Zero alcohol beer and children
Discussion
Gunk said:
NDA said:
Get over yourself FFS.
Of course I've said no to him, I spend my life saying no to various mad requests from him. I am perfectly entitled to lob a topic up on here for discussion - that's what it's for, perhaps you haven't fully grasped that. I certainly don't need a lecture on parenting from you.
Go and post something useful on Mumsnet or something.
We are very relaxed about alcohol around our children, mine are 8 and 6 and I have always let then try a little sip of wine or beer, just like they do on the continent. I would suggest you but him something a bit more appropriate to his age but let him try some of yours as a treat.Of course I've said no to him, I spend my life saying no to various mad requests from him. I am perfectly entitled to lob a topic up on here for discussion - that's what it's for, perhaps you haven't fully grasped that. I certainly don't need a lecture on parenting from you.
Go and post something useful on Mumsnet or something.
croyde said:
samdale said:
Semi hemi said:
How about cans of shandy at 2% or less? Freely available to kids at the grocers.
Let him have one, betting is he will not be making a habit of it, be lucky if he finishes the bottle before he is asking for a coke
Think they all have to be 0.5% or below. When I used to work in a bar we had a traditional ginger beer for sale in bottles and remember a dad getting funny about it as it read something along the lines of "typically not more than 0.05%abv"!Let him have one, betting is he will not be making a habit of it, be lucky if he finishes the bottle before he is asking for a coke
The law will be fine with regards to anything labelled as "alcohol free" even if they aren't quite 0%
Interesting side note I believe you can still nip into supermarkets and go down the booze section and buy a certain bottle that is 44.7% at any age as it's deemed non-alcoholic!
ETA: virtual pint for guessing
Edited by samdale on Saturday 26th February 11:56
When I read the contents I wondered why it wasn't standard playground currency. Then again it's hard enough to swill around the mouth.
Blue/green vomit springs to mind too.
mph1977 said:
Gunk said:
NDA said:
Get over yourself FFS.
Of course I've said no to him, I spend my life saying no to various mad requests from him. I am perfectly entitled to lob a topic up on here for discussion - that's what it's for, perhaps you haven't fully grasped that. I certainly don't need a lecture on parenting from you.
Go and post something useful on Mumsnet or something.
We are very relaxed about alcohol around our children, mine are 8 and 6 and I have always let then try a little sip of wine or beer, just like they do on the continent. I would suggest you but him something a bit more appropriate to his age but let him try some of yours as a treat.Of course I've said no to him, I spend my life saying no to various mad requests from him. I am perfectly entitled to lob a topic up on here for discussion - that's what it's for, perhaps you haven't fully grasped that. I certainly don't need a lecture on parenting from you.
Go and post something useful on Mumsnet or something.
In contrast I was raised in a strict religious household where alchohol was completely taboo, I didn't even try a first drink until the age of eighteen having left home for university and then went completely and utterly beserk for a few years. Most of my siblings did the same too.
Edited by theboss on Sunday 27th February 01:13
Frix said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Agreed. He stated he had dealt with it and this was a discussion provoking thread. I doubt he meant for self-righteous clowns.He's tried Becks Blue at home (just a sip) and says he loves it. As any 9 year old would claim to live something illicit. Knowing we can't justify our 'no' other than by saying 'because we said so' , gives him added momentum.
It's not exactly a big issue as he knows he won't get his way, however his logic is almost irresistable, I.e. That it's not illegal.
Edited to add that both my kids have a sip of wine or beer when they fancy it over a meal. it satisfies their curiosity and demystifies it. Neither particularly like it. Yet.
Edited by NDA on Sunday 27th February 08:54
I've been told my old man used to dip his finger in his beer and give me a taste when I was a baby.
The same dad, who when I came home from hospital at two days old in early February, was offered a lift by my grandfather in his nice, warm Ford, but was told by the old man I'd be going home in the Morris (Minor Tourer - the convertible one), because he wanted to "harden the bugger off".
Never did me any harm.
At parties and stuff, from around age 10/11, us kids had a couple of bottles of Eisberg (non-alc wine), but only once or twice a year, I guess a similar approach to the French way. Apart from a drunken freshers year at uni (who wouldn't), I've never been a massive drinker.
Totally agree with OP though, it wouldn't sit well with me either.
The same dad, who when I came home from hospital at two days old in early February, was offered a lift by my grandfather in his nice, warm Ford, but was told by the old man I'd be going home in the Morris (Minor Tourer - the convertible one), because he wanted to "harden the bugger off".
Never did me any harm.
At parties and stuff, from around age 10/11, us kids had a couple of bottles of Eisberg (non-alc wine), but only once or twice a year, I guess a similar approach to the French way. Apart from a drunken freshers year at uni (who wouldn't), I've never been a massive drinker.
Totally agree with OP though, it wouldn't sit well with me either.
I'm going to buck the trend here and say that I don't really see the problem with it.
I have Cobra NA's at home as parents are teetotal and my younger brother would often have one as well. My parents were fine with it because it isn't the hops and barley that is the problem for the kid, it's the alcohol.
Similarly, due to my parents and most of the older extended family being teetotal, I often get some mock champagne stuff for special occasions, which again nobody has any problem with the kids having because it is essentially sparkly grape juice.
I have Cobra NA's at home as parents are teetotal and my younger brother would often have one as well. My parents were fine with it because it isn't the hops and barley that is the problem for the kid, it's the alcohol.
Similarly, due to my parents and most of the older extended family being teetotal, I often get some mock champagne stuff for special occasions, which again nobody has any problem with the kids having because it is essentially sparkly grape juice.
BarnatosGhost said:
This is where we go wrong. By demonising alcohol, we only increase its attractiveness to the 'rebellious youth'. No wonder having your stomach pumped at 14 becomes a string to one's bow.
And the Americans are even worse - the consequences of kids going to college at 17 having never touched a drop, in concert with zero-tolerance policies on campus, means the kids get totally out of their tree - dangerously so - then can't get help because of the terrible trouble they'll get into.
The southern Europeans, by introducing wine at meal times to children and treating it like no big deal, have none of this nonsense. A night out in Barcelona is generally a very civilised experience, except for the Brits who think drinking to vandalism is the mark of a proper night out.
Give your lad a non-alc, and if he likes it, let him have the odd beer at home.
By the time his mates are raiding their parents' booze cabinets and smuggling rocket fuel out of the house in their pockets, he'll hopefully have the idea that this is not really such a great plan.
+1 The way we treat alcohol in the UK is the cause of so much of the problem in my view.And the Americans are even worse - the consequences of kids going to college at 17 having never touched a drop, in concert with zero-tolerance policies on campus, means the kids get totally out of their tree - dangerously so - then can't get help because of the terrible trouble they'll get into.
The southern Europeans, by introducing wine at meal times to children and treating it like no big deal, have none of this nonsense. A night out in Barcelona is generally a very civilised experience, except for the Brits who think drinking to vandalism is the mark of a proper night out.
Give your lad a non-alc, and if he likes it, let him have the odd beer at home.
By the time his mates are raiding their parents' booze cabinets and smuggling rocket fuel out of the house in their pockets, he'll hopefully have the idea that this is not really such a great plan.
- Streaky
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