To allow 12 YO DS a shandy made of alcohol free beer?

[Whatisthisfuckery]

I like a beer in the evening. I’ve decided to try alcohol free beer to reduce my alcohol intake. It’s pretty grim so I’ve been mixing it with lemonade to make it into shandy.

DS wanted a shandy, as it’s alcohol free. AIBU to have let him?

It’s not an every day thing btw, and he’s only allowed a very small amount of real alcohol on special occasions eg Christmas.

Also your recommendations for good AF beer if you have them would be most welcome.

Cheers

This makes no sense to me - why not just have lemonade if you’re using that to mask the taste of horrible beer, even if it is alcohol free?

It’s normalising drinking, and why on earth would your 12 year old want or get alcohol on “special occasions”? Why isn’t a fizzy drink special enough at that age?

And pointing to the continent and how french kids get wine from birth is irrelevant - they have a completely different drinking culture than we do.

I don’t see the problem with letting him drink shandy - my parents used to let me have it all the time as a child, especially at barbecues etc. They also let me try small amounts of proper alcoholic drinks from 12+. I am basically tee-total now, I’ve no real interest in alcohol so I think it worked - if you make something forbidden it just seems more attractive, especially as a teenager.

I grew up in pubs, around alcohol and was allowed small amounts. I had pimms in the summer, sometimes a lager shandy, from age around 12/13 because I liked the taste, it wasn't the fact it was alcohol
Drinking was "normal" to me but I learnt a lot from seeing people who had obvious alcohol issues, and my parents who drank very little
Do i go out sometimes, drink the bar dry and get absolutely hammered? Yes. Maybe once a year
Otherwise I barely drink. I think I had some wine about 5 months ago, I can take it or leave it

I just don't really see alcohol and introducing it early as an essential life skill my children need to have. I don't drink apart from a glass of prosecco once or twice a year. So they certainly don't see alcohol as a big part of life. I think this idea that children need to learn sensible drinking habits stems from a time where alcohol and getting pissed ranked amongst the most fun things available to do and everyone was gagging to get to the pub. It's just not really like that anymore. All the teens I know are into sport and/gaming and socialise one like or like going to the movies or concerts. I just don't think alcohol and pub culture really features for them in the way it did for us. Hence all the pubs closing down and being turned into mini Tesco's or Sainsbury's

And pointing to the continent and how french kids get wine from birth is irrelevant - they have a completely different drinking culture than we do

This too.

And pointing to the continent and how french kids get wine from birth is irrelevant - they have a completely different drinking culture than we do

They also have a rising alcohol problem.

Good God. What a load of drama over nothing. It's shandy, not moonshine.

@weirdsmell You don’t become addicted to alcohol just because you like the taste.
Alcohol addiction is far more complex and it affects your body and brain and changes how you feel when intoxicated.
If something is alcohol free, then the taste alone won’t affect the body chemistry the way alcohol does.

I used to get a little glass of wine and water with dinner at my grandparents house from pretty young, so I can't say this would bother me at all. When I was 16 or so my gran used to ceremonially present me with one Bacardi Breezer at Christmas [grin[ Like a PP, I'm basically tee-total now. My teenage years were also pretty sober; I didn't even get drunk for my 18th!

@Flashbackflossie

Erm, I never said you did.

Thanks.

You allow your 12 year old to have alcohol?

It's perfect legal to.

This is the only alcohol free beer that I can drink - I’m not a big beer lover but I do like this.

@Flashbackflossie

Did you confuse me with someone else? I never mentioned the taste?

Nanny State by Brewdog is quite nice for an alcohol-free beer - I had that at a barbecue while pregnant.

On a similar note, I also got some alcohol-free prosecco for Christmas last year when I was pregnant and it was surprisingly nice (but a bit pricey). Scavi & Ray I think it was.

Top Deck!!

You can’t taste alcohol in alcohol free beer or wine ... as there is none

Budweiser alcohol free is lovely by the way, but if you have ever had a real beer or wine the alcohol Free versions taste nice but you can detect the absence of the alcohol flavour.

I like the Weissbiers - not yet found one I don't like. Peroni Libero is my favourite lager, failing that San Miguel...

My favourite alcohol free fizz was the Zero Point Zero from Aldi last year. Will stock up a lot if it comes in this year!

Erdinger alcohol free is lovely too.

My 8yo DS has tasted my alcohol free beer before and loved the taste and begged for his own glassful! I won’t let him though as I don’t want him acquiring the taste for beer at 8 tbh (and the newest ones do taste very like the real thing especially if you’ve never had it before!)

My ds 5 tried becks blue on xmas day last year,no harm done

@weirdsmell
It may be alcohol free shandy now but you would be habit forming and when DC is older they risk becoming addicted to alcohol because they are used to 'having a beer at night'

Sorry, but that’s nonsense. There’s no correlation that drinking Shandy as a kid will turn someone into a hard drinker as an adult. Everyone I knew in the 70’s had a shandy pop with a bag of crisps outside the pub with their parents, but it didn’t turn us into hard drinkers.
I can’t stand whiskey, gin or brandy on its own but I’ll occasionally drink a Baileys with lots of ice.

They’re two different things.

I just let my 7 year old have a hot spiced apple drink (non-alcoholic alternative to mulled wine) and don’t see any real difference.

I tried a lot when pregnant and found Bavaria 0% was the best lager. Erdinger was also a good 0% weissbier if you like them. Funnily, I have never actually tried alcoholic Bavaria Lager, but did enjoy the alcohol free, but it needs to be ice cold