Hm. Well, like all things, it comes down the responsibility of the parents. There's fundamentally nothing wrong with a kid drinking wine. A glass with dinner doesn't turn you into a raging alcoholic.
Conversely, overexposure to alcohol can. If responsible drinking can become a habit ealy life, so can irresponsible drinking. I'd hope that most people love their children enough to teach them valuable lessons about what alcohol is and what it can do, rather than sweep it under the rug and let the kid figure it out on their own... but you can't count on it
( ... )
I had my first alcohol when I was five and regularly had a little with meals and all that ever since, and as you know from hanging out with me all throughout law school, I certainly haven't become a lush and actually hardly ever drink at all (and never heavily). Both you and my squeaky clean record can attest to my decentness as a citizen. Your friend could maybe argue that it's a fluke, but my entire family is raised like that, and none of us is an alcoholic or anarchist.
Personally, I think treating alcohol like an ordinary beverage (albeit with certain possible effects) makes a child less likely to put it on a pedestal and think that it's some special tonic that the authority is hiding away for mysterious, selfish reasons. People I knew who were strictly denied alcohol as minors were the ones who abused alcohol later in life, possibly because alcohol becomes a precious privilege related to status or authority in their minds. That's my theory, anyway - pretty similar to yours.
Since, as a child, I was given wine during holiday meals... I have no problem doing the same for my children. Heck, my children will probably grow up with a more "European" concept of drinking anyhow. I'm not a big drinker (except for at parties), nor is Cory so I don't think we'd have it extrordinarily often anyway. Once our children are 18, they'll be allowed to drink nearly anything *at home* as long as they surrender the right to drive for the night.
Now, for anyone *else* in our home, the drinking age is 18. Granted, you also won't be allowed to leave (driving) after that. (Purely a safety thing.) That's due to my theory that if you are 18 years old, you can die for the country, so it's really not right to keep you from all the rights/privleges of being an adult.
While I can clearly recognize both veiws as valid and not incorrect, I would agree with you on this topic. It would be similar I think to instructing kids on responsible sexuality early. It would help them to make better informed more responsible descisions later.
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Conversely, overexposure to alcohol can. If responsible drinking can become a habit ealy life, so can irresponsible drinking. I'd hope that most people love their children enough to teach them valuable lessons about what alcohol is and what it can do, rather than sweep it under the rug and let the kid figure it out on their own... but you can't count on it ( ... )
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Personally, I think treating alcohol like an ordinary beverage (albeit with certain possible effects) makes a child less likely to put it on a pedestal and think that it's some special tonic that the authority is hiding away for mysterious, selfish reasons. People I knew who were strictly denied alcohol as minors were the ones who abused alcohol later in life, possibly because alcohol becomes a precious privilege related to status or authority in their minds. That's my theory, anyway - pretty similar to yours.
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Since, as a child, I was given wine during holiday meals... I have no problem doing the same for my children. Heck, my children will probably grow up with a more "European" concept of drinking anyhow. I'm not a big drinker (except for at parties), nor is Cory so I don't think we'd have it extrordinarily often anyway. Once our children are 18, they'll be allowed to drink nearly anything *at home* as long as they surrender the right to drive for the night.
Now, for anyone *else* in our home, the drinking age is 18. Granted, you also won't be allowed to leave (driving) after that. (Purely a safety thing.) That's due to my theory that if you are 18 years old, you can die for the country, so it's really not right to keep you from all the rights/privleges of being an adult.
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