My Lovely Wife was born and raised in Germany and also spend a decade living in The Netherlands. This gives her a unique viewpoint on many of our staid American traditions and mores. One we discussed recently was underage drinking and I have to say that the Hollandaise solution seems quite superior to our own. Let's take a quick look at typical teen drinking in the USA:

1) Teens sneak into parents' liquor cabinet, steal booze, get blasted, get caught, get punished.
2) Teens are now cut off from parents'booze so the oldest looking one in their clique is now Mr. Beer and they buy illegally, get blasted, generally don't get caught so generally don't get punished.
3) Teens get blasted away from home in some "secret" location and have to get back. Maybe there's a designated driver, probably not.
4) Teens either die, get caught by cops and have their life screwed up or make it home safely , thereby reinforcing their belief in their natural immunity from all evils and encouraging them to do it again.

Not a pretty sight. Now let's look at your average late teen, twenty year old:

1) Drink illegally at a bar that doesn't care about their age. Sometimes they'll need to alter their license just enough so the bouncer can pretend he thinks they're 21.
2) Alternately, go drink at a friend's house.
3) Get blasted away from home and have to get back. Maybe there's a designated driver, probably not.
4) Either die, get caught by cops and have their life screwed up or make it home safely reinforcing their belief in their natural immunity from all evils and encouraging them to do it again.

The basic problem is that in the USA you are either a youth or you are an adult. There's no middle ground. If you are 20 years old plus 364 days you pretty much can't drink legally anywhere. This despite the fact that you've been old enough to elect the leadership of the country for 2 years and 364 days. O'er in the nordic lands they acknowledge that there is a middle ground when a maturing person is not an adult but wants to be one. They have a special classification for these tweeners that allows them some of the rights and privileges of an adult under greater supervision. Here's how Nederlander teens go partying:

1) Bus to the tweener club.
2) If you're 15 you can have some beer. If you're 17 you can have some actual alcohol.
3) You don't actually need to get drunk. You're at a club legally. No sneaking. No special thrill for breaking the rules. No need to drink everything you bought because there's nowhere to stash it until the next time your crew has a chance to get blasted. You actually learn to use alcohol responsibly and in moderation. Plus, the club is highly monitored. Mess up and you could get banned. You do NOT want to get banned from the club 'cause you can be damned sure that this would be the figurative end of your social life.
4) Bus back home at a reasonable hour because the club closes at a reasonable time. Maybe you caught a buzz, maybe not. You had a good time though so will likely do it again instead of trying to go the illegal route for a bender.

In the USA we cultivate an atmosphere that encourages teen drunkenness and violation of arbitrary laws. On the other side of the pond there is openness. No brick wall saying "Keep Out" that makes burdgeoning adults want more than anything to get in.

I put together a hypothetical situation and Lovely Wife has presented it to some of our friends with kids:

Your kid has been invited to a party. The parents there are buying beer for the kids. Both parents will be there the entire night supervising the festivities. Every effort will be made to prevent drunkenness and maintain a casual atmosphere. Keys are going to be collected at the door. Kids are welcome to spend the night. Those who do not spend the night may taxi home or may be brought home by one of the parents when the party is over.

Poll question:
Would you let your kids go to this party?

Results:
Yes: 42 (76%)
No: 12 (21%)
Maybe: 1 (1%)

So far three out of three that Lovely Wife spoke with would let their kid go. All three put in the proviso that we were the host parents. I can understand this as you can't really ask this question fairly, even hypothetically, without a bit of information on the hosts. What thinkest thou? Would you let your kids go? Comment and vote your opinion.

UPDATE:
Poll closed and results recorded above. This is excellent support. It should mean that there's a decent chance I won't get arrested when I throw one of these parties for Bear in a dozen years or so.