fred nirk said:
2. teenagers / young people have a good time without drinking tons of alcohol
I don't mean to get this thread on a different topic, but I wanted to comment on the quote above.
I know a lot of things are in the perception of the individual, but I find this statement to be completely different from my experiences, at least in the city.
My sister-in-law came here from Paraguay at the age of twelve to go to school here. Her first year and a half were out in the 'burbs around Tortuguitas (35 km from the city). Things were pretty calm out there as far as kids went, I have to admit, but my experience was with her at a younger age out there so I'm not sure if it was the 'burbs or her age group that was different than when we came into the city.
Since she moved here, she has been invited to parties that are for kids from 14 to 28 and they are usually full of alcohol. On top of that, the kids usually get together before a party to have a "pre" (pre-party liquor-up). The parties usually "officially" start at midnight, but they don't start arriving until 1:00 am usually.
These are parties held at someone's house. At least one parent is usually there, but the kids dance and drink alcohol and at some parties weed makes a debut. Kids from all schools in the area come, invited by their friends. Depending on the size of the house/apartment, there could be anywhere from 20-60 kids partying. And often finding dark corners and doing things that teenagers will do when in that sort of a situation.
In addition to the parties, there are matinee dance clubs at adult clubs, from 9 pm to midnight that see kids around 12-16. There are security guards to make sure no obvious drunk kids get in - and a LOT of kids are turned away. I sat and watched one night after dropping her off with her friends to dance. I saw one guy walk away after being rejected and going almost straight to the curb and throwing up.
The 16+ crowd will not go to one of the matinees, of course. So they have their "pre" at someone's house then go to an adult club where they are more lenient about drunk people entering. They party from midnight to 6 am.
I see a LOT of teenage drinking. Sponsored many times be the parents, and I have even been guilty of this myself, after a lot of convincing that this wasn't a horrible thing here by family and friends.
Now, to tie my rambling in with the theme of the thread, things I like about Buenos Aires:
Teenagers, being teenagers, will find a way to consume alcohol, and even other substances. At least with the alcohol, I find it, upon deep reflection, to be a better way to handle the transition from childhood to adulthood under supervision of parents, than the way I grew up where our parents' attitudes caused us to do everything underground, with a greater risk of really stupid things happening.
This does have the adverse problem of allowing your kid too easy of an access to alcohol and can lead to serious problems; however, I feel that proper parenting, including discussing in a realistic manner the dangers and discouraging too much of it by limiting the number of parties they can go to, can overcome that in most cases and the kids are safer overall, particularly in the city.
I still fight myself with that one, though.
