Cafes For Teenagers
An American student living in Llantwit Major has written to her local council because she wants them to open a 'caf for teenagers'.
Erin Dooley has been living in the town for seven years, and is really concerned about the issue of underage drinking.
She hates seeing young people out on the streets getting drunk, especially in public places.
Having previously worked in a local comprehensive, she believes that they are good kids, they are just bored.
So, what did she do about it?
As Erin is American she grew up having a coffee house, a snack shack or a diner open until at least 11.30PM. Teenagers could hang out here and get hot food and drinks. There would also be plenty of entertainment, including games nights to get kids off the street. So she decided that she would like something similar in Llantwit Major.
This reminds me of American movies where you see all the kids hanging out in the diner, like in Grease! It works well in America. However I just don't think it will work over here.
Firstly, things like this have been tried before, and have never really been successful. Also underage drinking will not vanish overnight; there are too many kids who will keep drinking anyway.
The project is being looked into by Llantwit Council, but they say unless someone is willing to run the project, it can't really be considered.
I think it would be great if things like this did get started in Wales, but I doubt there would be enough young people interested to keep them up and running.
LINKS
More information on American-style diners
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1 Comment – Post a comment
SamuelPatterson
Commented 60 months ago - 4th June 2011 - 20:42pm
I think this is a brilliant idea! I really think something like this might work in the centre of Cardiff... maybe.