Giving a two year old beer... <Mortified Face>

[FrothyDragon]

My judgey pants are hoiked up so far, they've covered my head, here...

Anyway, on a few occasions I've caught DB allowing DNephew, who's just turned 2, a few sips of beer. It seems, where friends are concerned, it's "Oh so funny", but it's seriously making me wince even thinking about it.

Both DB and DSil are very liberal when it comes to alcohol. DNiece, aged 7, has been allowed bacardi breezers on special occasions, and my concerns regarding this, and giving DNephew beer, have been shot down with claims I need to learn to "chill" a bit.

AIBU? Over-reacting? Or have I missed a way to broach the issue with them?

My son was offered watered down wine in Paris when he was 2. We politely declined.

Nah YANBU, that is wrong in so many ways. I remember having one glass of very watered lemonaded down wine at christmas, from about 10? I suppose, can't really remember. There are also family legends of the time my sisters stole drinks at a party etc.

I see absolutely no good reason to give a 7yo a bacardi breezer, they really do just taste like pop, yay way to get your small child hooked on alcohol. I can't even imagine that the 7yo would have asked for it .

I was quite naughty as a teenager regarding alcohol and looking back it took very little alcohol to get me in a state, I dread to think what a 7yo would be like on a whole bacardi breezer.

One Bacardi Breezer gets me tipsy and I'm 24. Wrt the beer, what's the point? I can't see any reason to give a 2 year old beer?

Oh come on - a whole Barcadi Breezer?

If she's really being given a whole bottle of this at seven years old why aren't you contacting social services? That's bloody dangerous and I'm struggling to believe this.

kelly just to answer your q's -why give a toddler beer; i did it the other week, because she kept harassing me, pulling on my arm screaming etc to have my drink. I probably should have persevered in saying 'no', but I knew if I let her try it, she'd hate it and stop pestering me for it, say I let her try it; she hated it and stopped pestering me!

I wouldn't regularly let her have it though, so I am maybe not answering what you are asking. I wouldn't let her have it, if she was asking for it because she liked it. I might let her have it again in the same situation (i don't drink often, so next time I drink AND she is with me, she will likely have forgotten its horrible )

My 7 year old dd though, is dead chuffed if I let her have a Coca-Cola! Cant see why a 7 yo old would be getting BBs!

ProudnScary, I wasn't there any of the times she was given a BB. I'm hoping they mean "a small amount in a glass, with lemonade". I don't know. there's been at least one occasion where DNiece has mentioned she "likes" bacardi breezers. This is enough to concern me.

I'm teetering on contacting SS, but it'd be so obvious the complaint has come from me - yeah, that'd go down well with the entire family, let alone just DB and DSil. It's hard enough calling SS on someone you don't know that well, let alone family.

I gave a bit of cider to my cousin this summer, she's seven. Her brother had been allowed to take some liquor (a sip of some weird purple stuff) the day before, so I figured it would be all right. I was a bit pissed and poured some into her hand went all over the sofa and she hated it anyway. We both stank of sour apples and had an attack of the giggles while watching the scary spider scene in Harry Potter. I know it was a really stupid thing to do, only her parents should do that, but it honestly wasn't a lot I gave her. My parents always gave me sips of everything. Dipping pink champagne biscuits into red wine over and over again I'm not an alcoholic....
Well. Not too sure what the point of this post is. Apart from to say that....it all depends and if it's not a regular thing, is it so bad?

Gold you need to live a little :)

YANBU

Sips of beer for a 2 year old? Bacardi Breezers for a 7 year old?

Why?

Why do these kids need alcohol yet?

If they're doing this as very young kids, what will they have to do as older kids/young teenagers?

DS (8 in Nov) is allowed sips of beer or wine and has done since he was about 5, but I would never give a child an alco-pop. I think the blurring between the boundaries of soft drink and alcohol is too much of a grey area for a child.

I would give a small, diluted wine or shandy as an occasional drink to a child from the age of... I dunno... 12/13? Maybe. Depends on the kid really.

My brother and I were given diluted cider from that age and we both hugely abused alcohol and all manner of drugs as teenagers and young adults. So Er... I have a realistic expectation of what thr benefits of "lliberal early introduction to alcohol" may or may not be

Kelly, trust me I do, but I've never been able to build up a tolerance to alcohol. I've always been a lightweight, but my nights out are usually relatively cheap because of it!

IMO, Kids do not need, and should not have, alcohol. Esp Pre teens!!!

In my mind that means AT ALL. No sips, no tries, no small glasses of blah blah ... Just no need at all. Not until their bodies can at least have some possibility of coping with the alcohol and they are emotionally ready to discuss the issues of responsible drinking. I understand that will vary, eg there are some 14 year olds I would trust to have a glass of wine, there are some I would not. I know it's not realistic to expect kids to wait till they are 18 to try booze (I didn't, but was 16, and that was average in my peer group) but under puberty? Really?!!! Unashamed judgey pants hoiking here too.

In my slightly deranged late sat night mood, this appears to me to be part of that condition where some parents want their kids to "grow up" as fast as possible. First into their own rooms, first to stop breast feeding / to be weaned, get the boys onto age inappropriate Xbox games and the girls into boob tube tops and heeled shoes, and so on and so on, as if the adults cannot wait for their kids to be all grown up and away (so the parents can get "their lives back" urge hate that phrase, your life is different after kids forever, both amazing and difficult, shouldnt life be about growing into, and because of, new experiences like being a parent?)

No gold stars from me for being the parent whose kid likes booze. Whoop whoop well done on raising the next generation of bingers who end up in a&e or worse.

I'm going to stop now, this is so touchy for me, have seen effects and it isn't "funny".

Op if your DN has commented to you that she likes breezers, she could just as easily be saying the same at school?
I don't know anything about this area, but does anyone know if the teacher/ school would alert SS if they thought a child of 7 was regularly being given alcohol, or would they just think "oh someone must have given her a sip of theirs at a party , tsk tsk, ah well"
If you did report to SS, the family couldn't know for sure it was you? It could be anyone the 7 year old talks to at school, clubs, activities, her friends mums etc etc.

" squeakytoy Sat 15-Sep-12 18:36:30

I do agree that 7 is too young to be given a full bottle of breezer. I would let a 12yo have a couple at a family party, but probably no younger than that."

What?! Are you serious?

I don't think that you can generalise particularly about what an immature palate will take in terms of what it will lead to.
I tried wine at 9 or 10 - loathed it. Tried it again in mid-teens - was a bit of a struggle, loathed beer. Liked Malibu and sweet sickly liqueurs. Went to college - learnt to drink hard spirits and beer. Came out of college with a very distinct taste for wine which then lasted another 20y, going into semi-danger territory in my 30s and out again in my 40s.
OTOH, my sister rarely if ever touches alcohol. She still doesn't much like the taste

Frothy, YANBU.

A 7 year old must be half the size of an adult and I'm guessing their liver would be even smaller in volume/proportion- a 1/4 maybe. So one full BB would be like me drinking 2 or 4.

Sips are no concern to me, dd1 had a sip of champagne on her first bday.

Whole Bacardi breezers! That's another thing entirely!

ProudnScary, I wasn't there any of the times she was given a BB. I'm hoping they mean "a small amount in a glass, with lemonade". I don't know. there's been at least one occasion where DNiece has mentioned she "likes" bacardi breezers. This is enough to concern me

So you have no idea if she drank a whole Barcardi Breezer as I suspecteed.

Very misleading.

I would guess she's given sips of it, like your nephew is of beer.

In that case - though I wouldn't personally do it and it's hardly advisable - it is not a big deal is it?

Scary post from too much month. Gives me images of woman at home muttering to husband who is looking out of window, wistfully, into a restaurant window; "look a all those couples out there having a fun grown up time, how irresponsible they must have a babysitter I don't know why people like that bother having kids since they just...want their lives back"

My judgey pants are well are truly hoiked. I just don't see the need to give children alcohol.

I also don't buy the responsible drinking BS - sorry. I was allowed sips of alcohol as a child, watered down drinks at Xmas etc. and I have a problem with alcohol.

DD is four. No way she would be allowed even a sip. I don't even like her to be around people drinking on a regular basis. IMHO normalising alcohol consumption is not wise. at least for my family which has a few generations of problem drinkers

While I don't know what Tje reasons are, I do agree with toomuch that there's no reason to give alcohol before puberty. While I can't get het up about a 5yo having a sip (who said to show them how awful it is? Can understand that) I don't get the "they've had watered down wine at parties since they were 5" opinion. Ironically on mn coca cola is the devils drink while watered down wine at celebrations is ok? Wine of 12% watered down 1:2 would still be about 4% (feel free to correct my maths) , would you give your children a full glass of unwatered lambrini at parties instead?

I agree with everyone - my dc are 10 and 8 and never tasted alcohol. It is ill advised and unnecessary.

But I am pissed off with so many OPs exaggerating or omitting to tell us stuff.

OP has no idea if her niece has had one sip of Barcardi Breezer or a bottle (which I very much doubt), nor how frequently.

I went to a christening a few years ago, and at the party afterwards, the baby's father was letting his 7 month old daughter (who had also been born a few weeks early because she was a twin) sip his beer!!!

These were the same parents who fed the babies Easter egg at 9 weeks old.