Do/Did you let your under aged kids drink alcohol?

[drdoolittle]

I had a German point something out to me while stationed in Germany - we as a nation have culturally made drinking the epitome of adulthood. We can drive, go to war, vote, marry, work, etc. - but we are not considered fully adult until we are "old enough" to drink.

He said he observed young soldiers hit that age and the first thing they generally did was go out and tie on a drinking binge - because they now legally could. Thinking back it does seem to almost be a rite of passage to go get trashed, or at least of out and have a drink, when one gets to the legal drinking age.

I thought that was an interesting observation.

As a side note, I personally do not drink. Not much fun and hurts when you over do it. Lol

 

[jagyzf]

My parents allowed me to drink at any age, not to the point of a buzz or anything. When I was probably about 10 my dad and I would cut wood together (he cut I load and un-load the truck, and the wood cutting help started when I was younger than 10) and have lunch in the woods. He would drink a full size beer and me a 1/2 sized beer, before I was 10 it was ice tea. Then we would take a walk around the woods we were in after lunch, then leave. Once I started working on a farm, once in a while at the end of a day I could have a beer with my dinner.

I never drink to the point of being drunk, never wanted to. For many years I only had a few beers in the summer and used most of what I had for cooking. I do like the taste of good beer and also the flavor of meet soaked in it. I now drink a few a week and started that around 35 to see if there was any health benefits, red wine mainly. I did see an improvement so I kept it up, but I could stop tomorrow and not be out anything. If I do have a drink and either of my kids wants to try it I have no problem letting them and they have tried many different things. Never enough to give them any kind of buzz or feeling.

When I went out in high school and college I always wonders why people liked drinking to the point of lose of control. Passing out, wetting their pants, not remembering large chunks of time. I did like to sit back and watch though. In my area girls didn't seem to drink or if they did as much, so after a few hours of my friends drinking. Guess who got to hang out with most of the girls and drive them home if they needed a ride?

As others have stated, its the people I know who's parents tried to keep them from it who have the biggest problems with it.

Personally I feel it's a personal choice to let kids drink or not. I choose try and guide them and teach them it's a beverage, not a recreational device. It seemed to have worked for myself and my sisters.

I have also told them if someone they are with is texting or drinking and going to be driving to call me anytime day or night and I will come get them. Mine are young, but you never know when some parent or older brother/sister might be taking them to the mall, etc. I also want them to have it planted well in their mind.

One note: My dad in his younger days drank a lot, and so did both my grandfathers. All stopped at about the same age, in their mid 40's. My grandfathers due to from what I have been told it was affecting their lives and health, my dad was just due to a change in job. He no longer had the same people around him. I have a few cousins that cannot go without drinking and seen a few co-workers that also can not go without. One is a former co-worker due to he now spends his whole day drinking.

 

[JasG]

I do, as others have said as a beverage, not a way to "feel good" or get buzzed. My kids never ask for their own. Just if I have a drink, they may ask to try it and have a little glass. I can not have beer anymore, but do miss a cold one on a hot day myself. I may drink 5 drinks in one week, and then not have any for months. I drink if it's what I'm in the mood for taste wise. Usually wine, or now that the beer is out hard cider.

In Europe that is the way it is treated and from what I'm told the abuse is much lower than here. I deal with European vendors and a few have told me they have beer vending machines in the plants in Germany. It is not uncommon to have a bottle of table wine open in the kitchen over there.

As others have said it's a personal choice, but you can not shelter people for ever. I'm not going to say keeping it from them won't work either it's all going to depend on the situation and the people involved.

One thing I did see in high school and college with peer pressure. I didn't drink and had a few friend that didn't either. As long as your confident and firm when asked with a no thank you, that was it. Any time I saw someone be wishy washy though, it seemed like everyone who was drinking would pester the person until they finally started drinking. Anyone who was firm though, they wouldn't say another word about drinking, at least until the next night out.

 

[ultrarunner]

I toured the BMW plant in Munich and beer is free to the workers and it is in the Union Contract.

All the employee has to do is scan their ID to get a beer.

Zero problem or issues with having a beer at lunch...

The guide said even two is OK...

They have let people go for job performance issues and often found they tend to also be employees that have alcohol issues.

When I worked in a Tool and Die Shop it was common to take the customer to lunch and cocktails were ordered... by the same token it was grounds for dismissal or reprimand if one of the Union members consumed beer on premise during working hours.

 

[Redneck in training]

Beer in Europe, specifically in Czech Republic comes in several alcohol strengths. Alcohol content is not in % but so called degrees.
1 or 2 deg, Brewed per order for plants with hot processes such as steel mills. Is not sold in the stores or pubs. It is brewed for immediate consumption because it has very short shelf life.
7 deg pretty low alcohol content. It would be quite hard to get drunk. It has short shelf life about two days.
8 deg almost the same as 7 deg. Littlelonger shelf life.
10 deg most popular strength for casual drinking. You need to drink about half gallon to get buzz. So one or two beers during lunch time at work is OK. Has about a week shelf life.
12 deg gets you drunk rather quickly. Has several months shelf life.

Shelf life mentioned is for bottled beer without refrigeration. Refrigeration increases shelf life significantly.

 

[ultrarunner]

True about shelf life...

I ordered some Austrian Stiegl beer for my Austrian guests and they were surprised it was several months old because in Austria... it's a couple of weeks max.

 

[bdog]

I plan on letting my kids drink. My parents were not big drinkers but they let me drink and I think I turned out ok. As said several times in this thread from what I saw the kids whose parents were super strict were the ones that flipped out when they got out on their own. I saw that several times. The stricter the parents the more trouble the kids got into in college.

Kids are going to experiment regardless and if you as a parent are involved you can have a hand in controlling how it goes.

 

[NS Gearhead]

I heard a story about one that got drunk, lost virginity, got infected with STD and became pregnant all in the same day.

Man, that made me sick to my stomach just reading it. I've got a 4 year old daughter. She's my one and only. My plan is to let her have a drink at 15, 2 at 16, 3 at 17 etc... something like that. With us of course. Ditto about calling for a ride anytime, without question. Same with all my neighbor's children.

One question we struggle with is this; do you let your kids have friends over, or have a party... and turn a blind eye to drinking... as long as everyone stays put for the night? You know they're going to do it... so why not provide a safe place... at least you're there in case of emergency. As far as getting in trouble for it; well, I call it plausible deniability. Prove that I knew what was going on in my basement.

I started drinking with my buddies at 15. Cabins, camps etc. We'd get trashed. Did stupid things that quite frankly we shouldn't have survived... some didn't. Pretty much every weekend from 15-17 when I left for school. We had nothing else to do. Small rural town... My daughter's going to be kept busy... swimming, gymnastics, karate, etc. I've heard that binge drinking at a young age messes with your memory... I have a terrible one.

 

[cqaigy2]

Man, that made me sick to my stomach just reading it. I've got a 4 year old daughter. She's my one and only. My plan is to let her have a drink at 15, 2 at 16, 3 at 17 etc... something like that. With us of course. Ditto about calling for a ride anytime, without question. Same with all my neighbor's children.

One question we struggle with is this; do you let your kids have friends over, or have a party... and turn a blind eye to drinking... as long as everyone stays put for the night? You know they're going to do it... so why not provide a safe place... at least you're there in case of emergency. As far as getting in trouble for it; well, I call it plausible deniability. Prove that I knew what was going on in my basement.

I started drinking with my buddies at 15. Cabins, camps etc. We'd get trashed. Did stupid things that quite frankly we shouldn't have survived... some didn't. Pretty much every weekend from 15-17 when I left for school. We had nothing else to do. Small rural town... My daughter's going to be kept busy... swimming, gymnastics, karate, etc. I've heard that binge drinking at a young age messes with your memory... I have a terrible one.

We just had someone prosecuted for contributing to the delinquency of minors for letting kids drink alcohol at their place. Your still responsible for what those kids do in your basement. Unless their parents are there to take charge and be responsible, i'd not likely let any binge drinking take place.

 

[bdog]

We just had someone prosecuted for contributing to the delinquency of minors for letting kids drink alcohol at their place. Your still responsible for what those kids do in your basement. Unless their parents are there to take charge and be responsible, i'd not likely let any binge drinking take place.

Kids are going to do what they are going to do. Take a chance of getting prosecuted or take a chance of identifying your kid in a ditch. I don't really care about the laws I want to ensure a safe upbringing of my child. If he is going to drink with his buddies I would rather it be at my house than somewhere else beyond my control.