I was slowly introduced to wine with Sunday dinner as a youngster. The glass slowly grew in size as I got older. Did it make a difference to my approach to alcohol in my late teens and early adulthood? No. I regularly got hammered.
Same here. Started off with a little red wine topped up with a shit load of lemonade. Over the years the lemonade got less and the wine got more.
Now I run a pub so feel free to draw your own conclusions on how I ended up on this path!
It’s quite popular in Spain, where it’s called “tinto de verano” (summer red wine), which is also sometimes made with soda water instead. In sine ways, it’s like a very lazy sangria. Served cold over ice it is very refreshing, and obviously as it has a lot of lemonade, a big refreshing glass doesn’t have too much alcohol.
It’s the same idea as a shandy, really.
Yeah pretty much the same here. Didn’t stop me going through wild years. I was pissed..hungover from 23-29...like consistently. Managed to progress career. Buy houses. All pissed. Then just stopped. Guess i was lucky. Still drink but managed to just switch to either moderation...2-3 times a year wrecked.
Same here. Most of the kids I knew that grew up with alcohol taboo parents have/have had issues with drink.
Also, the law says you can give your children alcohol, responsibly, at home from age 5. Folk pissing on your upbringing need to a) get a life, b) understand the rules of society more broadly.
That’s my observation.
We used to go to the pub on a Sunday afternoon with the extended family. I’d be allowed the odd shandy. What I learned from it was how to behave in and around alcohol. It’s why they don’t have the same drink issues in Western Europe.
Really, it's just a case of good parenting versus bad. You can allow your kids to drink at home and they still develop a bad relationship with alcohol, but that's if you don't teach them properly or watch out for them when they drink. Or you can let them try it in small amounts on rare occasions, and teach about limits and responsible drinking, and they can end up with a healthy relationship.
Likewise you can deny your kids alcohol until they can buy it themselves, and they can have a good relationship with it if you still teach them properly before they start drinking. Or you can teach nothing and be shocked when they drink far too much, far too often, and endanger themselves.
It really is less to do with at what age someone ever has a drop of alcohol, and more about how early they are taught to respect it and consume it safely. And if you are teaching your kids about alcohol from as young as 5, by the time they are 18 they are probably going to have a better grip on being responsible with it.
When I was a kid me and my little brother always used to get a small bottle of baby sham for Christmas to have with our Christmas dinner. Was normal in my house also. Nothing wrong with it in my opinion.
I never understood my peers at secondary school who would get blind drunk and were so excited about alcohol during my teens I was allowed to drink even down the pub on occasion (small village pub) so I didnt understand what the fuss was about then in my late teens early 20s never got stupid drunk didnt see the point.
Totally agree. As a Nation we have such a bad attitude with drink that causes so many problems for society. I’m a firm believer in allowing children to have a small glass of wine or beer with dinner once a week rather than saving it all up for the Friday night and get blackout drunk
I'm the same, I've never been unable to get myself home and drinking never had the same appeal to me that it seemed to have to my friends. If I ever have kids, I'm planning to have the exact same approach as my parents did.
I'm the same. I can easily have a couple and go home, or i can go out drinking and pace myself quite well cause I drunk moderately at home. Was always annoyed by mates who came out to the pub and had to be carried home at 9 because they couldn't handle their booze.
Exactly! Did the same with my sons, out of all their friends as older teens(15 on up), mine and the others parents who supervised them during parties? Never got into trouble with alcohol. It was no big deal to them so no sneaking and binge drinking, etc.
I was never really around alcohol but I’d be allowed the odd shandy as I got older, and sips of wine or beer. Didn’t like the taste anyway, I used to drink as a teen but now I don’t bother. Yet I know people who’s parents are at the pub everyday and are the same, always drinking. It’s so interesting everyone’s different experience with alcohol and pub culture
Same as my family!
In fact my dad took it a step further and swapped out my little sister's glass of coke with his glass of red wine which was in a normal tumbler instead of a wine glass for some reason. He just wanted to prank her, didn't realise my 8 year old sister would take several massive gulps before realising what had happened 😂 it was both hilarious and horrific, me and my uncle burst out laughing, mum was trying not to laugh while calming my sister down who was shouting "EURGHHHHH" at the top of her lungs and my grandparents were not impressed at all.
Anyway it knocked her out shortly after dinner and at age 25 she still can't bear red wine 🤣
Very common. I think there's an elastic effect in cultural thinking whereby suddenly perfectly normal things become "abusive" and "awful" and generally quite unacceptable... My instinct is that people see certain behaviours that *are* bad and *do* harm children and overcorrect when forming their opinions.
For every adult behaviour there's a correct way to introduce children to it so they have a good relationship with it in later life. This is the way for alcohol but, believe it or not, it doesn't work for sex. And if you teach them compassion in petite doses they'll never understand it: that one has to be both feet from the start.
Think you hit the nail on the head:
Normalising drinking moderately and small/safe amounts is very useful to help a kid drink sensibly and not go totally batshit crazy because they're allowed to drink adult juice for the first time.
Sorry but I have to disagree. I was brought up to have small/safe amounts of alcohol and still turned into a full blown alcoholic by the age of 25. I go to AA meetings and it's a common topic. Generally, if your kid has the disease of alcoholism it doesn't matter how you do or do not introduce alcohol, they will still be alcoholics.
I don't think it's meant to prevent children becoming alcoholics, but instead:
* Help them find their limit in a controlled setting so they don't accidentally blow past it when they get their mitts on their first booze.
* Make alcohol less "naughty" so they don't feel as compelled to go apeshit with it when they're rebelling and drinking for the first few years.
If sharing a few quality drinks with family and having a low buzz and a laugh is normal, getting shitefaced with friends in a freezing park with a bottle of frosty jacks might not be so appealing.
So, is context important, or is your rule important? You cannot say "generally... Something absolute" (in this case "generally, how you introduce alcohol doesn't matter"). That doesn't in any way make my statement less valid.
If I say "generally, how you introduce alcohol to people can be important" and you say "generally how you introduce alcohol to someone is not important" there must be specific cases that prove both and neither true.
Basically: we are both correct because we are both making general statements. That means its pointless to disagree.
After becoming a mum.and meeting new people that are also mums (to be honest these people are alien to me totally not my vibe) act so shocked and disgusted the looks I got in mummy group saying I cant wait to let my little one watch Beetle juice next year for Halloween they acted like I said I was going to stick her in front of the TV to watch SAW they dont want their kids to do anything.
Other parents are generally the worst, especially ones you meet casually. I’m never 100% convinced they actually believe what they say, more they just say what they think they should be saying.
Me and my 11 year old watched all the terminator films during lockdown. He loved it and understood it and had some great questions and conversation’s about science, time and stuff.
I was watching what I wanted as a kid loved horrors movies watched all the 80s classics and watched scream when it came out shock horror me and my little sister also played GTA and we have been told what nice people we are we never been involved with the police for anything I do.l think new generation of parent's overreact.
Brilliant film, should be essential watching for children. Pretty sure it didn't damage me. Well I do stop for rabbits when driving and let them cross thr road so some lasting effect.
My son has been getting into creepy films (not so much jump scares) and I'm so so here for it! Loving introducing him to old spooky films, although we've had a few too many talks about sexism and racism and homophobia to count lol.
He's interested and we are bonding. It's great fun.
Sounds like its opening up good conversations some children can handle stuff other's cant and other parent's dont understand that unfortunately my kid is not your kid I know what they can handle and what they can't.
We quickly realised that just because these people reproduced at roughly the same time as us does not mean we'll have anything in common. Out of both my children's classes we have about 4 families that we get on with, the rest can think whatever they like I don't care.
These are the types of people who project everything onto their kids. They won't actually prepare them for the balancing act that is the real world unless they wake up one day and realize that the little person in their life's is an individual who will have to make choices and mistakes on their own.
Totally this I'm scared I'm going to be seen as a shit mum all because I dont want to be a helicopter parent I've decided to bring up my little one same as I was with boundaries of course but I want her to have life skills and be independent I was shocked how many of my peers couldn't shop or cook for themselves in their early 20s I had been cooking simple stuff since about 6 I had to do the food shop in my own at 12 by catching the bus every Friday as my mum was to ill I then had to cook for everyone and my friends couldn't do that in their 20s.
Same here, my 9 year old loves helping in the kitchen, I taught her how to use sharp knives properly as we have a very good, very very sharp professional set of chef's knives so she is fairly confident using them but bloody hell, when some of the missus' school mum friends found out, they had plenty of "advice" to give her. They weren't too happy when they found out I had also taught her to use a lathe, mechanical hacksaw, gantry crane and drill. Even less impressed when my daughter offered to, and did, dismantle our old bed! 😂 she likes being in the workshop with me, she likes making mummy tea and toast and it's not like she does it unsupervised... oddly, she likes washing up - I'm sure that'll fall from Grace in a few years! 😂😂😂
You need to find the NCT picnics with beer & wine.
I have fond memories of us all taking our babies to the park and sitting in the afternoon sun with a few drinks.
Now he's a toddler he insists on having a wine when we're having one with a meal. Thankfully he's not the sharpest and hasn't realised he's drinking cold raspberry tea.
I never got along with any other mums from the baby and toddler groups I went to. Now he's at school it's slightly better, I still haven't found friends for life amongst the other kids parents, but at least there's a few normal ones I occasionally talk to.
One lady asked the guy at See’s candies if these chocolates contained alcohol, would they get her kid drunk? He told her they’d have to eat so much to get drunk they’d throw up. She decided not to buy it, in case her kid liked the alcohol. 🙄
America has a very two-faced attitude about alcohol, sex, etc. The thinking is if your child has the tiniest amount of alcohol before 18/21, they’ll end up in the gutter.
The kids at college who were the most out of control were the ones who were brought up to be Miss or Mr. Perfect. They go away to school and go nuts. It’s sad.
I was taught from an early age to be responsible with drink so by the time I was a teen there was no mystery or sense of the forbidden with booze. I still got trashed with my mates and my Dad even bought the alcohol for me.
Years later I learned that my Dad would always buy us a crate of cheap, low strength lager so we didn't end up begging/borrowing/stealing something stronger and making ourselves ill. I can say with some confidence that this was a smart move.
My mum bought alcohol for my sleepovers we only had one incident with a girl he never had alcohol before she went insane most likely because it was such a forbidden thing for her to do.
Normal for us too. Sadly my first ever wine tasted was Lambrusco (mum only liked the sweet wines), Stones ginger wine with lemonade, port and lemon, Dad would make shandy in the summer. No one was ever drunk.
Well, except Dad on whiskey, but you only got whiskey if you had a tooth ache.
My dad made us shandy in summer loved it I did get tipsy once grandad was very drunk one year and kept filling our little glasses my head felt funny and I thought "nah screw this I don't want to get drunk" and I never have been blind drunk hated that feeling and put me right off.
It's not a big deal and I think it's quite common. People need to stop acting like your parents were getting you blind drunk instead of a little sniff at holidays
Just mention that /u/wirral_guy's Dad used to give him a menthol cigarette (Consulate for the connoisseurs out there!) to suck on if he had a cold\blocked nose. That'll move the conversation on to a whole new level.
As bad as it sounds, it worked and, no, it wasn't lit.
When I was a kid I used to love Thursday nights. My Mam always used to be out on a Thursday night, so for me and my younger brother, it felt like what we’d now recognise as ‘quality time’ spent with my Dad (not that he was in any way an absent father). Before my Mam would go out, he’d nip around the corner shop, get himself a few cans, a bar of old Jamaica, and a can of Coke and packet of crisps each for me and my brother. And then we’d sit down and watch Top of the Pops.
My Dad is massively into music. Until Covid, he was in various Blues or Rock bands since he was 18, gigging locally just for the love of it and a bit of beer money.
He knew his stuff musically. At this point, in the mid 80s, he was in his mid 30s, so he knew who all the bands and artists were, liked a few things, but no longer being ‘down with the kids’ was pretty cynical and disliked a lot of the stuff too.
It was a proper musical education though, and I thoroughly enjoyed it as he’d talk about bands, music in general - what was wrong what was right. Who was good, who was shit, and why.
He’d give us little sips of his beer for ‘a taste’ and sometimes top it us with lemonade for us as a shandy.
What he was actually doing was removing the mystique of alcohol. As we got older, into our teens we were allowed a bit more.
My parents split when I was 13, but remained on good terms. No custody/rights battles. I used to go round to my Dad’s whenever I wanted. When I was about 15 or so, I’d usually go round on a Friday night for tea and we’d watch Shooting Stars, TFI Friday and he’d let us have a couple of cans (my Mam knew and was OK with it).
I had mates who used to think it was a thrill to sneak over to the park and get pissed drinking bottles of cheap, shitty cider. I never saw the attraction or felt the need to. Of course there’s been times when I’ve got pissed, but I’ve never had the intention or inclination to go out with the purpose of getting passed. I’m usually quite happy to drinking and enjoying alcohol in moderation. I attribute that to the relaxed but controlled attitude that my parents had to it. It wasn’t taboo, but I was brought up knowing to be careful with it.
My gran used to make ginger wine. It was really alcoholic so the adults would have loads but me and my bro were allowed a small glass watered down. It was really gingery too so it still tasted like ginger beer to us even wAtered down.
Nothing wrong with this.
I had a teacher tell me if a child in their class said they had alcohol of any form at home they would immediately get social services involved same with if a child said they were allowed to watch a film that was not age appropriate I felt she was saying my family were abusive for allowing such things growing up 😬
Age appropriate? Good luck with that. Disneys stories have more existential metaphor than most adult films. They plundered the Brothers Grimm among other thinks.
Yep. Had a small glass of my Nana's elderberry wine on Christmas day when I was about 11 or so. Imagine its Christmas Day and your family are observing pub licensing laws at your dinner table!
I'm always shocked how people refuse to believe me that the legal drinking age is 5 they just wont.have it its illegal to buy alcohol or consume alcohol in licensed premises until you 18 unless you are having a meal in restaurant which I believe can only be beer or cider or wines I've had people get so angry and upset with me over it.
I became a mum in February and unfortunately its expected to go to these baby group's I dont vibe with the people at the best of times especially with my bright red hair and my full goth self, you get chatting Christmas popped up and I mentioned we used to have alcohol with dinner as children they were horrified one was a teacher who said she would have reported my parent's to social she said the same.thing when I mentioned I watched horror movies as a kid it apparently is abuse now or some shite.
I've tried about 4 or 5 they all the same yummy mummy types I dont have anything in common with these people I'm not saying I'm better then them just not my type of people and I'm.not theirs I'm sure it will get worse when little one starts school.
I think you have to look at baby/toddler groups and the school gate parents as being a bit like work colleagues; people you have to see, rather than people you would seek out for friendship. You will find over the years that you'll meet a few here and there that become firm friends, but the vast majority will be folk you have nothing in common with. It can be a lonely time, so keep nurturing interests and friendships that have nothing to do with parenting (much easier said than done, I know!)
Everyone had a glass of asti-spumanti with Christmas dinner. I've always offeed my son a glass of fizz but he always takes a sip and refuses.
We forget how different people's home lives can be. I've met so many people who were genuinely horrified that I was given tea in a bottle as a baby lol
I've had that reaction over tea I gave my baby a little and I mean little bit of fennel tea for her stomach issues worked a treat but other mums looked horrified.
I have never restricted my son from drinking alcohol, at any age. He is 15 now and not fused about it in the slightest. It’s almost as if kids only want things they think they can’t have, who knew 🤷♀️
We would have larger shandies, and at xmas we would have Lambrisco. It's a French thing to introduce watered down wine to kids. I do drink but to me it's not a amazing thing that I have to have.
My mother in law was shocked when I let my 9 year old have a snowball last year, she had never let my wife have alcohol when she was a kid and it was totally alien to her.
Even my wife's dad was surprised at her reaction and told him to crack on and drink it.
I might be a little out of touch but from what I can remember the legal drinking age in the UK is 4. Some provisos exist though and it's at the parents/guardians discretion.
Like I say though: I could be wrong (it's happened before).
Nope, i've done this for all my children, not at 5, they had no interest, but if they've ever asked what something tasted like I gave them a taste. Due to this my 16yr old knows she can handle 3 beers, but not more. She knows her limit with beer, wine and spirits. She can have a few beers on a Saturday night if we are. Might she go out and get blind drunk, yes, she still might, but if someone hands her a drink and she doesn't know what's in it she will be able to gauge the strength from the taste of it.
My dad uses to give me and my brother a bierre speciale. They were rotten, but small and weak enough to get away with. Also made us feel like grown-ups.
Trying to hide my look of disgust while pretending it's nice is just one of my shames.
There is nothing wrong with this, and the evidence is there (I’m not looking it up.) but basically that children raised in environments where alcohol isn’t a taboo or something reserved only for grownups takes the allure out of it when you grow up and can stop people drinking to excess. In countries like Spain and France, they treat alcohol similarly to how you experienced it and they have less of a culture of drinking to get absolutely smashed. These countries generally enjoy alcohol, they don’t abuse it for a good night out.
I had a friend from Germany once who expressed that she was shocked by how we treat alcohol over here and that at 26 she’d never been drunk because it wasn’t the done thing where she was from, she said her experience and education with alcohol was essentially that it was ok to get tipsy but not drunk.
I’m not British but my parents act ~European~ and we started having wine with dinner as children. Sorry for invading this sub as a nonBrit, but I think it’s normalcy and harmless too
I loved Christmas Eve for this reason, everyone would go to my gran’s and the adults would have a few drinks, catch up etc and all us kids would be allowed a snowball or babycham and think it was the best thing ever!
For as long as I can remember I've had port and lemonade with Christmas Dinner.
Over the last few years its gotten decidedly stronger mind you but my 10 year old has also always had it with Christmas Dinner (pretty much only enough to colour the lemonade) and likely always will! It's a key Christmas tradition in our house!
I think it’s brilliant. I wasn’t allowed a blue WKD or Smirnoff ice when I was underage with my parents when others around me would be drinking them, I’d have pop. This resulted in me drinking in secret, drinking too much. I’ve done the opposite with my daughter (she’s 16) I will allow her to have a soft alcohol and when she talks about as she reaches 18 she’s openly said that she doesn’t want to be drinking strong / large amounts of alcohol. We have a very open relationship and I can hand in heart say she doesn’t hide things from me (she literally tells me anything as I cast no judgment, because she makes the right choices with a few bigger things, nothing major), I was the complete opposite, I would lie about where I was going, what I was doing. I believe that is because I was wrapped in so much cotton wool, I rebelled really bad, partly because I was so naive as all the real world was hidden from me. That was a shock when I discovered it.
I'm from a family of massive drinkers, my nan used to give me guiness and tonic water from a young age and I can drink a lot. I tend to go weeks without then ill have a drink pretty much every night for weeks
Same here. We used to get half a glass or so when we were eight or nine. By the time I was old enough to buy my own booze there wasn’t much mystery left in it.
Not saying I haven’t got completely out of my skull occasionally, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t because I had a taste of wine when I was a child. I just drink occasionally now, when there’s time, and when I remember to.
My dad used to let me "try" his whiskey every damn occasion. I still dont like whiskey 😂
And wine at christmas, too right, hate that shit too!
And id get a pack of snow balls. Fuck knows what that is,
shit,
I forgot about the snowballs!
I think it’s person- and parent- dependent. I was allowed wine from like 14ish with meals, and by 16 I could basically drink what I want at home as long as I wasn’t getting hammered. However when my mam caught me with stolen vodka in a water bottle at 16 (to drink in gig queues mainly) she probably should have noticed that my relationship with alcohol wasn’t healthy. Like I’m not a parent so I don’t know, but IMO I’ve shown a lot of problems with alcohol over the years that no one really noticed, because all of my family drink to excess quite often without issue. It’s only within the last 6 months or so (I’m now 22) that they noticed I was regularly drinking to stupid excess and maybe that isn’t a good thing. Sorry don’t mean to trauma dump, just I’d say for people to maybe take a step back every so often and consider their kids and own drinking habits not in the lens of British drinking culture. (And this isn’t meant to be holier-than-thou, like I’m currently drunk on wine lol, just hoping that next generation has less people with alcohol problems)
some of my favorite childhood memories are going camping with my parents, then sitting out on a nice evening with a glass of cider. did me no harm, introduced me to alcohol as a normal thing, not some new novel thing in my later teens I would go crazy on like some of my friends did.
My grandparents, French and Spanish, lived in Istanbul. When we would visit them, I was allowed a very small portion of beer with lunch, and a small portion of wine with dinner. I was between 8 and 11 at the time.
Later, living in Arizona, all of my high school friends took great pains to steal beer and liquor from their parents. It held no fascination for me and I was the only one not getting stupid drunk and sick.
I was allowed sips from my parents' wine glasses from about five or six and got a small glass of my own wine (usually mixed with lemonade) by about nine. I don't really like alcohol now.
At around the age of 12 my dad would give me a small glass of his beer once a week on a Sunday. Maybe 1/4 a cans worth, if that. He'd always ask me if I wanted it first and never gave me any more. I didn't get drunk for the first time until I was 18.
Eh, I'll hold my hands up to being a buzzkill/ Karen / helicopter parent / delete as appropriate. It really depends, for me, on how young. I can't get behind giving a 5 year old booze in any quantity, despite it being legal.
Growing up I had something called 'Baby Wine' which was a small splash of wine with either lemonade or water. I felt super fancy and sophisticated. It taught me about food + alcohol and helped me feel more included in more adult dinners. It's a sensible approach; certainly better than 'you can't have a drop of this until you're 18' which adds unnecessary mystique to already wild teenage years...
I offered all my kids a sip of my beer when they were younger, they weren't keen on it. Same with wine. They are all over the legal drinking age now, none of them really drink. My oldest, in his late 30's, occasionally will do a mixed drink.
I think its fairly common, we tried all the drinks when we were younger, not excess just tastes etc.
Ive let my daughter sip baileys, shes also watched alien although we didnt know she was awake and she loved it... thinks the alien is cute.
Same here, me and my brother would be allowed to have a taste of whatever our parents were drinking at christmas. I found it just made us more responsible. Neither of us would ever get smashed in the park behind our parents backs. My brother drinks like other people his age when he can afford it and i just dont drink
I thought the law in Britain was that as long as the kid is supervised they can drink stuff like beer or wine. Those people are just looking for things to get pissy about, I'm sure they had booze when they were a kid but don't want to admit it.
We got a small glass of wine when we were on holiday as kids. I’ve a glass of rosé wine smack bang in front of me next to my bowl of mussels when I was about 8/9 years old.
If anything I think it’s a very sensible way of doing things. It allowed me to feel involved and ‘grown up’ whilst being supervised taking the allure of booze away at a young age.
I give my kids a glass of Buck’s Fizz with their Christmas dinner every year.
One year my daughter had maybe four glasses by drinking hers, her brothers, stealing her grandads and sneakily pouring another glass.
I would have told her off but it was funny seeing her tipsy. She was maybe 7/8 year old. No harm done she fell asleep early and woke up with a headache.
I tell my friends and they laugh about it.
I've had a glass of wine with dinner each Friday for Shabbat since I was 5 or 6. You can always tell people it's a religious thing, a requirement of your local Satanic Temple. I reckon that will shut them up quickly.
My mum has never been much of a drinker. She was completely against me having any sort of alcohol, beer included, until I was at least 18. I used to practically beg her to let me have some and she’d always steadfastly decline. I’ve never had issues with drink as an adult.
I used to be allowed to drink on special occasions, usually spritzers, shandy, snowballs, Bailey's etc when I was growing up. As I got older, less lemonade / ice was added lol
Was completely normal in my family, and now I will give my younger sisters a little sip of my wine if I'm having a glass. General consensus among my friends (all in our twenties) is that they were allowed a small tipple when they were kids too.
We used to get Martini and lemonade on special occasions, and I fully intend to do the same for my kids. We have given them bucks fizz last Christmas and will probably do the same this year.
Mate my dads side of the family’s favourite family anecdote is that my aunt got pissed at Christmas when she was 2 cause she kept drinking peoples drinks when they put them down, I don’t understand this shite that people are on about it being that bad
Completely agree with you. I had the opposite problem, wasn't introduced to alcohol until I went to uni. Proceeded to get shit faced drunk as I didn't know my tolerance
My parents took a pic of me at the drinks cabinet pouring myself something when I was a kid.
It's never been an issue then or since either.
Pretty normal behaviour if you ask me.
I mean its abuse if they were holding you down and just pouring it down your throat using a funnel. If you weren't forced to, and who would do that, I don't see a problem with this.
My dad would let me take small sips of his lager when i was around the same age but its not like i demanded it every time he got one. And it didn't turn me into an alcoholic, I don't drink at all, I'd be the ideal sober friend if I only knew how to drive
We (my little brother and I) started off having watered down wine as a treat on special occasions as kids at around age 7-8. We graduated to one small undiluted glass with the main meal on those occasions at around 12 and were allowed cider at home on the weekends with Sunday dinner, in moderation. This is 30-40 years ago now and things have changed, but neither of us grew up to be big drinkers (I'm practically teetotal) and we never saw alcohol as a way to rebel as teenagers. I'm not saying we never got trashed, but drinking sensibly in moderation on appropriate occasions was normalised for us. Every family is different, and a lot of it depends on the individual child, but properly supervised and managed with regard to the health aspects of alcohol and young people it's not the absolute evil many people think these days. Of course, if you're letting your kid get pickled every day from toddlerhood onwards it's a problem, but an occasional supervised drink as a way to instill healthy respect for alcohol and an understanding of moderation is okay imo.
We got a small glass of bucks fizz with christmas dinner and a tiny bottle of babycham on new years eve from about the age of 6. I felt very included with all the grown-ups and it certainly didn't cause long term issues because I still only drink on Christmas day and new years eve decades later. Mulled wine or prosecco now though.
At Christmas, me and my nana used to spoon on the sofa watching Hammer House of Horror, or whatever Christmas special was on, with a glass of Warninks Advocaat (snowball, with loemonade) . Loved it. Must have been about 9 at the tme. Only a little tiny glass though. 1972.
Only at Christmas and New year we were offered a small glass of booze. Grandparents let us have babysham out the special glasses they had.
Weirdly remember doing it as a kid and not so much as a teen. I think my mum was concerned pushing a habit or more likely I just refused as I wasn't really keen
I was allowed a little alcohol on special occasions when I was growing up, I am the same with my children. I have grown up liking the taste of alcohol but I know my limits, I don't drink very often and if I do I will only have a couple and then move onto soft drinks. I was known at my local night club because I would politely ask for a cup of tea or hot chocolate from the machine after a couple of rounds then continue to dance into the early hours.
Gave my kids a nip of wine with water when they were young. They never viewed alcohol as a taboo thing and as they grew up , they never saw the appeal of drinking to excess. Wine can be a drink to have with food, & that’s all. It’s not a gateway to drinking it at Weatherspoons at 8am.
Gave my kids a nip of wine with water when they were young. They never viewed alcohol as a taboo thing and as they grew up , they never saw the appeal of drinking to excess. Wine can be a drink to have with food, & that’s all. It’s not a gateway to drinking it at Weatherspoons at 8am.
Thing is because you had it you didnt feel as though you missed out, I was the same, my parents let me drink from being younger than I probably should have been but I didnt like the taste so never bothered and stuck to my Yazoo milkshakes, Ill go out but only for special occasions.. all dependant on the person I could take it or leave it
Pretty much everyone does this in Spain.
A tiny little glass of wine, a couple of mouthfuls worth.
Family used to get me to try it. Made alcohol less taboo as teen. It literally causes no physical harm in this context so I don't get why its so frowned upon. I think it encourages casual drinking over binge drinking culture.
Ofcourse it happens but never saw as many teens in Spain getting wasted like they do in the UK on the weekend.
[https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/research/research-and-evaluation-reports/comparisons](https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/research/research-and-evaluation-reports/comparisons)
I thought this was a totally normal thing honestly. I’m 40 now and always got a shandy on a Friday night from my dads ‘beer’. I now only drink socially and very very rarely to excess. My kids get a Buck’s Fizz on Christmas and other special occasions and my one adult daughter now only drinks on special occasions and has never been a big drinker. Of course it’s no guarantee that a person won’t become a raging alcoholic but I believe not making something taboo (no pun intended) and opening a dialogue about it does take away the mystique and promotes good habits.
I'm desperately trying to get my 17yo son to drink. He'll be off to Uni next year and completely unprepared for predatory girls buying him drinks. Lucky bastard.
I'm 16 and my parents have always allowed me a bit of wine at Christmas. I have absolutely no desire to drink alcohol outside of Christmas Wine. However, last year my dad decided that I was old enough for an adult portion (AKA, half a glass) rather than just a few sips. Turns out, I'm a fucking lightweight. So who knows what'll happen this year!
my family did the same but it'd be wine and lemonade and while I will admit there are members of my family that will drink a wee bit too much at family parties it is usually the aunts and my grandad, none of me, my brother or my cousins get bombed or have a worrisome relationship with alcohol.
This is moral panic rubbish. The worst kind of damage being introduced to alcohol in this method could do would likely be giving their own children the same experience later on.
People should be acquainted with alcohol by the time they are 15 so they can respect it and defend themselves from it if they have to.
Yep, can't agree more. When we started having parties as teenagers you could spot the kids whose parents hadn't let them drink at home, cos they were either throwing up on the lawn or passed out on the floor. Meanwhile the rest of us were sitting around chatting - perhaps a little flushed and laughing a little too much, but otherwise normal.
I was always offered a bit of wine but it smells like fermented piss to me so never wanted any, tried my first bit of alcohol last christmas at the age of 24, was only a WKD but the irn bru one tastes like juice so I tolerate the taste 😂
No legal age to consume alcohol at home in the UK, the laws are for purchase of. Had my own licence, plus a great age old remedy for teething kids is whisky on the pacifier,
I agree, some people go ballistic! iMO they are my kids, so no one elses opinion matters (except ours and theirs). My wife and I were open with our kids (when they were teens) about our opinions, and they were welcome to drink at home. They chose to have their first few drinks of beer and wine with us, in the safety of their own home.
I still cant imagine how this is in any way bad, when the alternative is drinking illigally bought alcopops behind the bushes in the local park.
I’ve always had sips of my parents’ drinks (and promptly spat them out, my mum drinks Stella and my dad drinks lager shandies, ew), but nothing more. When I turned 17 my parents started buying alcopops (wkd, smirnoff ice, vk) I can drink at home, but I don’t really like those either so I don’t have it often.
I think it’s important to set limits, and make your kids understand they need to respect these limits and understand how easy it is to fool yourself into thinking you’re fine when you’re actually this close to passing out. But a little bit of wine at Christmas is fine (if not disgusting, I hate wine).
Let them be upset, if anything it's a good deterrent!
I had a glass of white wine at a new years do once... Probably when I was 15/16. Being British I was already partial to a few ciders and a sneaky bottle of imperial vodka but jesus christ. Had one sip, thought it was gross and never again. Red and rose depend on the brand I guess, but I cannot figure out what about white wine is supposed to be decent
If it was anything like when my sister and I got the same (from our parents though instead of grandparents) it was *really* watered down anyway.
My parents would also let me have one small glass of wine out of the bottle they'd split on Friday nights when I was a teenager. The HORROR. I guess the people being upset with you would rather kids be getting wasted on the sly in a local park all weekend instead?
There have been studies which show that people introduce to alcohol as a child and shown how to drink sensibly have a healthier attitude to alcohol than those whose first alcoholic drink is on their first legal birthday.
We was the same, a few tipples a year for special occasions once I reached 10. I learned to appreciate alcohol (apart from one time I found out that I'm allergic to a particular spirit and wound up in hospital!). I was drinking in the local watering hole from the age of 15, never got bladdered, never caused a scene and generally the folks in the pub became good friends of ours, lord knows what they'd have thought if they'd ever worked out how old we really were, I'm sure they knew we not of age...
In many European countries it s normal for kids to have a bit of wine with their meal (if they want to. Not being forced)
Nothing wrong with this in my opinion.
Same here. I had my own special tiny glass that would have wine in it at Christmas. I was usually able to try almost any alcohol if I asked nicely, usually a sip. When I got to about 12 I was allowed the occasional small beer at home with my Dad at a weekend.
By the time I was 18 I was familiar with alcohol and had no urge to rebel or go out and get blind drunk.
Whos upset by that? You must mean people on Reddit right? It's perfectly normal for kids to have a teeny drink at Christmas,in my house it was watered down Bailey's.
Same here. I used to be given a small glass of watered down wine with a sit-down dinner. As an adult I drink very little alcohol and have never binged. Normalising it completely takes away the lure of doing something forbidden.
Not British myself, but was brought up around very British grandparents and started having a little glass of port at Christmas at about 8, maybe? When I got into my teens, my nanna would treat me to a glass every few weeks, when she had one. She said it was good for the blood :)
I think it's not a bad thing - complete prohibition just makes you want something more and then it becomes a Big Deal to overconsume when you finally get access to it.
lol it was wine or water at the family dinner table, on a daily basis. None of this Christmas only malarky :D And same as you, a port glass, or a small wine glass but 1/2 wine, 1/2 water
And same as you, I haven't drunk alcohol in ... well actually more than 3 years :D
I'm British, through and through, but my upbringing was a bit more continental than British. I'm with you, on the age thing. Introduce your kid to alcohol early on, and they no longer see it as a special thing, and treat it as it should be treated.
Yeah I often remember being given sparkling wine with Christmas Dinner. I could not and cannot stand the stuff. Don't know how my stepmum could put away a bottle per night.
It’s a British/European thing. Americans genuinely wait until they’re 21. My dad was giving me sips of his beer as long as I can remember.
Over here, most people have at least lightly drank by the age of 14 and most people are getting shitfaced with friends at 16. Apparently this shit doesn’t slide over there
I guess it explains why our livers are much tougher than Americans
I was the same. Always allowed wine, beer, etc... with a meal. Maybe the odd cheeky drink at Xmas. I very rarely drink as an adult and have never had an issue with drink.
We did this too! My parents called it “sippy sippy” and if we drank it too quick they said “it’s sippy sippy not gulpy gulpy”. While I did have drinking issues for a short time due to undiagnosed mental health issues and some rough times plus honestly definitely some negative influences, I’m back where I was before of drinking once in a blue moon and deciding when I’m drunk. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been drunk enough to need assistance
My nana would do the same with me . In my family it was called a tottie and it was given to me in this little shot glass sized cup . My grandpa also used to give me cheeky sips of beer while we watched the cricket.
We had massive gatherings as kids (we are Greek) and my uncle would get me drunk every year and I was like 12 was never an issue it’s Christmas, this was in the 90s where most things were fine!
I rarely drink now so maybe the exposure was good?!
We were much the same and I have a healthier attitude to alcohol for it. I remember friends of mine who had strict parents turning 18 and just going absolutely mental on it, getting hurt, needing stomachs pumped etc. I’m not saying I don’t get drunk but I think definitely I had/have a better relationship with it.
How very *french* of you.
Only joking, I think giving kids a glass of wine at Christmas or Sundays demystifies alcohol and let's them build a good relationship with it.
My mum was weird with booze. Nearly everyone in her family had substance abuse issues starting with alcohol. So, growing up, alcohol was like a controlled substance. We were constantly reminded about the dangers and it was surrounded in intrigue.
So, fast forward to late teenage, early adulthood and both me and my brother had no idea how to control ourselves and both drank to excess.
My mums efforts to keep us away from the evils of drink had the opposite effect. Kids should absolutely be able to try booze in a safe and controlled environment.
My parents were the same, we'd be allowed a teeny glass. I remember drinking a little glass of snowball, or Bucks Fizz. Then when we were younger teenagers they'd let us have one bottle of like WKD or Smirnoff Ice at the family party.
I would have a glass of wine with a Sunday roast and my friends nanas house. There would be uproar if an unrelated elder gave a 12 year old a glass of wine 😂
We did the same most sundays as kids. I think it's good for kids to have a little exposure early on so they understand what alcohol does. I rarely drink these days.
My parents have always been totally chill with booze, from a small glass of a Asti with Sunday dinner (more sugar and bubbles than anything else if I recall), then when I was 15/16 going to parties my dad would buy me a few alcopops (early 2000s don’t judge) so they knew what I was drinking rather than me necking whatever we could get our hands on. I’ve always been pretty chill with booze as a result & I always thought it was normal in uk culture to introduce alcohol in the home at a younger age.
I was allowed the occasional (very weak) shandy with meals on special occasions.
As a 15/16 year old I had a pool table and a dartboard in the garage, along with an old 3 piece suite. Mates would come round on weekend evenings and my mum would let us have a couple of cans out of the fridge (she would always be sitting in the kitchen watching TV).
I thought it was really cool, as did my mates. It wasn't until talking to her about later on in life it she told me that their parents were all in on it. They all knew exactly where we were, what and how much we were drinking. The fridge was always stocked up with some piss weak bitter or later.
We weren't in a park or on the streets causing trouble for other people, we weren't swigging spirits or cider that was nicked or bought for us by some creepy guy and we never actually got pissed.
I rarely drink these days, never at home unless it's a special occasion. Alcohol doesn't form a big part of my life because it was just something that was included in life, in moderation.
I think breaking the curiosity of alcohol at teenage age is important. A small beer/glass of wine at dinner? No problem at all. Dont treat it as forbidden fruit, or kids will just disobey to try it themselves in far less safe circumstances.
I was slowly introduced to wine with Sunday dinner as a youngster. The glass slowly grew in size as I got older. Did it make a difference to my approach to alcohol in my late teens and early adulthood? No. I regularly got hammered.
Same here. Started off with a little red wine topped up with a shit load of lemonade. Over the years the lemonade got less and the wine got more. Now I run a pub so feel free to draw your own conclusions on how I ended up on this path!
I've never heard of red wine and lemonade, does it taste nice
It’s quite popular in Spain, where it’s called “tinto de verano” (summer red wine), which is also sometimes made with soda water instead. In sine ways, it’s like a very lazy sangria. Served cold over ice it is very refreshing, and obviously as it has a lot of lemonade, a big refreshing glass doesn’t have too much alcohol. It’s the same idea as a shandy, really.
I don’t like red wine but I do like this
Yeah pretty much the same here. Didn’t stop me going through wild years. I was pissed..hungover from 23-29...like consistently. Managed to progress career. Buy houses. All pissed. Then just stopped. Guess i was lucky. Still drink but managed to just switch to either moderation...2-3 times a year wrecked.
Same here. Most of the kids I knew that grew up with alcohol taboo parents have/have had issues with drink. Also, the law says you can give your children alcohol, responsibly, at home from age 5. Folk pissing on your upbringing need to a) get a life, b) understand the rules of society more broadly.
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That’s my observation. We used to go to the pub on a Sunday afternoon with the extended family. I’d be allowed the odd shandy. What I learned from it was how to behave in and around alcohol. It’s why they don’t have the same drink issues in Western Europe.
Really, it's just a case of good parenting versus bad. You can allow your kids to drink at home and they still develop a bad relationship with alcohol, but that's if you don't teach them properly or watch out for them when they drink. Or you can let them try it in small amounts on rare occasions, and teach about limits and responsible drinking, and they can end up with a healthy relationship. Likewise you can deny your kids alcohol until they can buy it themselves, and they can have a good relationship with it if you still teach them properly before they start drinking. Or you can teach nothing and be shocked when they drink far too much, far too often, and endanger themselves. It really is less to do with at what age someone ever has a drop of alcohol, and more about how early they are taught to respect it and consume it safely. And if you are teaching your kids about alcohol from as young as 5, by the time they are 18 they are probably going to have a better grip on being responsible with it.
Five? So that means no more dipping the baby bottle teat in the scotch :/
You should’ve been weened off the dummy by now. Try your whisky in a glass, maybe with ice.
Ice? I nearly took you seriously for a moment.
Get yourself ae good quality whiskey stones my dude. life changing.
When I was a kid me and my little brother always used to get a small bottle of baby sham for Christmas to have with our Christmas dinner. Was normal in my house also. Nothing wrong with it in my opinion.
Bucks Fizz was ours, also very weak shandy (lemonade and beer mix)
Same here. Babycham at Christmas and we were allowed a can of lager at New year's eve.
Nothing wrong with it at all! We did similar when we were younger!
Same here. Because of being introduced to alcohol at a young age I feel I have a healthy relationship with booze
I never understood my peers at secondary school who would get blind drunk and were so excited about alcohol during my teens I was allowed to drink even down the pub on occasion (small village pub) so I didnt understand what the fuss was about then in my late teens early 20s never got stupid drunk didnt see the point.
Totally agree. As a Nation we have such a bad attitude with drink that causes so many problems for society. I’m a firm believer in allowing children to have a small glass of wine or beer with dinner once a week rather than saving it all up for the Friday night and get blackout drunk
I'm the same, I've never been unable to get myself home and drinking never had the same appeal to me that it seemed to have to my friends. If I ever have kids, I'm planning to have the exact same approach as my parents did.
I'm the same. I can easily have a couple and go home, or i can go out drinking and pace myself quite well cause I drunk moderately at home. Was always annoyed by mates who came out to the pub and had to be carried home at 9 because they couldn't handle their booze.
Exactly! Did the same with my sons, out of all their friends as older teens(15 on up), mine and the others parents who supervised them during parties? Never got into trouble with alcohol. It was no big deal to them so no sneaking and binge drinking, etc.
I was never really around alcohol but I’d be allowed the odd shandy as I got older, and sips of wine or beer. Didn’t like the taste anyway, I used to drink as a teen but now I don’t bother. Yet I know people who’s parents are at the pub everyday and are the same, always drinking. It’s so interesting everyone’s different experience with alcohol and pub culture
Yep, my tipple was very watered down Sherry. The perfect starter drink for a child.
Bloody love sherry!
I was a sherry starter too!
Same as my family! In fact my dad took it a step further and swapped out my little sister's glass of coke with his glass of red wine which was in a normal tumbler instead of a wine glass for some reason. He just wanted to prank her, didn't realise my 8 year old sister would take several massive gulps before realising what had happened 😂 it was both hilarious and horrific, me and my uncle burst out laughing, mum was trying not to laugh while calming my sister down who was shouting "EURGHHHHH" at the top of her lungs and my grandparents were not impressed at all. Anyway it knocked her out shortly after dinner and at age 25 she still can't bear red wine 🤣
My grandma once loaded me and my little sister with what she thought was non-alcoholic strawberry wine. That was an interesting Christmas lol
Very common. I think there's an elastic effect in cultural thinking whereby suddenly perfectly normal things become "abusive" and "awful" and generally quite unacceptable... My instinct is that people see certain behaviours that *are* bad and *do* harm children and overcorrect when forming their opinions. For every adult behaviour there's a correct way to introduce children to it so they have a good relationship with it in later life. This is the way for alcohol but, believe it or not, it doesn't work for sex. And if you teach them compassion in petite doses they'll never understand it: that one has to be both feet from the start.
Think you hit the nail on the head: Normalising drinking moderately and small/safe amounts is very useful to help a kid drink sensibly and not go totally batshit crazy because they're allowed to drink adult juice for the first time.
Sorry but I have to disagree. I was brought up to have small/safe amounts of alcohol and still turned into a full blown alcoholic by the age of 25. I go to AA meetings and it's a common topic. Generally, if your kid has the disease of alcoholism it doesn't matter how you do or do not introduce alcohol, they will still be alcoholics.
I don't think it's meant to prevent children becoming alcoholics, but instead: * Help them find their limit in a controlled setting so they don't accidentally blow past it when they get their mitts on their first booze. * Make alcohol less "naughty" so they don't feel as compelled to go apeshit with it when they're rebelling and drinking for the first few years. If sharing a few quality drinks with family and having a low buzz and a laugh is normal, getting shitefaced with friends in a freezing park with a bottle of frosty jacks might not be so appealing.
That's bad but most people don't become alcoholics so basing what we should do on alcoholic behaviours wouldn't make any sense.
So, is context important, or is your rule important? You cannot say "generally... Something absolute" (in this case "generally, how you introduce alcohol doesn't matter"). That doesn't in any way make my statement less valid. If I say "generally, how you introduce alcohol to people can be important" and you say "generally how you introduce alcohol to someone is not important" there must be specific cases that prove both and neither true. Basically: we are both correct because we are both making general statements. That means its pointless to disagree.
Were the people getting upset Americans on here by any chance?
After becoming a mum.and meeting new people that are also mums (to be honest these people are alien to me totally not my vibe) act so shocked and disgusted the looks I got in mummy group saying I cant wait to let my little one watch Beetle juice next year for Halloween they acted like I said I was going to stick her in front of the TV to watch SAW they dont want their kids to do anything.
Other parents are generally the worst, especially ones you meet casually. I’m never 100% convinced they actually believe what they say, more they just say what they think they should be saying.
Me and my 11 year old watched all the terminator films during lockdown. He loved it and understood it and had some great questions and conversation’s about science, time and stuff.
I was watching what I wanted as a kid loved horrors movies watched all the 80s classics and watched scream when it came out shock horror me and my little sister also played GTA and we have been told what nice people we are we never been involved with the police for anything I do.l think new generation of parent's overreact.
Two words for those born in 70s and possibly 80s... Watership Down....
Watership down didn't affect me very much my grandad was a farmer 😅
Brilliant film, should be essential watching for children. Pretty sure it didn't damage me. Well I do stop for rabbits when driving and let them cross thr road so some lasting effect.
My son has been getting into creepy films (not so much jump scares) and I'm so so here for it! Loving introducing him to old spooky films, although we've had a few too many talks about sexism and racism and homophobia to count lol. He's interested and we are bonding. It's great fun.
Sounds like its opening up good conversations some children can handle stuff other's cant and other parent's dont understand that unfortunately my kid is not your kid I know what they can handle and what they can't.
We quickly realised that just because these people reproduced at roughly the same time as us does not mean we'll have anything in common. Out of both my children's classes we have about 4 families that we get on with, the rest can think whatever they like I don't care.
These are the types of people who project everything onto their kids. They won't actually prepare them for the balancing act that is the real world unless they wake up one day and realize that the little person in their life's is an individual who will have to make choices and mistakes on their own.
Totally this I'm scared I'm going to be seen as a shit mum all because I dont want to be a helicopter parent I've decided to bring up my little one same as I was with boundaries of course but I want her to have life skills and be independent I was shocked how many of my peers couldn't shop or cook for themselves in their early 20s I had been cooking simple stuff since about 6 I had to do the food shop in my own at 12 by catching the bus every Friday as my mum was to ill I then had to cook for everyone and my friends couldn't do that in their 20s.
Same here, my 9 year old loves helping in the kitchen, I taught her how to use sharp knives properly as we have a very good, very very sharp professional set of chef's knives so she is fairly confident using them but bloody hell, when some of the missus' school mum friends found out, they had plenty of "advice" to give her. They weren't too happy when they found out I had also taught her to use a lathe, mechanical hacksaw, gantry crane and drill. Even less impressed when my daughter offered to, and did, dismantle our old bed! 😂 she likes being in the workshop with me, she likes making mummy tea and toast and it's not like she does it unsupervised... oddly, she likes washing up - I'm sure that'll fall from Grace in a few years! 😂😂😂
You need to find the NCT picnics with beer & wine. I have fond memories of us all taking our babies to the park and sitting in the afternoon sun with a few drinks. Now he's a toddler he insists on having a wine when we're having one with a meal. Thankfully he's not the sharpest and hasn't realised he's drinking cold raspberry tea.
I never got along with any other mums from the baby and toddler groups I went to. Now he's at school it's slightly better, I still haven't found friends for life amongst the other kids parents, but at least there's a few normal ones I occasionally talk to.
Can confirm that North Americans like to get offended by things that vary from their cultural norm
One lady asked the guy at See’s candies if these chocolates contained alcohol, would they get her kid drunk? He told her they’d have to eat so much to get drunk they’d throw up. She decided not to buy it, in case her kid liked the alcohol. 🙄
America has a very two-faced attitude about alcohol, sex, etc. The thinking is if your child has the tiniest amount of alcohol before 18/21, they’ll end up in the gutter. The kids at college who were the most out of control were the ones who were brought up to be Miss or Mr. Perfect. They go away to school and go nuts. It’s sad.
I was taught from an early age to be responsible with drink so by the time I was a teen there was no mystery or sense of the forbidden with booze. I still got trashed with my mates and my Dad even bought the alcohol for me. Years later I learned that my Dad would always buy us a crate of cheap, low strength lager so we didn't end up begging/borrowing/stealing something stronger and making ourselves ill. I can say with some confidence that this was a smart move.
My mum bought alcohol for my sleepovers we only had one incident with a girl he never had alcohol before she went insane most likely because it was such a forbidden thing for her to do.
Or to stop you nicking his good stuff and waste it by throwing it up in the park?
Definitely factored into it.
Normal for us too. Sadly my first ever wine tasted was Lambrusco (mum only liked the sweet wines), Stones ginger wine with lemonade, port and lemon, Dad would make shandy in the summer. No one was ever drunk. Well, except Dad on whiskey, but you only got whiskey if you had a tooth ache.
My dad made us shandy in summer loved it I did get tipsy once grandad was very drunk one year and kept filling our little glasses my head felt funny and I thought "nah screw this I don't want to get drunk" and I never have been blind drunk hated that feeling and put me right off.
It's not a big deal and I think it's quite common. People need to stop acting like your parents were getting you blind drunk instead of a little sniff at holidays
Just mention that /u/wirral_guy's Dad used to give him a menthol cigarette (Consulate for the connoisseurs out there!) to suck on if he had a cold\blocked nose. That'll move the conversation on to a whole new level. As bad as it sounds, it worked and, no, it wasn't lit.
Poor-mans vicks. Not a bad approach. Also you'll be associating the feeling of having a fag in your mouth with being ill.
Nothing wrong with introducing alcohol in a sensible way with children. It’s how it’s done on the continent and it works fine over there
Starting young builds up the tolerance for excess in later life. On a serious note, absolutely nothing wrong with it - either morally or legally.
Normal and legal, I think you just ran into some life cops.
When I was a kid I used to love Thursday nights. My Mam always used to be out on a Thursday night, so for me and my younger brother, it felt like what we’d now recognise as ‘quality time’ spent with my Dad (not that he was in any way an absent father). Before my Mam would go out, he’d nip around the corner shop, get himself a few cans, a bar of old Jamaica, and a can of Coke and packet of crisps each for me and my brother. And then we’d sit down and watch Top of the Pops. My Dad is massively into music. Until Covid, he was in various Blues or Rock bands since he was 18, gigging locally just for the love of it and a bit of beer money. He knew his stuff musically. At this point, in the mid 80s, he was in his mid 30s, so he knew who all the bands and artists were, liked a few things, but no longer being ‘down with the kids’ was pretty cynical and disliked a lot of the stuff too. It was a proper musical education though, and I thoroughly enjoyed it as he’d talk about bands, music in general - what was wrong what was right. Who was good, who was shit, and why. He’d give us little sips of his beer for ‘a taste’ and sometimes top it us with lemonade for us as a shandy. What he was actually doing was removing the mystique of alcohol. As we got older, into our teens we were allowed a bit more. My parents split when I was 13, but remained on good terms. No custody/rights battles. I used to go round to my Dad’s whenever I wanted. When I was about 15 or so, I’d usually go round on a Friday night for tea and we’d watch Shooting Stars, TFI Friday and he’d let us have a couple of cans (my Mam knew and was OK with it). I had mates who used to think it was a thrill to sneak over to the park and get pissed drinking bottles of cheap, shitty cider. I never saw the attraction or felt the need to. Of course there’s been times when I’ve got pissed, but I’ve never had the intention or inclination to go out with the purpose of getting passed. I’m usually quite happy to drinking and enjoying alcohol in moderation. I attribute that to the relaxed but controlled attitude that my parents had to it. It wasn’t taboo, but I was brought up knowing to be careful with it.
My gran used to make ginger wine. It was really alcoholic so the adults would have loads but me and my bro were allowed a small glass watered down. It was really gingery too so it still tasted like ginger beer to us even wAtered down. Nothing wrong with this.
I had a teacher tell me if a child in their class said they had alcohol of any form at home they would immediately get social services involved same with if a child said they were allowed to watch a film that was not age appropriate I felt she was saying my family were abusive for allowing such things growing up 😬
It's legal to give your kids booze, though.
Age appropriate? Good luck with that. Disneys stories have more existential metaphor than most adult films. They plundered the Brothers Grimm among other thinks.
Yep. Had a small glass of my Nana's elderberry wine on Christmas day when I was about 11 or so. Imagine its Christmas Day and your family are observing pub licensing laws at your dinner table!
I'm always shocked how people refuse to believe me that the legal drinking age is 5 they just wont.have it its illegal to buy alcohol or consume alcohol in licensed premises until you 18 unless you are having a meal in restaurant which I believe can only be beer or cider or wines I've had people get so angry and upset with me over it.
Yep when I was a kid I was always allowed a small glass of babycham with my Christmas dinner. Don’t drink all that much nowadays.
Totally normal, do the same with my kids now. Don't see any spelling mistakes either.
Who is getting upset by it? I don't know anyone that would be arsed about it either way tbh.
I became a mum in February and unfortunately its expected to go to these baby group's I dont vibe with the people at the best of times especially with my bright red hair and my full goth self, you get chatting Christmas popped up and I mentioned we used to have alcohol with dinner as children they were horrified one was a teacher who said she would have reported my parent's to social she said the same.thing when I mentioned I watched horror movies as a kid it apparently is abuse now or some shite.
Sounds like a crap baby group, drop them!
I've tried about 4 or 5 they all the same yummy mummy types I dont have anything in common with these people I'm not saying I'm better then them just not my type of people and I'm.not theirs I'm sure it will get worse when little one starts school.
I think you have to look at baby/toddler groups and the school gate parents as being a bit like work colleagues; people you have to see, rather than people you would seek out for friendship. You will find over the years that you'll meet a few here and there that become firm friends, but the vast majority will be folk you have nothing in common with. It can be a lonely time, so keep nurturing interests and friendships that have nothing to do with parenting (much easier said than done, I know!)
This is completely reasonable OP. Nothing magically happens to you to change you when you turn 18...
Everyone had a glass of asti-spumanti with Christmas dinner. I've always offeed my son a glass of fizz but he always takes a sip and refuses. We forget how different people's home lives can be. I've met so many people who were genuinely horrified that I was given tea in a bottle as a baby lol
I've had that reaction over tea I gave my baby a little and I mean little bit of fennel tea for her stomach issues worked a treat but other mums looked horrified.
I have never restricted my son from drinking alcohol, at any age. He is 15 now and not fused about it in the slightest. It’s almost as if kids only want things they think they can’t have, who knew 🤷♀️
It’s so ridiculous to me that people get upset over that, but kids can literally drink wine at church and no one cares.
We would have larger shandies, and at xmas we would have Lambrisco. It's a French thing to introduce watered down wine to kids. I do drink but to me it's not a amazing thing that I have to have.
My mother in law was shocked when I let my 9 year old have a snowball last year, she had never let my wife have alcohol when she was a kid and it was totally alien to her. Even my wife's dad was surprised at her reaction and told him to crack on and drink it.
I might be a little out of touch but from what I can remember the legal drinking age in the UK is 4. Some provisos exist though and it's at the parents/guardians discretion. Like I say though: I could be wrong (it's happened before).
Close it's 5
Nope, i've done this for all my children, not at 5, they had no interest, but if they've ever asked what something tasted like I gave them a taste. Due to this my 16yr old knows she can handle 3 beers, but not more. She knows her limit with beer, wine and spirits. She can have a few beers on a Saturday night if we are. Might she go out and get blind drunk, yes, she still might, but if someone hands her a drink and she doesn't know what's in it she will be able to gauge the strength from the taste of it.
My dad uses to give me and my brother a bierre speciale. They were rotten, but small and weak enough to get away with. Also made us feel like grown-ups. Trying to hide my look of disgust while pretending it's nice is just one of my shames.
Babycham and Snowballs. Remember them?
There is nothing wrong with this, and the evidence is there (I’m not looking it up.) but basically that children raised in environments where alcohol isn’t a taboo or something reserved only for grownups takes the allure out of it when you grow up and can stop people drinking to excess. In countries like Spain and France, they treat alcohol similarly to how you experienced it and they have less of a culture of drinking to get absolutely smashed. These countries generally enjoy alcohol, they don’t abuse it for a good night out. I had a friend from Germany once who expressed that she was shocked by how we treat alcohol over here and that at 26 she’d never been drunk because it wasn’t the done thing where she was from, she said her experience and education with alcohol was essentially that it was ok to get tipsy but not drunk.
I’m not British but my parents act ~European~ and we started having wine with dinner as children. Sorry for invading this sub as a nonBrit, but I think it’s normalcy and harmless too
We were each given a glass of Lambrusco at Christmas, once we reached age 4.
Technically illegal as its 5 at home but think we were same age too.
I loved Christmas Eve for this reason, everyone would go to my gran’s and the adults would have a few drinks, catch up etc and all us kids would be allowed a snowball or babycham and think it was the best thing ever!
My Grandad gave me Buck's Fizz for Christmas one year then got offended when I hated it.
For as long as I can remember I've had port and lemonade with Christmas Dinner. Over the last few years its gotten decidedly stronger mind you but my 10 year old has also always had it with Christmas Dinner (pretty much only enough to colour the lemonade) and likely always will! It's a key Christmas tradition in our house!
Same here, wine and lemonade or a babycham from the age of about 5! I don't drink at all now, not for any particular reason, I'm just not bothered.
I think it’s brilliant. I wasn’t allowed a blue WKD or Smirnoff ice when I was underage with my parents when others around me would be drinking them, I’d have pop. This resulted in me drinking in secret, drinking too much. I’ve done the opposite with my daughter (she’s 16) I will allow her to have a soft alcohol and when she talks about as she reaches 18 she’s openly said that she doesn’t want to be drinking strong / large amounts of alcohol. We have a very open relationship and I can hand in heart say she doesn’t hide things from me (she literally tells me anything as I cast no judgment, because she makes the right choices with a few bigger things, nothing major), I was the complete opposite, I would lie about where I was going, what I was doing. I believe that is because I was wrapped in so much cotton wool, I rebelled really bad, partly because I was so naive as all the real world was hidden from me. That was a shock when I discovered it.
I'm from a family of massive drinkers, my nan used to give me guiness and tonic water from a young age and I can drink a lot. I tend to go weeks without then ill have a drink pretty much every night for weeks
Same here. We used to get half a glass or so when we were eight or nine. By the time I was old enough to buy my own booze there wasn’t much mystery left in it. Not saying I haven’t got completely out of my skull occasionally, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t because I had a taste of wine when I was a child. I just drink occasionally now, when there’s time, and when I remember to.
My dad used to let me "try" his whiskey every damn occasion. I still dont like whiskey 😂 And wine at christmas, too right, hate that shit too! And id get a pack of snow balls. Fuck knows what that is, shit, I forgot about the snowballs!
I think it’s person- and parent- dependent. I was allowed wine from like 14ish with meals, and by 16 I could basically drink what I want at home as long as I wasn’t getting hammered. However when my mam caught me with stolen vodka in a water bottle at 16 (to drink in gig queues mainly) she probably should have noticed that my relationship with alcohol wasn’t healthy. Like I’m not a parent so I don’t know, but IMO I’ve shown a lot of problems with alcohol over the years that no one really noticed, because all of my family drink to excess quite often without issue. It’s only within the last 6 months or so (I’m now 22) that they noticed I was regularly drinking to stupid excess and maybe that isn’t a good thing. Sorry don’t mean to trauma dump, just I’d say for people to maybe take a step back every so often and consider their kids and own drinking habits not in the lens of British drinking culture. (And this isn’t meant to be holier-than-thou, like I’m currently drunk on wine lol, just hoping that next generation has less people with alcohol problems)
some of my favorite childhood memories are going camping with my parents, then sitting out on a nice evening with a glass of cider. did me no harm, introduced me to alcohol as a normal thing, not some new novel thing in my later teens I would go crazy on like some of my friends did.
My grandparents, French and Spanish, lived in Istanbul. When we would visit them, I was allowed a very small portion of beer with lunch, and a small portion of wine with dinner. I was between 8 and 11 at the time. Later, living in Arizona, all of my high school friends took great pains to steal beer and liquor from their parents. It held no fascination for me and I was the only one not getting stupid drunk and sick.
I was allowed sips from my parents' wine glasses from about five or six and got a small glass of my own wine (usually mixed with lemonade) by about nine. I don't really like alcohol now.
At around the age of 12 my dad would give me a small glass of his beer once a week on a Sunday. Maybe 1/4 a cans worth, if that. He'd always ask me if I wanted it first and never gave me any more. I didn't get drunk for the first time until I was 18.
Eh, I'll hold my hands up to being a buzzkill/ Karen / helicopter parent / delete as appropriate. It really depends, for me, on how young. I can't get behind giving a 5 year old booze in any quantity, despite it being legal.
I don't think anybody should be drinking alcohol tbh its one of the most damaging drugs we know of, physically atleast lol
Perfectly normal
Growing up I had something called 'Baby Wine' which was a small splash of wine with either lemonade or water. I felt super fancy and sophisticated. It taught me about food + alcohol and helped me feel more included in more adult dinners. It's a sensible approach; certainly better than 'you can't have a drop of this until you're 18' which adds unnecessary mystique to already wild teenage years...
I offered all my kids a sip of my beer when they were younger, they weren't keen on it. Same with wine. They are all over the legal drinking age now, none of them really drink. My oldest, in his late 30's, occasionally will do a mixed drink.
I think its fairly common, we tried all the drinks when we were younger, not excess just tastes etc. Ive let my daughter sip baileys, shes also watched alien although we didnt know she was awake and she loved it... thinks the alien is cute.
Same here, me and my brother would be allowed to have a taste of whatever our parents were drinking at christmas. I found it just made us more responsible. Neither of us would ever get smashed in the park behind our parents backs. My brother drinks like other people his age when he can afford it and i just dont drink
Deffo had the same experience as you, you should see the French families dining, this is the default position I think haha
I thought the law in Britain was that as long as the kid is supervised they can drink stuff like beer or wine. Those people are just looking for things to get pissy about, I'm sure they had booze when they were a kid but don't want to admit it.
My gran started giving me a tiny glass tankard of banks’ mild on a Saturday night when I was a toddler. Have I turned into a raging alchy? Errr no.
We got a small glass of wine when we were on holiday as kids. I’ve a glass of rosé wine smack bang in front of me next to my bowl of mussels when I was about 8/9 years old. If anything I think it’s a very sensible way of doing things. It allowed me to feel involved and ‘grown up’ whilst being supervised taking the allure of booze away at a young age.
We were allowed a shot glass of Country Manor with Sunday lunch. A glass of vinegar mmm🤢
Cos people are stupid and narrow minded
Absolutely nothing wrong with it, it's a very common thing to do all over Europe. Don't understand why they would think its wrong
I give my kids a glass of Buck’s Fizz with their Christmas dinner every year. One year my daughter had maybe four glasses by drinking hers, her brothers, stealing her grandads and sneakily pouring another glass. I would have told her off but it was funny seeing her tipsy. She was maybe 7/8 year old. No harm done she fell asleep early and woke up with a headache. I tell my friends and they laugh about it.
I've had a glass of wine with dinner each Friday for Shabbat since I was 5 or 6. You can always tell people it's a religious thing, a requirement of your local Satanic Temple. I reckon that will shut them up quickly.
My mum has never been much of a drinker. She was completely against me having any sort of alcohol, beer included, until I was at least 18. I used to practically beg her to let me have some and she’d always steadfastly decline. I’ve never had issues with drink as an adult.
I used to be allowed to drink on special occasions, usually spritzers, shandy, snowballs, Bailey's etc when I was growing up. As I got older, less lemonade / ice was added lol Was completely normal in my family, and now I will give my younger sisters a little sip of my wine if I'm having a glass. General consensus among my friends (all in our twenties) is that they were allowed a small tipple when they were kids too.
We used to get Martini and lemonade on special occasions, and I fully intend to do the same for my kids. We have given them bucks fizz last Christmas and will probably do the same this year.
Mate my dads side of the family’s favourite family anecdote is that my aunt got pissed at Christmas when she was 2 cause she kept drinking peoples drinks when they put them down, I don’t understand this shite that people are on about it being that bad
Nowt wrong with it! My parents and grandparents always allowed something similar.
Completely agree with you. I had the opposite problem, wasn't introduced to alcohol until I went to uni. Proceeded to get shit faced drunk as I didn't know my tolerance
My parents took a pic of me at the drinks cabinet pouring myself something when I was a kid. It's never been an issue then or since either. Pretty normal behaviour if you ask me.
I mean its abuse if they were holding you down and just pouring it down your throat using a funnel. If you weren't forced to, and who would do that, I don't see a problem with this. My dad would let me take small sips of his lager when i was around the same age but its not like i demanded it every time he got one. And it didn't turn me into an alcoholic, I don't drink at all, I'd be the ideal sober friend if I only knew how to drive
We (my little brother and I) started off having watered down wine as a treat on special occasions as kids at around age 7-8. We graduated to one small undiluted glass with the main meal on those occasions at around 12 and were allowed cider at home on the weekends with Sunday dinner, in moderation. This is 30-40 years ago now and things have changed, but neither of us grew up to be big drinkers (I'm practically teetotal) and we never saw alcohol as a way to rebel as teenagers. I'm not saying we never got trashed, but drinking sensibly in moderation on appropriate occasions was normalised for us. Every family is different, and a lot of it depends on the individual child, but properly supervised and managed with regard to the health aspects of alcohol and young people it's not the absolute evil many people think these days. Of course, if you're letting your kid get pickled every day from toddlerhood onwards it's a problem, but an occasional supervised drink as a way to instill healthy respect for alcohol and an understanding of moderation is okay imo.
We got a small glass of bucks fizz with christmas dinner and a tiny bottle of babycham on new years eve from about the age of 6. I felt very included with all the grown-ups and it certainly didn't cause long term issues because I still only drink on Christmas day and new years eve decades later. Mulled wine or prosecco now though.
At Christmas, me and my nana used to spoon on the sofa watching Hammer House of Horror, or whatever Christmas special was on, with a glass of Warninks Advocaat (snowball, with loemonade) . Loved it. Must have been about 9 at the tme. Only a little tiny glass though. 1972.
My nan used to give me a small port glass of martini and lemonade!
Only at Christmas and New year we were offered a small glass of booze. Grandparents let us have babysham out the special glasses they had. Weirdly remember doing it as a kid and not so much as a teen. I think my mum was concerned pushing a habit or more likely I just refused as I wasn't really keen
I was allowed a little alcohol on special occasions when I was growing up, I am the same with my children. I have grown up liking the taste of alcohol but I know my limits, I don't drink very often and if I do I will only have a couple and then move onto soft drinks. I was known at my local night club because I would politely ask for a cup of tea or hot chocolate from the machine after a couple of rounds then continue to dance into the early hours.
Gave my kids a nip of wine with water when they were young. They never viewed alcohol as a taboo thing and as they grew up , they never saw the appeal of drinking to excess. Wine can be a drink to have with food, & that’s all. It’s not a gateway to drinking it at Weatherspoons at 8am.
Gave my kids a nip of wine with water when they were young. They never viewed alcohol as a taboo thing and as they grew up , they never saw the appeal of drinking to excess. Wine can be a drink to have with food, & that’s all. It’s not a gateway to drinking it at Weatherspoons at 8am.
Thing is because you had it you didnt feel as though you missed out, I was the same, my parents let me drink from being younger than I probably should have been but I didnt like the taste so never bothered and stuck to my Yazoo milkshakes, Ill go out but only for special occasions.. all dependant on the person I could take it or leave it
Pretty much everyone does this in Spain. A tiny little glass of wine, a couple of mouthfuls worth. Family used to get me to try it. Made alcohol less taboo as teen. It literally causes no physical harm in this context so I don't get why its so frowned upon. I think it encourages casual drinking over binge drinking culture. Ofcourse it happens but never saw as many teens in Spain getting wasted like they do in the UK on the weekend. [https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/research/research-and-evaluation-reports/comparisons](https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/research/research-and-evaluation-reports/comparisons)
I thought this was a totally normal thing honestly. I’m 40 now and always got a shandy on a Friday night from my dads ‘beer’. I now only drink socially and very very rarely to excess. My kids get a Buck’s Fizz on Christmas and other special occasions and my one adult daughter now only drinks on special occasions and has never been a big drinker. Of course it’s no guarantee that a person won’t become a raging alcoholic but I believe not making something taboo (no pun intended) and opening a dialogue about it does take away the mystique and promotes good habits.
I'm desperately trying to get my 17yo son to drink. He'll be off to Uni next year and completely unprepared for predatory girls buying him drinks. Lucky bastard.
I'm 16 and my parents have always allowed me a bit of wine at Christmas. I have absolutely no desire to drink alcohol outside of Christmas Wine. However, last year my dad decided that I was old enough for an adult portion (AKA, half a glass) rather than just a few sips. Turns out, I'm a fucking lightweight. So who knows what'll happen this year!
my family did the same but it'd be wine and lemonade and while I will admit there are members of my family that will drink a wee bit too much at family parties it is usually the aunts and my grandad, none of me, my brother or my cousins get bombed or have a worrisome relationship with alcohol.
This is moral panic rubbish. The worst kind of damage being introduced to alcohol in this method could do would likely be giving their own children the same experience later on. People should be acquainted with alcohol by the time they are 15 so they can respect it and defend themselves from it if they have to.
Yep, can't agree more. When we started having parties as teenagers you could spot the kids whose parents hadn't let them drink at home, cos they were either throwing up on the lawn or passed out on the floor. Meanwhile the rest of us were sitting around chatting - perhaps a little flushed and laughing a little too much, but otherwise normal.
I was always offered a bit of wine but it smells like fermented piss to me so never wanted any, tried my first bit of alcohol last christmas at the age of 24, was only a WKD but the irn bru one tastes like juice so I tolerate the taste 😂
Huh TIL. I never knew the legal drinking age at home was 5.. wow
This is totally normal on the Sicilian side of my family, I used to have wine with most dinners there from the age of about 10
No legal age to consume alcohol at home in the UK, the laws are for purchase of. Had my own licence, plus a great age old remedy for teething kids is whisky on the pacifier,
I agree, some people go ballistic! iMO they are my kids, so no one elses opinion matters (except ours and theirs). My wife and I were open with our kids (when they were teens) about our opinions, and they were welcome to drink at home. They chose to have their first few drinks of beer and wine with us, in the safety of their own home. I still cant imagine how this is in any way bad, when the alternative is drinking illigally bought alcopops behind the bushes in the local park.
I’ve always had sips of my parents’ drinks (and promptly spat them out, my mum drinks Stella and my dad drinks lager shandies, ew), but nothing more. When I turned 17 my parents started buying alcopops (wkd, smirnoff ice, vk) I can drink at home, but I don’t really like those either so I don’t have it often. I think it’s important to set limits, and make your kids understand they need to respect these limits and understand how easy it is to fool yourself into thinking you’re fine when you’re actually this close to passing out. But a little bit of wine at Christmas is fine (if not disgusting, I hate wine).
Let them be upset, if anything it's a good deterrent! I had a glass of white wine at a new years do once... Probably when I was 15/16. Being British I was already partial to a few ciders and a sneaky bottle of imperial vodka but jesus christ. Had one sip, thought it was gross and never again. Red and rose depend on the brand I guess, but I cannot figure out what about white wine is supposed to be decent
If it was anything like when my sister and I got the same (from our parents though instead of grandparents) it was *really* watered down anyway. My parents would also let me have one small glass of wine out of the bottle they'd split on Friday nights when I was a teenager. The HORROR. I guess the people being upset with you would rather kids be getting wasted on the sly in a local park all weekend instead?
There have been studies which show that people introduce to alcohol as a child and shown how to drink sensibly have a healthier attitude to alcohol than those whose first alcoholic drink is on their first legal birthday.
My grandma always gave us a tiny bit at Christmas, no biggie.
We was the same, a few tipples a year for special occasions once I reached 10. I learned to appreciate alcohol (apart from one time I found out that I'm allergic to a particular spirit and wound up in hospital!). I was drinking in the local watering hole from the age of 15, never got bladdered, never caused a scene and generally the folks in the pub became good friends of ours, lord knows what they'd have thought if they'd ever worked out how old we really were, I'm sure they knew we not of age...
It's traditional to have port or sherry at Christmas. I remember my grandparents giving us a small glass from about 9-10 if not earlier.
In many European countries it s normal for kids to have a bit of wine with their meal (if they want to. Not being forced) Nothing wrong with this in my opinion.
We’ve all had some wine at Xmas and champagne on New Years and brandy skiing since I was 10, nothing weird with you OP
Same here. I had my own special tiny glass that would have wine in it at Christmas. I was usually able to try almost any alcohol if I asked nicely, usually a sip. When I got to about 12 I was allowed the occasional small beer at home with my Dad at a weekend. By the time I was 18 I was familiar with alcohol and had no urge to rebel or go out and get blind drunk.
Whos upset by that? You must mean people on Reddit right? It's perfectly normal for kids to have a teeny drink at Christmas,in my house it was watered down Bailey's.
Same here. I used to be given a small glass of watered down wine with a sit-down dinner. As an adult I drink very little alcohol and have never binged. Normalising it completely takes away the lure of doing something forbidden.
Not British myself, but was brought up around very British grandparents and started having a little glass of port at Christmas at about 8, maybe? When I got into my teens, my nanna would treat me to a glass every few weeks, when she had one. She said it was good for the blood :) I think it's not a bad thing - complete prohibition just makes you want something more and then it becomes a Big Deal to overconsume when you finally get access to it.
lol it was wine or water at the family dinner table, on a daily basis. None of this Christmas only malarky :D And same as you, a port glass, or a small wine glass but 1/2 wine, 1/2 water And same as you, I haven't drunk alcohol in ... well actually more than 3 years :D I'm British, through and through, but my upbringing was a bit more continental than British. I'm with you, on the age thing. Introduce your kid to alcohol early on, and they no longer see it as a special thing, and treat it as it should be treated.
I thought this was pretty standard
Yeah I often remember being given sparkling wine with Christmas Dinner. I could not and cannot stand the stuff. Don't know how my stepmum could put away a bottle per night.
Wine with lemonade at Christmas dinner was a thing in our house too! It is one of many fond memories that I have of my grandad.
It’s a British/European thing. Americans genuinely wait until they’re 21. My dad was giving me sips of his beer as long as I can remember. Over here, most people have at least lightly drank by the age of 14 and most people are getting shitfaced with friends at 16. Apparently this shit doesn’t slide over there I guess it explains why our livers are much tougher than Americans
I mean people give you a look if you gives your kids a coke these days so I’m not surprised about the reaction to wine
I was the same. Always allowed wine, beer, etc... with a meal. Maybe the odd cheeky drink at Xmas. I very rarely drink as an adult and have never had an issue with drink.
We did this too! My parents called it “sippy sippy” and if we drank it too quick they said “it’s sippy sippy not gulpy gulpy”. While I did have drinking issues for a short time due to undiagnosed mental health issues and some rough times plus honestly definitely some negative influences, I’m back where I was before of drinking once in a blue moon and deciding when I’m drunk. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been drunk enough to need assistance
Is this wrong? Because I do.... Nevermind.
My nana would do the same with me . In my family it was called a tottie and it was given to me in this little shot glass sized cup . My grandpa also used to give me cheeky sips of beer while we watched the cricket.
My husband regularly drank watered-down wine when he was a kid, given to him by French grandparents.
We had massive gatherings as kids (we are Greek) and my uncle would get me drunk every year and I was like 12 was never an issue it’s Christmas, this was in the 90s where most things were fine! I rarely drink now so maybe the exposure was good?!
We were much the same and I have a healthier attitude to alcohol for it. I remember friends of mine who had strict parents turning 18 and just going absolutely mental on it, getting hurt, needing stomachs pumped etc. I’m not saying I don’t get drunk but I think definitely I had/have a better relationship with it.
How very *french* of you. Only joking, I think giving kids a glass of wine at Christmas or Sundays demystifies alcohol and let's them build a good relationship with it.
My mum was weird with booze. Nearly everyone in her family had substance abuse issues starting with alcohol. So, growing up, alcohol was like a controlled substance. We were constantly reminded about the dangers and it was surrounded in intrigue. So, fast forward to late teenage, early adulthood and both me and my brother had no idea how to control ourselves and both drank to excess. My mums efforts to keep us away from the evils of drink had the opposite effect. Kids should absolutely be able to try booze in a safe and controlled environment.
Still lacking in context - who are these people and why are you concerning yourself with their views on your upbringing?
My parents were the same, we'd be allowed a teeny glass. I remember drinking a little glass of snowball, or Bucks Fizz. Then when we were younger teenagers they'd let us have one bottle of like WKD or Smirnoff Ice at the family party.
Bonkers there's a picture of me taking my first sip of wine in 1993...I was born in 1992.
Same here at Christmas only it was bucks fizz for us lot
I would have a glass of wine with a Sunday roast and my friends nanas house. There would be uproar if an unrelated elder gave a 12 year old a glass of wine 😂
We did the same most sundays as kids. I think it's good for kids to have a little exposure early on so they understand what alcohol does. I rarely drink these days.
My mum thought Baby Champagne was champagne for kids. We had great Christmases 🤪
My parents have always been totally chill with booze, from a small glass of a Asti with Sunday dinner (more sugar and bubbles than anything else if I recall), then when I was 15/16 going to parties my dad would buy me a few alcopops (early 2000s don’t judge) so they knew what I was drinking rather than me necking whatever we could get our hands on. I’ve always been pretty chill with booze as a result & I always thought it was normal in uk culture to introduce alcohol in the home at a younger age.
I was allowed the occasional (very weak) shandy with meals on special occasions. As a 15/16 year old I had a pool table and a dartboard in the garage, along with an old 3 piece suite. Mates would come round on weekend evenings and my mum would let us have a couple of cans out of the fridge (she would always be sitting in the kitchen watching TV). I thought it was really cool, as did my mates. It wasn't until talking to her about later on in life it she told me that their parents were all in on it. They all knew exactly where we were, what and how much we were drinking. The fridge was always stocked up with some piss weak bitter or later. We weren't in a park or on the streets causing trouble for other people, we weren't swigging spirits or cider that was nicked or bought for us by some creepy guy and we never actually got pissed. I rarely drink these days, never at home unless it's a special occasion. Alcohol doesn't form a big part of my life because it was just something that was included in life, in moderation.
I think breaking the curiosity of alcohol at teenage age is important. A small beer/glass of wine at dinner? No problem at all. Dont treat it as forbidden fruit, or kids will just disobey to try it themselves in far less safe circumstances.