Whats your opinion on letting kids be around alchol.?

Question

when i say being around alcohol i mean in a responsible setting.

i was raised around my granparents who frequently hold card parties with their brothers and sisters. there was alot of drinking going on. however i have only once saw a perosn get drunk and get into a car. and the freak out that happend after instilled in me that that was not cool. my uncle also stays at my grandparents so that he is not on the rode after drinking. it has always been stressed to me that drinking and driving is a huge no no. also i have seen the worst of drinking and i know that i never want to get that bad.

what i am asking is do you think that letting children be raised in an envirnment with responsible drinkers makes it less likely that they will be irrasponsible drinkers than if they are never around alchol as a child.

i tend to think that if a child is never around alchol and is threated with punsihment if they dirnk will not know what to do once they have a beer in their had and not know who to call when they want to come home, so they get in a car and endanger others.

Answer 1

My parents were not big drinkers.  They would occasionally drink socially with friends, but I have never seen either of them drunk.  Yes, we were told not to drink and drive, although we also didn't have our own cars, so that was less of a concern.  And my mother made it very clear more than once that she would always come and get us, no matter where we were or what we had been doing.  There was something very reassuring about that, and I plan to pass that along to my children.  I am also not a very big drinker, I just don't like it, my husband will enjoy a couple of beers from time to time.  I also plan to teach my children they can turn down a drink if they want to.

Answer 2

I can only say what's most comfortable for me.  I have alcohol in my home and my children know I drink on occasion.  They do not, however, see me drink very often.  They've witnessed me have a glass of wine with dinner when company is over, or when we're eating out with a group of people and that's about it... maybe 3-4 times a year.  I haven't led them to believe that alcohol in itself is an evil taboo, but I just don't think it's healthy for them to see me consume it on a regular basis.  Their father and I have been divorced for 7 years and since then I've had a fear (rational or not) that something might happen to one of the children when I was drinking and I wouldn't be sober enough to get them to the hospital, etc.  Besides that, I just don't like the idea of them seeing me impaired.  At no point until they are of legal age will I provide them alcohol or tolerate them consuming it.  To each his own, but this is what I'm most comfortable with.

Answer 3

i think children shold actually drink a beer or a glass of wine a month.  look at the french, kids are allowed to have a small amount of wine.  and the french do not have the drunken reputation that americans have.  if they're suddenly allowed to drink all they want when they're 21, they'll go crazy with hard liquor.  i think children should be very exposed to social drinking like a glass of wine but they should not be exposed to hard liquor.  

Answer 4

I think everybody's own experiences can affect their judgement on this one alot. I was raised in an alcoholic, irresponsible, violent setting and as a result never want to have my child exposed to it. That said I do agree with alot of what you are saying about the responsible part so perhaps there's room for improvement on my ideas... I think at the end of the day regardless of what we teach them if they are going to be irresponsible they will. The best we can do is try to raise them in a way that they learn better and have an open enough relationship that they don't feel they need to sneak around etc etc. Then hopefully it won't happen.

Answer 5

i think as long as the adults are drinking responsibly and that you teach your kids about drinking and driving and all the outcomes and all the responsibilty then there is no reason to hide it from them the more you hide things from kids the more they want to experiment......there are ways of explaining some things to younger children without being to blunt........my kids know i drink evey now and then or use to (i'm preg. right now) and they know after the babies are born ( a while after) that i will have a drink or 2 with family and friends but they understand that it is all in moderation

Answer 6

I have mixed feelings on the whole thing about alcohol and kids.  

I do for sure think there should ALWAYS be atleast one sober adult to look after the children.

I dont think seeing adults using alcohol responsibly does any harm.

But I do not totally agree with letting minors drink.  Im not absolutly against it, but I dont totally agree with it either.

My problem was that my mom told to never drink and drive, that if I needed a ride to call her and she would come get me.  But I also knew that I was going to be in a lot of hot water if I ever called drunk, so I never did.  I drove and rode with other people that were drinking because I was terrified of what would happen after I admitted I or my friends were drinking.  I would have been punished and never allowed to hang out with those friends again.

I dont think thats right.  But its a thin line.  I dont approve of minors drinking, and I am NOT going to be your drunk party taxi service.  But at the same time, i would rather you called me than drive.  I dont know how else to get that across.