[beersk]

I have to be Debbie Downer II. We need to be responsible and very careful with our kids when it comes to alcohol.

I think this is true.  I also agree with Keith that parents who hide alcohol use from their kids is damaging.  It turns it into a taboo.  Kids should be educated about it and taught responsibility and the best way to teach them that is to be that way yourself.  In no way does that mean you should hide or prohibit alcohol in your house. 

[majorvices]

I have to be Debbie Downer II. We need to be responsible and very careful with our kids when it comes to alcohol.

How is that being a DD? Sounds like an obvious conclusion to me. Any thinking person would realize this.

[bo]

I have to be Debbie Downer II. We need to be responsible and very careful with our kids when it comes to alcohol.

I think this is true.  I also agree with Keith that parents who hide alcohol use from their kids is damaging.  It turns it into a taboo.  Kids should be educated about it and taught responsibility and the best way to teach them that is to be that way yourself.  In no way does that mean you should hide or prohibit alcohol in your house.

^^^^^ This.

You don't have to hide it, but you don't need to flaunt it either and they don't need little sips. There's plenty of time for that later in life. Parents can do things that kids are not allowed to. Unfortunately too many parents want to be "friends" rather than just good parents.

[majorvices]

I'm not going to argue about that, and I certainly don't want my kids drinking or especially binge drinking. But I also have seen these "studies" recently that suggest drinking in front of your kids increases their chances of being alcoholics, and I don't buy it nor do I think these studies have been done very scientifically and I definitely think there is an agenda behind it. But if you do feel that strongly about alcohol and kids you should probably not drink period, because that basically confirms that you think alcohol itself is inherently evil - and it sends kids a mixed message which I personally believe is far worse.

[brewmichigan]

But I also have seen these "studies" recently that suggest drinking in front of your kids increases their chances of being alcoholics, and I don't buy it nor do I think these studies have been done very scientifically and I definitely think there is an agenda behind it.

I would agree. I think getting blasted drunk in front of your kids all the time can be very damaging but having being responsible about alcohol and teaching them that responsibility instead of hiding it. How does that create more alcoholics?

I feel this way based off how I was raised and how I treat alcohol today.

[weithman5]

i have long believed the drinking age should be lowered and children should learn how to drink responsibly just like they should learn to drive responsibly (not together ).  i learned to enjoy beer fishing with the old man and such.  not by watching them get hammered so that i could go get hammered

[Joe Sr.]

And my biggest concern was what those kids might have done to your glass while they were out of sight...

[majorvices]

I don't really believe the drinking age should be lowered but I do believe the driving age should be raised.

[gmac]

Wow...didn't know I was going to generate such debate.  That's good.

My parents were not heavy drinkers and their attitude towards alcohol was very open.  If I was 15 and wanted a beer, I could have had one without any problems.  Thing is, I didn't want one because there was nothing secret or taboo or exciting about it.  That's the way my father was raised, the way I was raised and the way my kids will be raised.  I think the big problems come when young people are "turned loose" for the first time at a party or at college and abuse alcohol because its been forbidden and they can't handle the freedom. 

Plus, I'm pretty sure my kids will see beer as a craft beverage to be savoured and enjoyed on its own merits and not a means to an end like some kids.  I didn't drink at all in high school because as I said, I didn't see the big deal but when I did start drinking beer in college, it was craft beer or micro-brewery beer because I liked the beer, not the buzz.

Not to get into a political debate but the US attitude towards drinking age has always confused me a bit.  Here you can legally drink at 19 (18 in some provinces).  I never understood how someone can be asked to vote or go off and die for their country but they aren't considered old enough to have a beer. 

[majorvices]

There's part of me that thinks they should raise the enlistment age as well.

[phillamb168]

I'm with GMac on this - but then I live in France and kids can drink with their parents starting at like 10. In restaurants. And nobody cares.

But then there's a big portion of the US population that would automatically assume that this means I'm letting my kids get wasted in public... But these same people have no problem giving their kids tons and tons of processed sugar every day.

[beersk]

I never understood how someone can be asked to vote or go off and die for their country but they aren't considered old enough to have a beer. 

This never made a bit of sense to me either.  If you are given license to kill, as in the army, you are old enough to drink alcohol.

[Joe Sr.]

I never understood how someone can be asked to vote or go off and die for their country but they aren't considered old enough to have a beer. 

This never made a bit of sense to me either.  If you are given license to kill, as in the army, you are old enough to drink alcohol.

Because alcohol is evil and leads to the moral deterioration of society?

FWIW, you're also old enough to vote before you're old enough to drink.  It's an odd standard.

Unfortunately, the attitude toward drinking is similar to the attitude towards sex education in large parts of the States.  Simply ignore it and pretend that kids won't learn about it.  But perhaps this is trending too much towards a political discussion.

I agree with everyone here who says there's no harm in teaching kids early about alcohol and how to handle it responsibly.  The greater harm is ignorance.

And it was a happy day when my eldest was able to fetch me a Guinness from a cooler at a picnic.  Plus, it teaches object recognition!

[metron-brewer]

Adding my two cents. The physical act of getting you a beer will not turn your child into an alcoholic later in life. Watching you have a drink or abusing alcohol will not turn them into alcoholics. Their abuse of alcohol will. You actually have to drink to become an alcoholic. It is their choice to drink, and their abuse of drinking that could cause problems.
I think the original post is meant as a tribute to how nice it is to have your children do something nice for you, especially when they do it on their own.

[weithman5]

fwiw the age to drink beer was 18 when i was 18.