How many times have you said it?

How many times have you heard others say it?

“They’re just teenagers.”  Or, “Kids will be kids, it’s all part of growing up.”

What am I talking about?  Parents and other adults who view underage/teen drinking as little more than a right of passage that little can or really should be done to curtail.

Unfortunately, still far too often, some of these parents end up being “innocent” bystanders as their children fall victim to an incident (and often are seriously injured or even killed) in which alcohol was a major factor.

I live in CT and for the past couple of years have watched a debate unfold in the State Legislature that, this year, finally culminated with enactment of the so-called House Party law that provides for fines and penalties for children caught possessing alcohol on private property and for the parents/adults who condone it.

The amazing thing was that it took so long for this rather simple effort at deterrence to become law.  Years of debate about privacy rights, the ability of an adult to allow otherwise illegal activity … so long as it was within the confines of their private property. Fears of overzealous law enforcement officials who would immediately overstep their bounds if given this new tool to fight underage drinking … and the list of so-called arguments went on … and on … and on.

If an adult kills a child (or anyone for that matter) in a drunk driving accident we – rightfully – call for the most severe penalties to be imposed.

When a child is killed two weeks before graduating from High School because of an accident involving alcohol we call it (again, rightfully) an avoidable tragedy.

When children drink alcohol we immediately blame those who manufacturer and sell it, calling them reckless and irresponsible.

But when we say we want to penalize adults who knowingly and willfully allow underage drinking in their homes we have to wring our hands and debate “privacy rights.”

There are still far too many states out there that have not even taken this limited action to give local law enforcement officials a much-needed tool to fight underage drinking.

Were it not for the fact that so many parents still harbor the view that “it’s okay, as long as they do it in my house” we might not need these laws in the first place … but we do, and we need them now.