Children and alcohol.

[Joe_the_Lion]

Not being a parent, I am unsure on my view on this.

The law states that alcohol must not be given to anybody under 5 years old except for medicinal purposes. This, however, need not be prescribed, so there is no offence in given a one year old a wee dram to help him or her sleep, for example.

I know my Mother used to soak my dummy in sweet sherry when I was teething, and from as long as I can remember, I has a small glass of wine with the family dinner. I also amusingly recall a teacher being horrified that I had a can of Top Deck lager and lime in a school packed lunch when I was about 6 or 7. It took some explaining from another teacher that this contained 0.0000001 percent alcohol and can legally be purchased by children. This rather European upbringing certainly taught me to respect drink. I probably drink too much according to health calculators, but hate being drunk and do not really do the "pint of chav lager" thing.

My question is what are you views on giving a baby or a toddler a wee dram? I am not advocating getting children sloshed, but is this too liberal?

[girlygirl2]

I was brought up so that my Parents gave me some alcohol with a meal or even occasionally without. This is because my Dad said he would rather me drink at home and know my limit than go out and get drunk on the streets with my teenage friends.
My Daughter who is 2 years old has had the odd sip of wine (God, I'm gonna get shouted at for this!) as she will be brought up the same way I was. I dont want alcohol to become something that is taboo therefore making it more appealing.

[ummmm]

I have never let my kids drink alcohol except to have a taste. This may have been a mistake as last christmas I had the family here for dinner. My cousin (14) offered my son (10, but the size of a 7 year old) �1 to drink a glass of wine while we were busy cooking dinner. He then went on to down everyones wine when no one was looking. Just as we dished dinner up he collasped and started puking everywhere. He spent the rest of the evening on the sofa puking his guts up with my cousin sitting next to him.

He drank about four glasses of wine in about 1/2 hour. If I had maybe let him have the odd drink with dinner he might not have been so stupid when it came to alcohol.

He can't even look at a glass of wine now !!!! The silly begger......

[girlygirl2]

Ummmm I bet you were worried but now you know he is safe - it is quite funny!

[somebyrd]

Very thin line here I think.

My daughter (8) has been offered the odd sip of wine etc just to satisfy her curiosity but she has so far refused - good girl !!

My son on the other hand (23 months) has before now grabbed a JD and coke out of his reach and glugged some of it (most going down his vest as he uses toddle beakers and cant use a normal cup properly yet).

I'm not adverse to children having a wee sip and perhaps when my daughter is a little older if she wishes she can have a spritzer or something on special occassions but I really see no merit in offering alcohol to get children to sleep.

Maybe I have just been lucky with my children and their ability to sleep no matter what.

I just worry about parents taking things too far and getting their children the taste for drink at an early age - especially with the alcopop culture where alcohol doesn't really taste like alcohol but a fruit drink.

[Skreecheeboy]

That's really funny ummm! I can't comment as I don't have any myself but my Dad used to give us a beer at a special occasion but it wasn't until I was properly grown up that I got smashed with him. Now christmas is a total **** up at his place and our relationship is the best it's ever been. (used to resent him quite a bit growing up on account of constantly hearing my mum's bad views on him all the time)

[ummmm]

Once we knew he would be OK we found it very funny. He told my Uncle to fcuk off and stuck his middle finger up. I think everyone here that day have photos on thier phones.

When he woke up about 10pm it was quite weird to see my 10 year old suffering with a hangover!!!!!

[annie0000]

I gave my kids a taste when they were little - the younger one gave the usual shudder and is not interested, the older one now coming up for 7 has a real taste for it - I am not sure whether to allow him the odd watered down glass, or steer him away from it completely. My husband and I don't drink a lot, but enjoy the odd beer and a bottle of wine at the weekends, but we have a history of alcoholism on both sides of our family. We have to watch our glass or No1 son will down it, he once licked spilt beer of the tablecloth while I was fetching a cloth when he was about 4. We obviously don't want him to end up with drink problems and it was always my belief that denial and making it forbidden was the road to disaster, now I am not so sure.

I think that it is the flavour he likes rather than any effects as he has never really had more than about an inch in a glass at the very most. He has a taste for very strong foods - e.g. chilli, strong smelly cheese, salami, peppered mackerell etc. We think maybe that he is an old man wrapped up in a little boys body

[girlygirl2]

Ummmm that is hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for making me laugh so much!

[redcrx]

as i rarely drink and my partner is teetotal then I doubt our son will be offered even watered down alcohol with meals when he is older.

If we were type of family who had perhaps one glass of wine with our sunday roast then that might be different once he reached his teens.

I cant see how giving a baby alcohol is likely to help them sleep, surely it will effect them in some other way.

[fine,thanks]

alcohol. babies, children, no.

[Lore]

I dont' think there's a need for it where babies and toddlers are concerned, if you know your baby well enough you'll know exactly why they can't sleep or you'll at least find other methods of settling them without needing to use alochol to make them drowsy.

As children get older, leaning more towards their teenage years I don't see the problem in them having a glass of wine with a family meal or an odd drink on special occasions. I would suggest some form of watered down version to begin with but as they get older, most teens will try it at some point, so doing it in a controlled environment will hopefully get rid of the wow factor.

[Jules001]

I would never ever consider giving a baby or toddler any alcohol, my mother always said she dipped our dummies in a bit of whisky and it never did us any harm, but that was then and this is now so no way would I do it. However my kids are now 19 and 15 and they have both been brought up that when they were about 13 -14 they could have alcohol at special occasions and occasionally at home. We took the view that we would rather they experience the taste and how it might make them feel in the safety of their own home. As they have know that they can have alcohol, it seems to have removed the taboo thing and so they are sensible about it and I hope that they will continue to have a healthy attitude towards it.

[prattler]

just for the record, my friend had a dying pet fish (head down-tail up)last week and put some whisky in its tank, as she had heard this was indeed a remedy for dying fish.anyway the next day she went into the room where the tank was kept, and the fish was zooming round the tank like there was no tomorrow.just thought id let you know.

[chitchat]

I would never give very small children alcohol and never on a dummy - yuk!. Both my kids are now 12 and 14 and have tasted wine and beer and at this time they dont like either. I used to give them sparkling grape juice at christmas etc and we called that childrens wine. They were happy with that. Still plently of time for things to change though.