What age did you have your first taste of Alcohol?

[NotTodaySherry]

I was about 5! My mum let us have babycham on Christmas Eve and very weak "port and lemon" on Christmas Day as kids. I feel now that although this was very much of the era, it was wrong and it is possibly the reason all 4 of my siblings and I have been huge drinkers as adults.

AIBU to refuse to give my DD (15) any alcohol at Christmas. I managed to discourage my parents from trying to give her any all these years but now she is asking me herself to drink the little gin & tonic cans I bought for any visiting friends/family.

We had a bit of a heated discussion since her friends are apparently allowed to have these cans at home but ultimately, she accepted my reasoning - it made me wonder if I am doing the right thing? WHat are other parents doing?

I have friends who say they let their teenagers drink in their own home rather than out on the streets with strangers. I'd rather she waits as long as possible but I'm not a fool, I know it happens.

What age did you first drink? Are you a big drinker now? AIBU?

I was around 7 when I stole the ‘sweet liquid’ from the chocolates. (I don’t really like chocolate so just had the liquid!). I went through about 20 of them ...!!
I don’t yet have teenagers so I may feel different when the time comes, but I would rather DCs first alcoholic drinks were at home and ‘supervised’ rather than necking 2lt bottles of cider down the local carpark (which is what I was doing at 15).
If your 15 yo is showing an interest, let her have some with you, otherwise they may just do it down the park anyway ... (and drink too much and be out of control).

Anyway, to answer OPs question:
I would probably let a 15 year old drink one of the cans, yes. She's 15, not 10 or 11. Those cans are fairly low alcohol content.

Yabu you can't blame everything on your parents. Theres as much chance your daughter will grow up and say she turned into a big drinker because she was so restricted.

Fwiw my brother and I were about 5 and had weak shandys and I was allowed to drink freely at home from 15. I regularly had a few drinks with family at 13, stayed up late etc. Now i barely drink. I've been drunk less than a handful of times in the last 5 years.

I remember having a snowball at Xmas when I was about 12/13 . I think at about 18 I was getting pretty mashed drinking Pernod and black but now just the smell makes me feel sick . Not really a big drinker not but white wine would be my drink of choice. I’m hoping my teenage son has a sensible attitude towards drinking but lets see how that goes

6 or 7 probably. I Have never been a massive fan of alcohol.

I didn't vote as I don't think it's that black & white.

I was never 'not allowed' to try something if I wanted to, so I'm not sure, but very small I imagine!! I'll ask my mum, but she'll probably say 21! 🤣

I always had sips of whatever, whenever. But 'my own' drink?! I remember shandies on hot days when we moved to NZ, so about 8 yrs old. A friend & I destroyed a bottle of brand when I was 13, but we wasted most of it getting it how we liked it (very weak I suspect!!).

On holiday when I was 15 mum & I had cocktails & at 16 on I was allowed to take bottles of wine to friends/parties (different era).

So it has never been a big deal.

I personally think that when it is, that's when kids 'go mad' for it

I think at 15 she's old enough to have a drink at home with you for sure. Sensible drinking is better than a bottle of voddie down the park.

I've never had an issue with alcohol. I enjoy a nice wine or whatever, but I don't 'need' it. I was unwell a few years ago and they said not drinking any alcohol for 2 years would help my body repair itself, (not that they thought I was 'drinking' just standard advice) and it didn't bother me at all (except one New Years party when everyone was hammered & I was stone cold sober) but not enough to make me have any.

I'm sorry you're family has had a different experience - it can't be easy deciding what's best for DD.

Do you drink much around her? I think if the family generally celebrates things with alcohol then allowing her to drink small amounts of alcohol under your supervision is better than her sneaking off to do it with friends. However, research has shown that the younger you start drinking the more likely you are to have problems with alcohol. I personally think the whole country had a massive alcohol problem, and the best thing we can do for our kids is model having fun without alcohol (I say this as someone who has a problem with alcohol - I'm not being holier than thou)

www.verywellmind.com/early-drinking-age-and-the-risk-of-alcoholism-69521

I got drunk once at 9 as my 17 year old sister was steaming drink at a party and made me cocktails. I started drinking with friends at 13/14.

I'm not bad with alcohol, but could probably do with drinking a little less. At one point a few years ago hardly drank at all. Never get steaming drink though, Qjust a bit tipsy if I do drink.

I think one drink is fine for 15 year old.

Whiskey on gums when teething.
At about 1 I used to give my dad my dummy, which he would suck then give back. Unbeknownst to him for a while it was because I liked the whiskey, apparently anyway!
Sips of drinks when I was young.
I was allowed to have beer at 8 or 9 if my family had it.
I was allowed to get pissed at Christmas from about 11.
Then when I was a teen, alcohol was banned. I had a really fucked up relationship with drink.

I think that where DD is concerned we operate on a, have a taste, not always great is it approach. Luckily she's more like DH than me. She'd rather have a few biscuits than a drink. She will have a glass of wine, but will probably go straight back to the multiple crates of fruit shoot she covets

I love how Grannies and Snowballs were the gateway drink for most of us! Merry Christmas everyone

Maybe 3 or 4. I never felt the urge to go out and get pissed at 16 as drinking tiny (watered down) amounts of alcohol at special occasions was the norm. I now only drink occasionally, it’s nothing special. I rarely drink to the point of drunkenness as I dislike the feeling.

Three I think, my memory is a little hazy. I went round everyone at a family party and had a sip of each drink. Beer, wine, sherry, whisky, whatever they had. Each person knew I was taking a sip of their drink, but nobody noticed I'd been round everyone until I was properly drunk.

Pretty sure I was licking the head off my Granny's Guinness at about 2 or 3.

12. Had a smirnoff ice at a friend's sleepover. Then at 13 had a couple of cans of cider in the park and at my school prom I had champagne. I don't remember ever drinking alcohol at home until I was 16/17, I didn't have much interest in it until then. I was 17 when I first got properly drunk on a girls holiday abroad.

I was 13, I stopped drinking when I was 23 for 8 years, started again recently during lockdown, even then I only have a couple.of rum and cokes every now and again.

In church, once I was old enough to take Holy Communion- so that would have been age 11. (Not initiated by my parents btw: I was the only regular churchgoer in the family)

Other than that, the occasional smidgeon of brandy butter in a pudding or wine in a sauce or a very rare liqueur truffle. No actual drinking of alcohol until I was 18.

I'd say I'm a moderate drinker: quite like a glass of wine for a festive occasion, but can perfectly happily do a dry Christmas (and often have done when staying with non-drinking family).

I made mine wait. I have seen nothing to suggest that children who have drinks at home are therefore immune from indulging in risky drinking elsewhere- if anything, my experience of dc's friends suggests the contrary.

I would say, however, that part of my reasoning- which I have explained to dc- is that they are responsible for what they do outside the home. I am not responsible for doing something I don't think is right just because I can't trust them to behave elsewhere. Wouldn't say they never over-indulged before they reached adulthood, but we haven't had a serious problem either.

I am glad to have grown up in a family where people could have a great time together without alcohol, because they were genuinely funny, positive people who enjoyed being together. Life these days is a bit quieter and yes, we have alcohol at Xmas, but I like to hang onto some of that sense that you can be uninhibited and just let loose and have fun without booze too.

i used to get mouthfuls of my stepdad’s pint when i was 5/6. first got pass-out drunk aged 8. my parents thought it was hilarious.

i was raised by alcoholics. i used to sit with them on a friday night aged 9 drinking bottles of Carling Black Label. my parents decided this was ‘weak’ and bought me 4 bottles every friday night.

suffice to say i was a blackout drinker by 12. i didn’t drink at all when i was pregnant, but apart from that i had a solid drink problem my entire life.

i finally stopped at 41. i lost everything - my kid, my job, my husband, my home. i very nearly died. AA saved my life and this is Sober Christmas #7

life is much better without booze.

I remember my Aunty letting me have a taste of sherry when I was about 7 (mid 70s). I also remember having hot milk with a drop of brandy in when I had the flu aged about 10. My DH remembers his grandma giving him a bottle of sherry at Christmas when he was 8 . I have never bothered with alcohol and my DH drinks an occasional whisky.

5 or 6. I used to enjoy a small glass of port with my grandparents at Christmas when I was very young. I still enjoy it now.

I went to my cousin's wedding when I was 11 and my younger cousins offered me a Coke but it was spiked with whiskey. They found it amusing.

I just remember dancing all night! Lol

I didn't have another drink until I was 16 and had a whiskey and Coke. I suppose it was "my drink" after the debacle at the wedding. I only had one and it was enough.

I had my first taste of wine when I was 19 and it was a Bordeaux. I didn't mind it again, I only had the one.

I didn't start drinking on purpose, I suppose, until I turned 23. Even then, I was more of a social drinker and not something I did at home.

I started doing that much later, closer to 30, the past 20 years.

Up until early 2020, I was in the wine business so it's been my lifestyle for a while. I think 2021 will be the year I drop it significantly.

I was a similar age and used to get babycham and steal sips of my dad's beer.

I don't drink as an adult at all and also didn't do the whole teen thing of getting pissed
So I'm not sure you can blame being given a taste young for people's behaviour. There's a massive drinking culture in this country which is more likely to blame!

I'd let your teen have a supervised drink. At fifteen most of my peers were out drinking cheap cider in a field!

I think 15 is old enough to have small amounts of alcohol under supervision. I wouldn’t start with gin though. Maybe small glass wine. A cider. Or a weak mixed drink like vodka and Fanta.

Little sips of drink as a child, not sure how young. Starting drinking the odd cider at 14ish, probably started drinking more regularly at 17/18. Drank quite a bit in my uni days/20s but not enough to be a problem, always had a stop button and have never been brilliant at hangovers or drinking and not eating. I'm finding that I cant drink much these days, a couple of pints on a night out and I'm done. Have had half a can of cider today left over from dinner. My boys are 10 (nearly 11) and 13, I let them have the odd bit, I will let them have a small can of Strongbow Dark Fruit with dinner, they have the odd sip. I know some will frown at this, but I believe not letting it be too taboo is the best way.

I was always allowed to try my mum's wine when I was growing up (I didn't like dad's beer).

These days I can take or leave alcohol, definitely not a heavy drinker, although Currently quietly sozzled after ploughing through some home brewed lemon wine.

Taste, probably as a toddler. Proper drink to myself, around 13. Was allowed to drink at home as a teenager and by the time I was out drinking with friends I never got properly, dangerously drunk as I usually stopped after a couple (Preferred to get stoned.) I was usually the one looking after the drunk people!

Mine have been allowed sips and at 14 DS1 was allowed a small bottle of weak lager or two while camping.

All 3 joined us for Bucks Fizz this morning, at varying levels of strength according to age. DD is youngest at nearly 11 and had about 50mls of supermarket bucks fizz (4%) mixed with OJ, DS1 and DS2 at 14 and 13 got small glasses of it unmixed and DH and I had it made properly with actual fizz. They all tried a sip of that too.
They'll get a bit of wine with dinner if they want (not DD).