Comments on: A Third of 11-Year-Olds in Milan, Italy Have Drinking Problems!

By: Linda

Linda — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:12:25 +0000

Excuse me in russia there is not any drinking problems miss susan im from russia i think i know better than a stupid british woman

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:07:05 +0000

This is nothing compared to the alcohol problem among young people in Russia.

By: Alberto

Alberto — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:03:17 +0000

Oh c’mon, the title of the post is simply ridiculous and offensive!!! Maybe you can say that people of that age already tried alcohol, but not that they have drinking problems… that is just plain silly. Please DO pay attention to what you write!

By: ted

ted — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:45:22 +0000

I don’t think they can top the rampant alcohol problems in North American universities.

By: mu

mu — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:09:44 +0000

@tt,

Note the “in past centuries” part. Refrigeration, pasteurization, and related technologies are fairly recent innovations. In past centuries, juice would quickly become wine all by itself.

Smells like a moral panic to me and moral panics are usually a simple way to grab power (or distract people so you can grab more power). I wonder if these “alcohol related problems” are anything like all the Americans in addiction programs for marijuana.

By: Steohawk

Steohawk — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:16:12 +0000

“Underage” drinking is tolerated in a lot of places, but that hasn’t ever caused an epidemic of “underage” alcoholism. There’s probably two issues at hand in Milan: bad research and bad parenting. Of course, the latter isn’t just an issue of spoiling children; being too strict and critical is also a problem.

By: Kalel

Kalel — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:15:38 +0000

It’s so cute how we judge other cultures and times by our own politically-correct standards.

Might I suggest that in time, the future finger of judgement will come to point at you?

By: Jill Harness

Jill Harness — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:24:27 +0000

I just don’t see how a nation that has been giving kids alcohol for millenia has suddenly had abuse problems. What made the 11 year olds of today so much different than those of only 40 years ago?

By: swss

swss — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:14:50 +0000

I question the veracity of this…are you sure they don’t simply mean that 11 year olds have *had* alcohol?

When I lived in Italy for a year, kids frequently had watered down wine with a meal – but I *never* saw a drunk little kid – and I only saw some teenagers drunk once.

In general, being drunk – as in, staggering through the streets, having a hangover the next morning – is seen as somewhat classless in Italy. As a result I almost never saw adults in that sort of state – and certainly no little kids.

Just my two cents.

By: tt

tt — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 11:59:19 +0000

“In past centuries, Italian children would sometimes even be given wine to drink in preference to water which was often polluted.”

it’s called ‘give them juices or soft drinks’!