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

[Thesenderofthiscard]

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.

Mine loved them that much on our recent holiday, I came home and got the juices and some grenadine so they can have them at home 🤣 it was just a fancy drink that tasted nice. I'd probably let them have AF beer too, I let them taste my actual alcoholic drinks though so I'm really not precious about it. I'm not a big drinker and my own Dad died due to alcoholism but I think hiding it all away isn't the best way to deal with it.

That's a bit weird to be fair!

Why can’t the adults who don’t drink have water, juice, fizzy drinks or squash? Are we just telling children that they aren’t worth the extra couple of quid now

Ds 9 had virgin pina coladas on holiday this year.No harm done.

It's juice 🤣, I can understand you refusing to buy them because of the ££ I remember when I was pregnant and went out, I refused to pay £5 or whatever for a glass of fruit juices mixed. They aren't actually drinking alcohol so I don't understand your issue? I imagine your children will be one of those who isn't allowed to drink before they leave home, then they get to uni and go wild but have no idea how much they can drink putting themselves in all kinds of danger. Slippery slope not allowing mocktails 🤣.

I'm pretty sure that poster was being sarcastic!

I get it totally OP. I don't drink. Alcohol was an incredibly toxic influence in my life and I hate how society is geared around it and there is an entire culture of getting teenagers ready for alcohol as if its some inevitable rite of passage. Mocktails are an alcohol free version of cocktails; they were created to mimic an alcoholic cocktail, hence the name. AF beer too.
I have no objection to my children drinking a mixture of different juices in a fancy glass with the straw etc but I resent the general culture which is that alcohol consumption is the default, and the only acceptable alternative is fashioned after the alcoholic drink.

In your case I would let it go to keep the peace. It is just juice after all, but I dislike the 'kids playing grown ups pretending to drink alcohol' aspect of it. Let it go though.

we didn't pay for them though as A.I

You are on holiday, its a treat! It's not an everyday occurrence, it's not like your adding it to their school lunch box 🙄

‘Are we just telling children that they aren’t worth the extra couple of quid now ‘

€1.50 for a soft drink or bottled water, €3/4 for a house wine or beer, €8/10 for a MOCKTAIL and there are 11 kids with us.
So yes, I am telling my children that I’m not spending the best part of a tenner on them so they can feel sophisticated…
Because that £100 a round of drinks for kids otherwise.

Glad we aren't the only ones totally agree we don't allow our kids these either. Everything becomes normalised these days and actually it isnt normal

I totally get they are overpriced, but morally I don't think it's an issue. I have strong happy memories of a pretend tequila sunrise on holiday as a child and thinking it was the bees knees with the colour contrast. I would do one for them but not multiple.

And incidentally I don't drink at all as an adult

I don’t drink alcohol. I drink water. I don’t pay out for mock tails, at beer, af wine, af gin etc. My kids also drink water. When we eat out we have water to drink. At a cafe they will have a fruit juice or water. We don’t go to pubs.

Surely you aren't paying for everyone's dc though? And if you are that's worse if they are having mocktails at your expense but yours aren't?

I was encouraged to drink alcohol growing up 'to get me used to it' and all it did was give me a taste for it and condition me to think that the best way to handle (normal teenage) anxiety was to drink. I got myself in so many messes for the following twenty years and am now teetotal. My husband drinks moderately now but had the same upbringing and experiences as me through the years. He also agrees that not drinking is the way to go. It's a myth that being permissive with a nonchalant attitude towards alcohol always leads to teens and adults with a wonderfully mature and balanced relationship with alcohol.

‘Normalising’ alcohol consumption is exactly the reason a lot of supermarkets shops and restaurants don’t allow under age customers to purchase Non Alcoholic beer and wine etc, and you still get IF checked at the checkout for them. And clever Marketing is exactly the reason they call it a Virgin Mojito and charge a tenner for it instead of selling it as Lime and Mint Juice…

I've never drunk AF beer, but I assume it tastes like beer? Also, isn't there a tiny bit of alcohol in AF beer?

Mocktails don't taste like cocktails. They taste like fruit.

Thirty years ago my young relations were given Ribena in a wine glass with a special family meal. All teetotal now

What is the legal drinking age where you are? Pretty sure it’s 14 in some countries.

I dont see an issue with it.

I was given shandies in pubs when little and I barely drink at all.

‘What is the legal drinking age where you are? Pretty sure it’s 14 in some countries.’

hows that relevant? No child is 14 and even if they were I wouldn’t be buying my kids alcohol at 14

Everything becomes normalised these days

I used to have mocktails on holiday abroad 30+ years ago, we used to keep all the little umbrellas, tinsel crap and paper parrots on sticks to bring home with us.

I still love a mocktail as I don't like the taste of most alcohol. I also remember when I was about 5 getting a glass of "wine" with dinner (actually Ribena and lemonade) and thinking I was proper grown up, mostly because it was in a fancy wine glass.

I’ve never seen a mocktail @ 10E anywhere in my life.
maxium has been 5

Alcoholism has been around for centuries … a lot longer than the last 20 years or so that “mocktails” have become a thing.

We used to have Barr Shandy in the 70s, can’t say I’ve developed a drinking problem.

Fake booze is just.. juice.
YABVU.

If you make alcohol something mystical and unobtainable now, they'll be in fields getting pissed on cheap cider by the time they're 14.