NORMAN and UNA LEE,
Sir, - Our son is 16 years old, six feet tall, and well built, he can easily pass for 18 or more. He has started to meet his friends in a pub in the evening and order beer as everyone else appears to be doing.
This may seem harmless, but it is illegal for him and the proprietor and may lead to occasional drunkenness and tomfoolery and damage to himself or others or property. He may get into trouble with the law and tarnish his future prospects. He may start down the slippery slope to a future drink or health problem.
So why is he there? He has a good home in a quiet neighbourhood, goes to a decent school, participates in active sports, has limited pocket money (tracked by his parents and a fraction of the "norm"), but has earned some income working one night a week during transition year at school, and has a summer job - both part of his education in the real world.
We as parents don't give bad example, drinking only shandies or glasses of wine on social occasions.
He goes to the pub because it is the only convivial venue open to him and his peers in the evenings, besides a few-fast food outlets where he would have to eat continuously or move out.
Teenagers need to get out of the home and meet their contemporaries, but in this country there is very little alternative to the pub. If they gather anywhere, they are perceived as a threat and if it is wet and cold why should they stay outdoors?
What can we do as concerned parents? Report the pub to the Garda or warn the publican? Experience shows such action results only in once-off action which blackens one's child unfairly in the eyes of the Garda, the publican and his friends, leading to other problems.
Facing the child and banning him from going to pubs will only lead to anger and deceit as there is no alternative venue for social contacts with friends who don't share the same sports; so we point out the dangers and encourage alternatives but stop short of short of forbidding.
In our opinion, without major investment evenly spread around the country in child and youth-friendly facilities, coupled with enforced compulsory identity cards, this problem cannot be properly tackled. - Yours, etc.,
NORMAN and UNA LEE,
Manor Avenue,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.