FIL letting DS have a couple of sips of beer

All 4 of ours had very small amounts of alcohol. We have 1 who.likes a drink too much (no issues just gets a bit drunk now and again). 1 who drinks maybe 3 pints over a week, 1 that drinks about once a month and 1 teetoaller.
Personally I think it takes away the excitement.

I have no idea if this is true consistently but I do know that certainly in our house where the odd sip and even a tiny glass at celebrations was allowed from relatively young, all of my siblings and I enjoy a drink as adults, but that the high school drinking thing wasn't really as much of a thing for any of us.

And at university, my dad used to belong to a wine club through work but he didn't like all the wine so he used to send the bottles he didn't like back to uni with me at the end of every holiday which made me very popular with my friends! But more importantly, having a drink with a BBQ int he summer, at home with my parents was normal and there was less need to go out and drink secretly. This was true of the wider group of people we all socialised with.

I was given alcohol as a child - including whiskey to help me sleep (snuck unto boarding school on the advice of my parents) - I have been drunk once as a teenager and as an adult I barely touch a glass of wine and have never been drunk!

I watched in horror recently, as my brother in law let his 9 year old have a couple of sips of beer, and then two (admittedly very small) glasses of champagne. It is unlikely to cause any physical damage, but it normalises the idea of children drinking alcohol and associating it with being “grown up.” The son was clearly thrilled by the whole thing and kept asking for more. Psychologically I can’t see that can be a good thing.

Ultimately, what is the point anyway? Maybe a tiny glass wine with a meal when they are 16 plus is ok. But there is no good reason to allow children as young as 8 or 9 to have alcohol.

From my experience children who have little sips of wine and beer with adults tend to get less overexcited by it as teenagers. I'd say it if anything might minimise the risks of binge drinking. They associate it with boring old people stuff.

I remember my friend's mum giving us a try of a cigarette as a young teenager. We thought it was so yucky, never tried one again!

I think Drew Barrymore is a bit of an outlier in this. She had a very unusual childhood.

It is more likely to make him grow up not thinking alcohol is something he needs to sneak around with and be more sensible drinking.

DH lets DC have a sip of his alcohol occasionally. They never like it! I found it strange at first. I think his view is that it takes away the 'forbidden' aspect of it

I am a bit surprised by the very unMN like approach to this on this thread so far, but also very pleased.

I definitely wouldn't be getting worked up about this. Don't all little boys enjoy sneaking a little sip of dad/grandad's beer at some point. It's a little bonding thing they do. Obviously, if you think yoru FIL is about to start pouring him his own pint any time soon, that's different, but a tiny little taste seems totally harmless to me.

Beer would be fine with me. Spirits or particularly alcopop type drinks I’d be annoyed

Yanbu. Imagine if he really liked it and kept sneaking more beer. I’m sure I saw a celebrity I think drew barrymore talk about how she started doing this age 10 and literally became and alcoholic age 10.
when and how and if to introduce a child to alcohol is a parents only decision.

I’d be really angry about this as he’s normalising drinking alcohol to a young impressionable child!

Would it be ok if he offered him a drag on his cigarette too?

He wouldn't get harmed by this, but I wouldn't let FIL do babysit anymore.

I couldn't get myself worked up about this, and I don't really drink. What real harm do you think it is going to cause?

Personally I wouldn't be bothered at an 8 year old having 2 sips of lager.