Parenting Daily

When a colleague first asked me if I’d heard of garage hopping, I immediately conjured up pictures of little garage parties full of underage drinkers. I figured it would be akin to the bar hopping that legal adults indulge in—spending a night going from bar to bar, usually imbibing in far too much alcohol, intended to keep the party fresh and meeting new people all night long. Garage hopping seemed like an underage drinker’s alternative.

I was wrong. Garage hopping actually does involve partying, teens, and alcohol… but not in the same manner as bar hopping. Garage hopping is happening all over
America and you need to know about it so you can take measures to stop it from happening at your house.

Typically, it involves garage refrigerators—you know, the extra fridge that holds the surplus items. Extra pop, food, and usually alcohol. Since teens usually have access to their own garage, this is an easy way to score beers (or other alcohol) a few at a time. When a group of teenagers each collects a few from each garage, they can then meet up and share their spoils and have themselves a nice little underage drinking party.

It’s not limited to their own households, either. In some places of the world, people keep their garages open, sometimes all night. Bad idea. Teens scope these open garages out and have no problem walking into them and taking any alcohol they can find in the fridge. In fact, that’s often the preferred method. Why risk getting caught by Mom and Dad if you can commit an actual crime (theft, criminal mischief)… so that you can commit another crime (minor consuming).

If you live in
Florida, there is also a law that presumes that any one who forcibly enters your property is there to hurt you or kill you and the property owner with a gun is allowed to shoot you. There may be similar laws in other states.

A few “free” beers aren’t worth the possibility of getting caught and charged with a crime or ending up dead. Warn your teens of the possible consequences. Lock your garage, and lock your fridge if you need to.

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