[Slowbrew]

All 4 of my kids can pour a beer from the tap or bottle.  My youngest is 10 and only my son (the oldest) has any interest in tasting any of it.

It used to raise some eyebrows when Mike would stand there and describe the properties of the beers on tap to the grown ups.  Now they all just realize that he helps in the brewery.

I used to worry that all my equipment would disappear around the end of his senior year for a month while he brewed the beer for the graduation kegger but he has assured me it would be too much work to do that.  8^)  He never really said there wouldn't be a kegger but I'll cross one bridge at a time.

Like many others, my folks let us have a beer or mixed drink at home with them.  The rules were always, if you have a drink you stay home, if you need to go somewhere you don't drink.  Our parish priest finds it ironic that I'll share a taste of whatever I'm drinking with someone who can't decide on a beer but I won't drink from the cup at Mass.  He doesn't get that it's different, at least to me.  As for the kids?  I'll never be worried that my kids will start a drinking problem based on the wine they use at Mass.

Paul

Paul

[richardt]

What kind of medical-supervised emergency would require giving a 4 year old an alcoholic beverage?

The ingestion of antifreeze = a true emergency.
One "lick or taste" can kill a child and more than "a mouthful" can kill an adult. 
Years ago, I had one of my cats lick an unknown quantity of antifreeze that my wife had just spilled; he got to it before my wife could clean it up.  It has a sweet aroma and taste--so it is attractive to animals and children. 
Took him to the vet right away--he survived.
Licking up 5 tablespoons can kill a medium sized dog.
Toxic and irreversible effects can occur within 30-60 minutes.

Antifreeze (ethylene glycol) itself isn't fatal (but it is an intoxicant); however, its byproducts are fatal.
Antifreeze is broken down in the liver by alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH).
Ethylene glycol --> glycoaldehyde --> glycolic acid --> glyoxylic acid --> oxalic acid.
The accumulation of toxic metabolites is responsible for the potentially fatal acidosis and renal failure.

Ethanol "therapy" at sufficiently high concentrations saturates alcohol dehydrogenase, preventing it from acting on ethylene glycol, thus allowing the latter to be excreted unchanged by the kidneys.  A modern, and safer, alternative to ethanol therapy is fomepizole, or 4-methylpyrozole.

Needless to say, do not try to manage antifreeze poisoning at home.
Call the National Poison Control Center (1-800-222-1222) and get the poisoned individual to the ER (or Vet) immediately.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11434452
http://www.aafp.org/afp/2002/0901/p807.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene_glycol_poisoning

[gordonstrong]

Thanks.  That all makes sense.