To ask what age you would let dc have a drink at home

[ohhereweareagain]

Dh thinks 15 if there is a special occasion whilst I don't agree. I have no idea if I am being unreasonable as I don't drink. I grew up in a culture where drink wasn't much a part if it whilst his was very different

I think 15 is reasonable.

Yes, 15 is fine. My eldest dc had an odd drink or so then. Youngest dc, now 15, isn't bothered.

Think I had a weak dry martini or cinzano and lemonade at home at 14

My parents let me have a small Bucks Fizz (think 1/5 prosecco and 4/5 orange) on Christmas morning and NYE from about 13.

Then we progressed to maybe one or two wkd's or smirnoff ice's from about 14 at special occasions such as birthdays, NYE, parties.

By about 16 I was allowed one glass of wine with a meal when out and it progressed from there.

Granted, one of my parents is a binge drinker and one started down the slippery alcoholism slope (thankfully they have now been tee total for over a year). I have never had issues with alcohol and growing up with such openess around it, along with permission to try, meant I never went ott or behind my parents back with it.

From just reading the title of your post I thought 15! My parents let me have a glass of wine (nothing more) at that age.

I agree it's reasonable

I would also say 15 is reasonable.

I think about 14. We have a very relaxed attitude towards drinking in my family and my cousins age 13 and 16 will have a couple of beers at family get togethers. Teens will likely drink anyway and for me I'd rather let them have a couple at home than sneaking behind my back and getting drunk in the streets.

15. My DS is allowed a rare shandy and the occasional one bottle of beer. He"s v sensible. He's tried sips of my wine and tastes of various other drinks when at a Do or special dinner at home (knowing full well he'd say Yuk). I've let my DD (9,13) taste a drink a few times over the years at Do's, again when I'm pretty sure they'll say Yuk.(avoiding fruit punch as DC would love that!). I mostly drink water or tea, so my DC aren't learning alcohol is a staple drink.

This is v normal in my circles. There's v much the view that "if you ban it, they'll binge it" going on with this approach.

14/15 here as we would rather supervise and teach our kids about responsible drinking if you make it taboo they'll just do it behind your backs and god knows what they'll be drinking. Obviously I'm not advocating drinking on a daily basis but for special occasion or family BBQ's I'll allow mine to have 1 or 2 drinks.

My 11 yr old has been tasting my wine for years and for the last year or two has sometimes had a sherry glass sized wine of his own at meals. We always talk about the taste of the wine and what grape it is.
I want him to appreciate alcohol and not neck it. My 9 yr old has tasted mine and hates it.
When my 11 yr old was about 5 we stayed with French relatives who gave the children a little glass each of very watered down wine. I liked this idea.

Ok thanks.

Yes 13/14/15 is reasonable. The issue with banning alcohol is you make it forbidden fruit and then kids experiment on their own. That's always dangerous, You should not make alcohol taboo, but allow kids to drink responsibily under your guidance . So yes your husband is right.

Your views are possibly somewhat skewed as only twenty percent of the population are tea total, and alchohol is part of most people's lives, so teaching kids responsibility as opposed to downright bans is best.

A drink of their own 14/15.

I remember my mum used to let me finish up the dregs of her drink from about 9 or 10 if I wanted to taste it.

Teens will likely drink anyway and for me I'd rather let them have a couple at home than sneaking behind my back and getting drunk in the streets.

^^ This.

I have a 16 year old DS who has been allowed to have a bottle of lager or cider at special occasions for the last year or so (he wasn't interested prior to that and doesn't like the taste of wine). He went to an end of school party with four bottles of cider and gave two away. He seems to take a fairly dim view of friends who get plastered. I have been drunk in front of him once, after a New Year's Eve party and he has never let me forget it!

But, I hate alcohol and don't understand why people "use" alcohol to celebrate special occasions. It isn't a lesson that I want to be teaching my children (association of alcohol with special occasions, there's no need).

16+

We are light drinkers ourselves anyhow in MN terms, but I can't imagine giving a 13 year old a glass of wine.

Dh and I don't agree on this one, either. He has family history of alcoholism and is understandably scared of the stuff. I want them to learn to drink responsibly, actually so does he. We just disagree on the best way to achieve this. Small glass of champagne at family occasions they have been trying since about 11. At 14 and 15 if I'm having a drink I'll offer them one, (perhaps once a week, Friday night,) generally if it's a g and t they say yes, not keen on wine, though.
Dh whimpers, says something about it being dangerous and not cool, but understands I'm trying to remove the "forbidden fruit" element. I talk to them about how dangerous alcohol can be, impair judgement, how important it is to look after themselves and their friends on a night out, and choose good friends accordingly.
(Dh is not tee total by the way, but a responsible social drinker.)

I had watered down wine from around the age of 6, gradually increasing in strength as I got older. I think I was drinking a small glass of wine at around 14, and was definitely counted as one of the adults by 16.

This worked out well for me - I was far more moderate in my alcohol consumption than most of my peers in my late teens and twenties.

14/15 - and I wouldn't have minded particularly if my DS had a 'taste' of lager/cider at an earlier age - although not quite at 18 months when my mother gave him a little taste of Pimms .

I think it is obviously very difficult if your drinking cultures are very different to your DH's - we have a fairly relaxed attitude to drinking at home where a glass of wine/beer with the evening meal is more or less the norm most nights. I am nearly 60 but can remember my own grandparents giving me a glass of sherry before dinner from about the age of 12 when I stayed with them. . I wouldn't allow my 16 year old a drink every evening but certainly at weekends he can have a lager with his meal (not that he always chooses to).

Fourteen/fifteen for a small glass of wine/champagne at special occasions.

I too am teetotal but the dc have always grown up around responsible drinking as my ex does drink but never to excess.

Yes, I think 15 sounds fine. I might even say 14 depending on the child.

Sip from my glass from early teens. Small glass on very, very special occasion= mid teens. Own glass= drinking on same terms as an adult, age 17/18.

And yes, I know they will probably be drinking more outside the house, but they also know that anything they chose to do outside of our influence is their responsibility. I am not obliged to provide alcohol in the home for fear of driving them to drink in the street. If they drink in the street, that is their decision. And tbh I have never noticed, either from my own childhood or among dc's friends, that children who are given alcohol at home are particularly abstemious in other settings. Afaik studies seem to suggest the opposite.

Oh god 15 is fine! dd1 is 10 and has a small glass of champers at birthdays, xmas etx when everyone else does. My parents gave me and my sisters a diddy glass of wine with Sunday lunch from a young age and i think this is why when i hit my teens I wasn't out getting drunk in the park like other kids, because there was no mystery around alcohol.