Testing The Waters
I live with my wife and my 17-year-old son. My wife has been on a different continent for about a month taking care of her dying mother, so it has just been me and my son for that time. My son and I have a very close relationship where he tells me almost everything going on in his life. On Saturday, he told me that he was going to his first-ever high school party this upcoming weekend.
He was a bit nervous since he had never really drank before, but he knew that he was going to on that occasion. I’m not sure if this is relevant, but this is in Canada where the drinking age is 19 (in my province), and teenage drinking is very common. I asked my son if he wanted to have a few drinks with me while we watched a sports game that night, as a “test run” of sorts.
My logic was that if he goes into the party with zero awareness of his tolerance then it could end badly, and it would be best for him to find out his limit in the safety of his home with me. We had some drinks over a few hours in the night, and I cut him off at six. He was pretty tipsy, but he was okay and slept it off. We talked about it the next day, and we agreed that six was a bit much for him, and now he knows to have fewer than that at the party.
I was actually pretty content with this whole situation, since he had his “first experience” drinking in a safe environment, and I feel much more comfortable with him going to a party now. However, in an effort to be transparent I told my wife about it the other day over the phone, and she was livid. She thinks it was reckless and irresponsible.