What age did you let your children start trying alcohol!

[Whoopsywoo]

asking as I feel it shouldn’t until they are 16 my friend says I’m asking to be lied to

I think it was about 13 or 14 with DS and it was that Koppenburg flavoured cider iirc

The legal age is actually 16 in a restaurant, wine or beer only and an adult has to buy it

Yet buying for a dc standing outside a shop can see you fined in court...
Very sad if your dc think they need alcohol to have fun.

The legal age for drinking alcohol in the home is over 5

I allowed my son to have a low alcohol cider on special occasions if he wanted one from around the age of 12/13. He's 14 now and has had maybe 6 alcoholic drinks in his life. He's never been drunk. I drank socially with friends from around 16, I'd get a bit tipsy but know when to stop. I believe I have a good relationship with alcohol which I think is partly down to having a gradual introduction, rather than zero alcohol till 18 and then going out to clubs and bars and going crazy.

I let my 13yo try a little mulled wine tonight. She had one sip and didn't like it. If they ask I don't mind them trying.

I can remember as a small child my parents would let us have a finger dip (their finger not mine 🤣) from about 5ish.

I'm not a big drinker as an adult.

DD is y11 and we bought a warm cider for her at a festival this year. She drank it very slowly and said it was okay but hasn't had any since. I teach at her school and she and her friends don't drink. They play Scrabble and D&D and do physics revision. Usually at my house tbh. Other y11s drink A LOT and more besides. And their parents usually don't know but they do talk about it in school.

I don’t believe making alcohol taboo is a positive. For me it’s about teaching moderation, I was having a drink with some friends and my daughter at 15 asked if she could have a small vodka, so I let her. It was fine.

the kids I found had the most problems where parents didn’t exercise moderation at one end, or parents who made it so taboo the kids had to drink in unsafe environments and didn’t know their limits

My girls had their first sips at 14.I didnt know.From 16, they were allowed a beer but had no interest as it wasnt sweet.From 18, they enjoy sweet alcoholic drinks.

Hopefully facts speak for themselves for this thread..

I quit drinking earlier this year for a number of reasons but one was my 10 year old showing an increasing fascination with my wine. I started to think that I was creating associations with alcohol and relaxing or having a good time.

I come from a family of big drinkers and would like him to have a more realistic view of how it is possible to have a good and fun life without alcohol or certainly with less and not getting completely shitfaced.

I don’t know when I’ll let him try. All the stuff I’ve read about alcohol and the effect on the brain freaks me out.

Very very tiny sips from my glass at about 10. Then one drink (bucks fizz) at Xmas from about 13. The odd wine or beer from 15 (maybe 10 times a year) when out for meals.

Both over 18 now and neither drink.

We were allowed a small snowball or Buck's Fizz on special occasions from about 11, and a little bit of wine (sparkling, lower alcohol types), if the adults were having some, from about 13. Although my parents didn't drink much. I did my fair share of drinking away from my parents at friends' parties from 15.

Once I left university and stopped going clubbing I mostly stopped drinking altogether. I have the odd glass now and again these days but more often just have a "fancy" soft drink.

I think everyone on this thread is aware that alcohol is damaging, the OP wouldn't have asked the question if they were fine with teenage drinking.

I had beer, about a quarter of a coffee mug, from when I was around three and whiskey in my tea. Wine with meals at Easter and Christmas. Have I done the same for my dc? Of course not, but equally I won't restrict all access to until until they turn 18.

We allowed them sips from when they asked, around 11, but they didn't like it, about 14 they were allowed half a glass of bubbly or a glass of Buck's Fizz

A sip of my drink? Not sure. Quite young. Less than 10. They’re all late teens now. None of them drink alcohol.

That's referring to binge drinking at under 20yo not having the odd glass.

Ds had the odd glass of wine at Christmas since he was 15 & has been going to the pub with mates since he was nearly 17, he's only been drunk once & it put him off drinking too much, he only has 1 or 2 drinks now & moves to soft drinks.

5 ish with a meal. Maybe a little younger if diluted with some juice.
I come from a family that rarely drank, but if they were having some we were offered some. 2 siblings and none of us have had issues with alcohol.
Healthy habits were normalised. We all only drink on special occasions. It wasn't anything funny or tabboo. Just something we had a glass (or 10 ish + 2) when we want to celebrate. That's still how we drink now!

Same as this really.
We aren’t a drinking household so only have the odd drink here and there (special occasions, wine at Christmas, a cider in the summer etc) They have had the odd sip when they’ve asked and the only thing either of them liked was they Asti I had at Christmas but it’s so sweet so I’m not surprised.
I grew up having the odd glass of wine with my meals on special occasions (mixed with lemonade) I was allowed a proper glass of wine from about 12 but again only on special occasions, I most certainly remember having bucksfizz and babysham at weddings and parties etc.
From 14 my parents started to buy me alchopops
Christmas but I didn’t ever get drunk, it was just so I could have a one bottle and I remember I asked if I could try them but it was always with food and we were all sensible about it.
It definitely didn’t lead to me drinking as I’ve only ever liked to have one or two and wasn’t a big drinker even when I was 18, I much preferred drinking hot chocolate or tea 😂

Wisteriaroundthedoor
I agree with you about teaching moderation.
A lot of people have very weird attitudes to alcohol though, especially where they seem to link alcohol to moral virtue (eg ^ooh any more than a thimble of sherry at Christmas is too much for me look at how virtuous I am because I restrict something in my life whilst making sure everyone notices... I'm my child's parent, not their friend so they're never having anything under my roof because I'm such a good and highly virtuous parent).

It's as weird as people who drink alcohol commenting endlessly when someone doesn't drink/has chosen to have a non-alcoholic drink to suggest that alcohol is essential for a good time.

Mone arent old enough yet, but i would prob let them have a beer with a meal or watching football at home with me at 17.

I was allowed sherry and baileys from very young at Christmas family parties. My mum let me drink wine from 16. I didnt find alcohol exciting or a taboo. But i did copy the routine of my parents 'winding down with wine) from age 35 onwards. Thats probably not healthy.

We've always allowed them to try anything that we eat or drink if they asked. They've both had sips over the years but at 16 & 12 would rather have a coke. (We don't drink spirits regularly so they've yet to discover there are drinks that have alcohol in but still taste like coke!) Would rather they tried alcohol / got pissed at home for the first time where we can keep an eye on them / look after them than off in park somewhere with often dubious mates as a lot of my friends did growing up.

Also over 16's can legally drink wine or beer with a meal outside of the home on England so long as they're with an over 18. Still love horrifying pearl clutches with this one.