To think my DD 6 is old enough to try a sip of wine???

[Cinderffingrella]

My MIL it utterly outraged...but my parents let me have it VERY watered down from a similar age, and I'm not even going that far. Incidentally, I barely drink....

A sip is fine, given by mum or dad only - take note of the cautionary tale of Candlewax.
Me and my dbs (twins) were allowed alcohol rom a young age, snowballs at Christmas, or me very dilute martini and lemonade, my brothers and me also had weak shandies. Strange thing is that one twin drinks like a fish on a night out, and the other is teetotal!
I used to get trashed on vodka when I was at university but I think it was more to do with the crowd I was with. As time passed I got bored of going out and getting drunk. I've never liked wine or beer even though had both as a kid and the only thing I drink nowadays is Bailey's and things like Buck Fizz on a special occasion! When we got married we had Freixenet Cava for the toasts as it was the only sparkling wine I would drink!

lol lol lol @ beetroot being in that list TD . It's one of my 2 year old's absolute favourite foods!

I have no problem with little ones tasting things like wine. I prefer not to make things like wine forbidden. I want to DD to grow up with a healthy attitude to drinking and eating.

I think the problem with trying to adopt the relaxed continental approach here is that your children, like it or not, are living in the UK binge drinking culture

those people who give their under 5s a try of alcohol may not know this is illegal?

I personally cannot understand wtf you would want to train your young child into having a taste for alcohol

the (to children) unpalatable taste is what puts a lot of young people off drinking, until they are older

the (to children) unpalatable taste is what puts a lot of young people off drinking, until they are older

But Franny that isn't true anymore - alcoholic drinks are AIMED at children and made to taste like nothing but sweets (WKD / alcopops)

It WAS true for our generation, I agree

I actually DO want to encourage a taste for good alcohol in my children - not when they are 2, admittedly, but when they are in their early teens certainly. I'd far rather they brought home a bottle of wine when they are 14 than something made with sugar and vodka.

yes, and getting your child used to the taste of the other kinds, has the same effect as giving them the crappy sweet kinds IMO

you can be a piss head with cirrhosis from drinking wine, as well as alcopops

I find it hard to think of wine as 'seperate' from other (good/natural) food and drink

I mean yes, it is a poison, but then so is charred meat

It is something that people have drunk for thousands of years as part of their diet

I wouldn't want them to think it's something 'special' and 'grown up' because then it becomes something exclusive and exciting

In this house it's just something tasty that some people like to drink at dinner time

And alcoholism is complicated, but it is largely (probably) caused by people having inadequate coping mechanisms for mental disstress, being male and having a genetic predisposition towards it

To tackle this risk, I hope that I will bring my children up to have a healthy attitude towards their own mental health. I don't think their risk factors have anything at all to do with them having sips of wine over Sunday lunch.

I have different views, obviously

I have alcohol problems, my family have alcohol problems, dp has alcohol problems, his family have alcohol problems

I was brought up with wine with a meal from a very young age

my dad is an alcoholic who only drinks wine

"it is largely (probably) caused by people having inadequate coping mechanisms for mental disstress, being male and having a genetic predisposition towards it"

it's a bit more complicated than that, mp

quite aninteresting discussion

i think the op was doing internal trolling tho lol

i dont agree with the give them alcohol,young and they wont become abusers and teenage bingers adult lushes later

i think that is mostly down to genes

Well yes I agree you have a different situation - I think if there is a family history then it's completely different TBH

If I had that sort of level of alcohol problems in my family then I would probably want to ban it forever!

I just can't see how NOT giving your child a sip of watered down wine or whatever will help them though; yes they are living in the UK's nasty binge drinking culture but forbidding them to have a sip of wine at dinner won't help them at all to cope with that.

And there are many families who have wine with dinner who are not alcoholics and never have a problem with it.

personally for a very young child, say under ten or so, I would say no, this is a grown up drink....because the effect of any alcohol at all on their body is going to be more and why do it? Above ten, or so, I could see letting them have a try of it.

Most important, above letting them try in the interests of not making it forbidden fruit, I think is having many and varied conversations about the drinking culture in this country and about the absolute evil that is alcopops - so that they are armed with an understanding of the issues and what they will be facing.

up there with Franny. Wine isn't a normal healthy diet item, though. It's ethyl alcohol. which is a poison. So, in prep. for life, we do a bit of chasing the dragon of heroin, snort a bit of coke, try a bit of speed ( well E- numbers do that..), shove a weed in their infant mouths.. >.....as these are all things they will be able to access, esp. as teenagers....

But Pan - AFAIK those are illegal, not part of a normal lifestyle, and there are no safe levels.

Alcohol is not illegal and there are safe drinking levels. And for the majority of people some alcohol is part of a normal balanced diet/lifestyle.

Well I think those other items, while available, are illegal and are not advertised on TV or legally sold in high street shops. Not that I think alcohol is not a poison, and can't do as much and often more damage than other drugs; but the fact remains it is a mainstream culture and the other drugs are not.

Personally I think you do have to prepare them for coming into contact with alcohol; however giving them a sip of wine isn't much of a preparation I don't think. Could be part of it though; as a way of starting conversation and debate about the whole issue

Wine isn't a normal healthy diet item

I disagree

legality of substances is immaterial when people, esp. teenagers, wish to 'explore' them. yes of course alcohol is far more freely available than crack cocaine. That isn't news just in. The idea of giving dd aged 8 some alcohol is just nuts.
Still, adult choices for our children, I guess.
AIBU to give alcohol to a child barely of school age? Well, IMO yes.

We have wine with meals sometimes, but not always. But my boys (8 and 10) have never asked to try some. They just seem to regard it as an adult thing.

When I was a child we had some tiny glasses (smaller than egg cups), and at Sunday lunch we were allowed to have a glass of wine. (I guess from about the age of 8 or so.)

I don't particularly want to encourage my boys to try wine/alcohol, but I would rather them learn about healthy drinking habits at home rather than out in the big wide world.

no. legality of substances isn't immaterial; they are not freely available in the high street, they are illegal, they are not mainstream, they are not regulated in terms of ingredients

It's a hell of a lot harder to explore these things and when you do you know you are doing something illegal

I'm not disagreeing that many teenagers will do this but legality of substances is not immaterial, it's part of the whole equation

Oooh NO IT ISN'T..or IS >, in panto-style.

I wouldnt let them have any at 6 for fear of kidneys etc but think the arguement for sips when they are a little older is a good one.

I let my dc's have a tiny sip of wine from about age 7. But I have also talked to them about the fact that you can't drink have more than a tiny sip until you are grown up, I have talked about the effects of alcohol on the body, I've talked about the needs even for grownups to be very careful etc. Not in one big ponderous Talk, but now and then, the way we talk about most things in our house.

What they see at home is Mummy and Daddy very occasionally having a glass of wine with a special meal. They see that we have no difficulty in restricting our intake and saving half the bottle to another day. They see alcohol as something that you can consciously exercise control over.
I don't think the very occasional sip is going to do them any harm.

They do know of course that there are other adults that have a much laxer relationship to drink (their paternal grandparents being a case in point!), but I have gently pointed out that there are health risks attached to even a large-regular-but-not-antisocial intake. Also, that if you get into that sort of habit, it does effect the clarity of your thinking (very big off-putting effect on dd, who wants to be a famous author).

Since the whole of the older generation on their father's side drank a fair bit and lived to a ripe old age withouth social problems, I can't overdo it on the scare stories. They won't have to wait until the teenage years to hear the other side. It won't take them a massive effort to work out that dh was brought in a different way, that he is fine, that his dad lived to the age of 93 and was a charming much-beloved gentleman, despite his well-stocked bar cupboard. SO my approach needs to be moderate and good-humoured if I'm not to lose their attention altogether.

I keep remembering that my parents never had alcohol at home and were very uptight about the whole subject, and that didn't stop my db from getting completely rat-arsed at the first teenage party he went to. I think his self confidence is still suffering, 30 years later, from their OTT reaction.

When dd gets to the age of teenage parties I expect we'll chat a bit more about strategies-to-keep-out-trouble-but-still-keep-your-friends.

I don't think not being used to the taste is going to keep a teenager from drinking if they are desperate to impress their friends. If they are confident enough to say 'I don't like wine', then they'd probably be confident enough to say 'I don't want to get drunk'. I see my job as helping to give them that confidence.

I grew up in France, where allowing children watered down wine is commonplace. Incidentally, there is far less of a culture of drinking in France, and as teenagers, we tended to drink coffee rather than anything alcoholic. My husband I and are bringing our children up in a similar vein, in order to avoid the pitfalls of letting our children think that drink is a rite of passage. They have been allowed to taste our drinks from a very young age.

The result so far is a 14 yr old who likes an occasional inch of wine, a `12 yr old who thinks that alcohol is the juice squeezed from Satan's knickers, and a 10 yr old with slightly dispo tendencies. None hanging around on street corners with alco-pops and hidden bottles of scrumpy yet though, nor showing any signs of wanting to do so.

I would and do let my DS's have a sip of wine when we are having some but it is a sip only. I see it as no issue and no body elses business.