to drink then a group of 18 year olds who go out for an evening would be more apt to appoint a DD just like other responsible adults do. They would probably drink less because it would be "no big deal" to have access to alcohol. This doesn't account for people who are predisposed to alcoholism. That is a whole other problem.

??

We are so much more in cars, that I doubt it would be better, if it were legal. It might even be worse, IMHO.

When it was legal in WI and illegal in IL in my youth years it was even more of a driving fiasco. I personally knew 2 girls who died, and 1 other that I know to this day, who was left crippled driving from one place to another in WI when it was 18. Group driving (all peers under 18) and drinking alcohol in these scenarios of distances are all problematic.

<i>Because it's illegal they tend to binge drink while they have access to it. If 18 year olds were allowed to drink then a group of 18 year olds who go out for an evening would be more apt to appoint a DD just like other responsible adults do</i>

I don't think this is necessarily a logical conclusion. If children are educated about drinking and driving, then they should (and often do) appoint a DD whether or not they are drinking legally. Making it legal to drink at age 18 (which was the legal drinking age in NY when I was in college) does not turn 18-year olds into &quot;responsible adults&quot;.

If turning 18 doesn't make you a responsible adult than we should raise the age of consent for marriage and military service also. If you can't be trusted to drink in a responsible manner than why should you be able to make other big decisions. How old do you need to be to purchase a firearm?
I think the drinking and driving problem has more to do with the way we teach, or in some cases don't teach, our children about alcohol than anything else.

And yes I have firsthand experience with drunk driving deaths and in all the cases the families were very stict about alcohol and alcohol was thought of as something you only used to get drunk.

I agree with much of what many of you, especially JJ5, say. A big difference between Europe and America is spatial. A 17 year old French lad can amble down to the local bistro on foot and knock down a couple of glasses wine and return home safely. As a 16 year old American lad in suburban Maryland, a bunch of us guys would pile into a car with a case of beer and drive throughout the more rural areas of our county. One pub was within walking distance and that did not serve youths of our age.

I'm probably in the minority on this thread, but I'd rather err on the side of risk and freedom.

And I read &quot;education&quot; on this and just rather sigh. Because the wreck and evidence is constantly applied and demonstrated in all h.s. environs I know, and it's the same people who you view weeping on their peers shoulders at the service.

It's distance and not just what we &quot;know&quot;. Wine, especially was a given in my neighborhood for all, and it was no different. Most of the kids now in 2007 have wine or beer drinking &quot;practice&quot; within their own homes absolutely. They aren't stupid, but they just want what they want. And what they want is to go out and have a good time independently and get home independently. And until you are older, for some reason, it's never going to happen to you, always to the other guy. Or girl.