Edges Magazine Issue 35 - Booze & The Holiday Maker

EDGES MAGAZINE Issue 35

November 2003

Editor
Booze & The Holiday Maker

Britain once again has been labelled the world’s worst holidaymakers. The Greek island of Faliraki has been the spectacle of media attention with a cocktail of booze, sex and young people seemingly out of control. The Brits have always been more forward, freer and outgoing than their counterparts on the continent, but the new phenomena is the increased reliance on alcohol as a means for excitement. Young people barely left school sleep the hangover off during the day where they become oblivious to the sun and the sea. Their fixation is on the booze. This results in uncontrollable behaviour, violence promiscuity, and sadly in some cases death. A Greek judge recently blamed the British booze culture for the death of a teenager who was stabbed in the neck with a broken bottle whilst holidaying on the island of Rhodes.

Binge drinking is on the increase. Over the last few years the UK’s annual health reports show a steady increase of people dying from cirrhosis of the liver. The government seems so concerned that it is considering placing health warnings on alcohol. However, alcohol is only one of the problems. It is not only the young who can give us a bad name. Grown men and women can behave like overgrown kids who don’t seem to worry about their behaviour abroad. It’s as if we’re escaping from the responsibilities of adulthood. Working with ex-offenders and chronic drug and alcohol users, I see a deficit in peoples’ lives. It often stems back to childhood. Many of our clients have never really grown up. They arrive into their early adulthood and metaphorically; they’re like children in adult bodies, afraid of the responsibilities and unable to cope with independent living. Most of their problems stem back to childhood.

The family provides the opportunity to encourage the development of the social and life skills needed to make the necessary transition from adolescence to adult responsibilities. Those years within the family environment can provide each child with the greatest assets for survival. This is an understanding of right and wrong and respect for oneself and society as a whole. So often today, the pressures of work, the attraction of the Internet and the fast food mentality can fragment family life. Instead of speaking to each other, we sit in front of our computer screens and communicate with someone on the other side of the world and fail to recognise those who live under our roofs. What has emerged during this summer is that the noisy and raucous holidaymaker has been from all social backgrounds. We seem to be living in a culture where there are no boundaries. Even the so-called middle classes, give their children unlimited freedoms. TV adverts are often about "what I want" selfishness is promoted everywhere. If the child doesn’t get what it wants, it kicks up a fuss until parents give way to avoid confrontation.

Obviously we needed to move away from the Victorian ideas of bringing up children. They were the days when children should be seen but not heard. However, I now feel we have gone to the other extreme. We must not be too critical of our young people who travel abroad; we have made them who they are.