Teaching your kids about drinking...

[Norelco]

Just a hypothetical. When/if you have children, will you allow your kid to drink (small amounts) at holiday dinners or whatever to teach them the responsibilities that come with drinking? Or will you just make them wait until they are 21?

I'm more inclined to give them small amounts so that when they do turn 21 they won't freak out and get wasted every chance they get.

I realize that alot of kids have their first taste of alcohol when they're teens. I think I'd rather it just be from me than behind my back.

What's your take?

[Vandalhart]

Explaining the concept of social drinking before they hit 21 will take the "OMFG I CAN
DRINK!" attitude out of their system when they become of age.

I know of multiple people who allowed their children to partake in a little whine on holidays/special occasion with dinner at home. It's not a huge deal to me.

[0ni0n]

abstinence only for my kids, just like for everything else.

[Souj]

just have both parents be real big alcoholics, that both get divorced like 3 times, and one loses their license because they total your car while drunk, and your 22 and still have to live at home because you have to help take of your 3 younger sisters financially while working full time and going to college full time.
I dont drink too much anyways...

[Day]

I agree with Onion, I'm putting my kid in a cage until they are 18, then I'm going to let them out in the world and hope they don't do anything I told them not to. I know this will work.

[tyven]

I agree with Onion, I'm putting my kid in a cage until they are 18, then I'm going to let them out in the world and hope they don't do anything I told them not to. I know this will work.

this is how you do it

[Chicomagiko]

I'm with Vadal. Pretty much through out my life, my dad would give me and my brothers smalls sips of beer/tequila on social occasions. My uncle actually allowed us to drink our own bottle of beer if we could handle it without throwing up(Its a bit different in Mexico I suppose). As long as there's supervision and instruction about moderation I'd be fine with it.

[0ni0n]

I agree with Onion, I'm putting my kid in a cage until they are 18, then I'm going to let them out in the world and hope they don't do anything I told them not to. I know this will work.

I prefer chaining mine to the radiator in the basement instead.

[Day]

I prefer chaining mine to the radiator in the basement instead.

I chained the cage to the radiator, oops.

[Vihra]

My dad's approach to drinking I found to be a good one. He would allow us to if we should an interest in a drink. The only catch was he would explain the type of alcohol what goes with it and all of that. So we were allowed to drink with him as long as we allowed him to explain the responsibilities of drinking and things along the lines of that. I found that my siblings and I grew up to be more responsible drinkers out of that and we would have drinks with meals that suited the food we were eating. I can't say this would work for all but it was an approach that turned out to work well for us. His reasoning for all of this was he felt that if we were taught about drinking and how to do it responsibly we would be more likely to drink with him instead of going out getting shit faced, getting in trouble and making normal stupid mistakes that most teenagers make. I will admit we still did our stupid teenager things, but I found that I grew out of it a lot faster than all of my other friends and I found that I have become a better drinker out of all of it.

[0ni0n]

I chained the cage to the radiator, oops.

Well played.

[Qalbert]

abstinence only for my kids, just like for everything else.

absinthe only? sounds rough

[Xiona]

theres no universal answer here. it really depends on the child. as much as parents dont like it kids are going to try and figure things out for themselves.

kids generally get wasted every chance they get because of the social implications to drinking as well as the expression of freedom. if you want to lessen the drinking then try and come up with a way to counter these as they grow up.

i can see giving them a drink when theyre at an appropriate age so they can get a feel for it. theyre going to say yes or no independent of what your wishes are, its not a terrible idea to explain to them responsible drinking as well as showing them.

i dont think allowing them specific times they can drink is a good idea though, it creates positive associations with the drinking which can lead to them wanting to drink more often than not.

[Fistandantilus]

abstinence only for my kids, just like for everything else.

Well it works for sex education, so naturally it must work for alcohol education as well.

[Elesirdur]

I'll keep my remarks short so I don't go on a tirade about how puritanical attitudes to alcohol and drinking age laws create more binge drinkers and a culture more obsessed with alcohol and getting drunk than they could ever prevent.

Anyway, introducing children to alcohol at early ages - even less than 10 - is a healthy thing. At special occasions like Christmas or other secular or religious occasions where alcohol is common, let them have a little glass of wine like everyone else. Honestly, I think the most important thing is to "demystify" alcohol for young people. In this way it's a lot like sex. Where so much of "adult" life, as portrayed by marketing and advertisers, rotates around sex and alcohol, keeping them away from young people and teenagers only fosters an obsession with them. Keeping things completely shut off and taboo for children and teenagers with the knowledge that as soon as they hit 18/19, and especially 21, it will become acceptable sets up a very bad situation. It's natural for people to want to find out about this thing that's been locked away from them by the state and perhaps society, but booze, like so many things in life, needs experience and knowledge to enjoy properly.

My parents never really drank outside of holidays, but I can remember being 15 and letting my parents know that I was going to a big house party. Because I had a pretty good relationship with my folks

[Blabj]

My children will be offered wine with meals and I wouldn't be upset if they told me they wanted alcohol at 15-16, just buy them too much and the problem solves itself.

[Mizango]

Depends on the kid really. My dad and uncles used to give me beer all the time and what not and I personally HATE beer. I have drank it once in my life, once when I was like 16 and I hated it.

My daughter is inquisitive and asks about it from time to time but I believe curiosity is a good thing. She has tasted a finger of alcohol and she hated it lol.

[Correction]

When your kid asks you for a glass of water, give him a glass of vodka or white tequila instead. Scar them for life, then they'll learn moderation.

[Azkarin2]

I agree with starting them off with special occasions and by 15ish letting them drink with you only. Both proper education and demonstration helps prevent kids from going nuts. Freshman year of college, it was always the kids under alcohol lockdown in highschool that ended up going nuts. Kids that drank in highschool were better at managing themselves than kids whose first beer came the first day of college.

I'd do the same with weed too.

[archibaldcrane]

My parents don't drink (well, maybe 5 drinks a year each) and I never drank more than one drink in a day (and even then maybe like 5-6 times total) until I hit college.

And then I attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is one of the hardest drinking schools in the country. Fortunately since I didn't have a car then, the worst trouble I got into was one drinking ticket and some unpleasant getting sick, but yeah, we drank to excess pretty much when we got our hands on alcohol. The only things that mellowed me out were when I started driving again (and even now I still push the limits of what is legal considering) and the fact that I'm not a total moron.

But then again, my parents didn't drink - what were they going to do, start buying alcohol just for me to get me used to it?

I dunno.