Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not want my kids to drink mocktails or AF beer?

441 replies

Thesenderofthiscard · 13/08/2023 10:39

On holiday with grp of friends - oldest kids are 13, youngest 8.
the 5 teens have been asking for ‘mocktails’ when we’re out at cafes/ restaurants- Virgin bloody Mary’s, Virgin mojitos - and now the little one want them too.

I’m REALLY uncomfortable with this- Have said no to my teen so now I’m the worst parent in the world. I’m not happy with the normalising of drinking = fun or being ‘grown up’ at this age.
ine of the dad’s told me in need to get real, and for an AF beer for his 13 old son.
I ask him if he’d let his son have a ‘fake’ vale or cigarette and all he’ll broke lose.

oh, and not to mention these drinks are €8/10 a pop as they’re meant for no- drinking adults

YABU - lighten up! Let them feel like grown ups

YANBU - They’re too young to be pretending to drink.

OP posts:
liveforsummer · 13/08/2023 11:32

Of course she's not being serious!

I think the pp agreeing with her was though 😅

Bellyblueboy · 13/08/2023 11:33

I actually think mocktails are great, and take the pressure off to drink alcohol.

I was out for a long lunch with friends yesterday and half the people had mocktails - they reduce the peer pressure to drink because everyone had lovely sparkly drinks.

in my day if you didn’t drink cocktails as a teen you were stuck with a Diet Coke or soda water and lime!

my 17 niece gets mocktails all the time

Prescottdanni123 · 13/08/2023 11:33

I was drinking a glass of wine on special occasions from about 13/14. Real wine, not alcohol free. My parents taught me to be responsible around alcohol and therefore, now at nearly 30 years old, I have never been an alcoholic.

Fraaahnces · 13/08/2023 11:33

I live in Aus and know many of our rules and policies are different. Was gobsmacked when I was asked for ID (I’m 51) when purchasing alcohol free canned mojitos. (Meh…) I thought about it for a second and thought about my own teens and thought it was fair enough.

Frabbits · 13/08/2023 11:34

I can kind of see the point when it comes to non-alcoholic beer.

But mocktails? Nah, it's just overpriced fruit juice.

10HailMarys · 13/08/2023 11:35

“Mocktails” aren’t about kids pretending to drink. They’re literally just to make soft drinks more interesting and special than a can of Fanta. Get a grip. Going to a bar or restaurant and drinking the same drinks you get at home is pretty boring for most people, so a mocktail is just a treat for kids or people who don’t drink alcohol. You’re being absolutely ridiculous.

Iknowthis1 · 13/08/2023 11:35

I do see your point but on this occasion I think you are going to have to just go with it.

Anxioys · 13/08/2023 11:35

I wouldn't want this either.

D3LAN3Y · 13/08/2023 11:36

Personally I'd say no because of the price. Stick to your pop kids! 🙈

Tiredalwaystired · 13/08/2023 11:37

Thesenderofthiscard · 13/08/2023 11:15

I’m not saying they’re going to grow up to be addicts, I’m saying I think they’re too young to be normalising drinking,
AF beer is not fruit juice, it look a like any bottle of beer until you read the detail in the label. It looks like beer. It smells like beer.
The mocktails aren’t ‘Spider-Man mocktails’ they look exactly like the one with rum.
So much so that when the waiter was dishing out the real and fake ones, he wasn’t sure on one - so parent took a sip to check before the kid got it.
This wasn’t at some kids club, we were in a restaurant.

Do you ever have alcohol in your home? Do your children ever see you drinking?

Then you are normalising drinking.

The only way it is not normalised is that they see it as taboo or highly frowned upon throughout their lives.

Otherwise, you teach them how to manage intake by example and show them that you can have fun without excess alcohol (for example by drinking mocktails)

HideTheCroissants · 13/08/2023 11:38

If you don’t want to “normalise alcohol” then don’t take your children to places where alcohol is normal, never drink alcohol yourself, don’t allow them to see alcohol for sale anywhere.

Alcohol IS normal! It is widely sold, widely drunk, widely enjoyed as part of normal life.

A mocktail is fancy juice and perfectly fine for a child to enjoy as a treat.

GalileoHumpkins · 13/08/2023 11:39

Isn't it well known that mocktails are a gateway drug?

medianewbie · 13/08/2023 11:39

Paq · 13/08/2023 11:03

I kind of agree with you OP although for most well brought up kids, in a household with good boundaries around alcohol I wouldn't expect a mocktail to be a slippery slope into future addiction. Mostly though I wouldn't spend £8 on an overblown soft drink for an 8 year old!

Your teen will find every excuse to label you as The Worst Parent in the World so don't worry about that!

Agreed !
I'd buy them one, then let them 'buy their own'. The novelty will soon wear off I expect !

Mischance · 13/08/2023 11:39

I remember going on hols each October half term with my children and they had a children's bar where they could buy drinks with funny names and little umbrellas and fruit in - e.g. pink elephant (Ribena and lemonade) - they loved it! - and really looked forward to it all.

Hufflemuff · 13/08/2023 11:40

I think you're being unreasonable to think that having a mocktail normalises drinking. My DD just liked the different colours and little umbrella's you get when we went on our last holiday and she is 9 BTW.

You are not being unreasonable to not want to pay €8 for one - that's incredibly expensive and I wouldn't be happy to pay that multiple times either. I think I'd be saying you can have 2 lemonades for €4 or 1 mocktail for €8 and once that's gone you're onto water. You know so there's some semblance of a budget.

Overall- id say you're making an issue out of it for the hell of it to make a statement and I'm not surprised your kids pissed off with you.

Itsnotrightbutitsok · 13/08/2023 11:40

The teens, I may allow as a one off treat but no way for any younger.

These really annoy me and I don’t understand why any parent would want to glamourise drinking alcohol.

By all means get them a fun drink but a mocktail or non-alcohol beer is just daft, the kids are literally only drinking them because they think it makes them look cool - what sort of message is that.

Fake alcoholic drinks or vapes aimed at kids should be banned.

Characterbuilding · 13/08/2023 11:40

My 16 year old son loves a mocktail and has enjoyed them in restaurants with a meal since he was young. He has no interest in alcohol whatsoever. He quite likes having a fun alternative though.

Pandaflop · 13/08/2023 11:41

The fact you mention you've experienced alcoholism in the family is relevant to be honest, it naturally skews your views and that's understandable. Makes me laugh how people are always keen to point out as long as children aren't being harmed shouldn't judge other parents but are quick to mock those who have different opinions to them. Your children aren't being harmed by not having expensive mocktails, just as those who do have them aren't, funny how one view is fine by any and the other isn't. Personally I'd ask for some juice or a soft drink with an umbrella and whatever other shite they add to the mocktails in it rather than pay over the odds for one.

Lunde · 13/08/2023 11:41

"Mocktails" are just a fancy word for fruit drinks!

My teetotal granny used to make "fruit punch" every Christmas in the 1960s with fruit juices and a dash of Ribena - it's not a new thing

sleepyscientist · 13/08/2023 11:42

Would I pay £8 for one possibly not as DS would rather have a coke plus a fiver to spend on holiday tat! If he was desperate for one then he could have it but would be on a cocktail or tat basis. We go all inclusive and they usually do mocktails with funky names similar to the cocktails, he gets those. Once he got a mouth full of run by mistake and didn't like it so that's something

Pandaflop · 13/08/2023 11:42

Mischance · 13/08/2023 11:39

I remember going on hols each October half term with my children and they had a children's bar where they could buy drinks with funny names and little umbrellas and fruit in - e.g. pink elephant (Ribena and lemonade) - they loved it! - and really looked forward to it all.

That's not the same as a mocktail made and marketed to be a non alcoholic variant of an alcoholic drink though is it?

TregunaMekoides · 13/08/2023 11:43

The only thing mocktails "normalise" is paying a stupid amount of money for fancy drinks when out at a restaurant.

I'm in my 40s and remember drinking non-alcoholic cocktails (as they were called then) with my parents on holiday when I was about 9 or 10. It's not a new thing.

Ohyoudodoyou · 13/08/2023 11:44

Never smoked a pipe in my life.
Loved a Bitter shandy from my grandmother when I was 8, though.

To not want my kids to drink mocktails or AF beer?
Simonjt · 13/08/2023 11:46

If you were concerned about alcohol being normalised you wouldn’t take your children somewhere people are drinking alcohol.

Mocktails are just fruit juice and fizzy water, so hopefully you have also banned those.

coreas · 13/08/2023 11:49

If you can explain how an alcohol free drink of mixed juice normalises drinking alcohol would be interested to hear it