To let the DC play with alcohol minatures?

[QueenofKelsingra]

We gave the DC (age 4y and 21m) a play kitchen for Christmas which they absolutely love, they play with it every day. They have a selection of those wooden/Velcro learn to cut fruit and veg, some wooden juice bottles, yoghurts, eggs etc. They also have some plasticky tat little cereal boxes, coffee jars, and heniz soup and beans tins.

they love all of these and the eldest particularly keeps asking for new things for his kitchen. I have just finished a set of 4 miniature baileys bottles. They are plastic and black so don't look 'empty' to the DC so I have given them to them to play. they love them as they can have one each that matches. the eldest knows it is a 'grown up drink'.

I had a couple of friends to play and one mum was really taken aback that I had given them 'alcohol' to play with and didn't think it was appropriate. she stopped a sentence short of actually saying I was encouraging underage drinking but that was what she was thinking.

personally it never occurred to me that I shouldn't give it to them. my thoughts were - pretty plastic bottles, the right size and enough for one each.

AIBU to let them have them to play?

No problem with it, actually, I think the fact that the eldest knows its just for adults is a good thing.

I once found my DD drinking out of my wine glass I had left on the side, playing with empty drink bottles would be a step down for her

puds I caught my DD with her nose in my wine glass when I turned my back for a second!

If it makes a difference we allow our eldest a sip of wine if he asks to try at meals. he understands about 'grown up drinks' and that he can only have a little sip until he is taller than his dad!

I wouldn't, but I'm quite anti-alcohol for a few reasons, I do fear how much we seem to normalise drinking and kids pick up on it from an early age blah blah.

However if I went to a friend's house and saw that I wouldn't judge and I certainly wouldn't say anything.

YANBU.

They're playing.

Personally I think that keeping alcohol some big secret is a more risky approach - makes it an alluring mystery once they get older.

My DD sometimes pretends to make me a martini with her tea-set

I used to play with my mums cigarettes when she left her handbag lying around but have mever smoked!

I think its completely fine.

We used to play with the full up ones at my nans

YANBU

DS had exactly the same thing in his supermarket set only not Baileys 'cos that's a pudding not a drink and when we went on holiday he asked the air hostess for 'wine like mummy has'. There are pretend bottles of cooking oil, cakes and bags of sugar in his set - I'm not 'encouraging' him to be obese, am I?

The battery holder on the back of the dolls house my dad made for me and DSis was an old silk cut packet. It did not scar me for life. In fact I had no idea what it was until I was old enough to understand the realities of smoking, so really not a problem. Your friend is a loon.

When I was wee my Nana had loads of various miniatures on her drinks trolley.

My mum was a midwife for a very long time. One day she was using her Doppler on my pregnant aunt. Bells whisky miniatures look just like the probe on old Sonicaid machines to five year olds. That one kept me busy for days!

Sounds fine.

Until they sneak one into their pre-school bag.

Then you might have some explaining to do