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.

I was raised by very liberal parents who encouraged drinking wine in small(ish) quantities from a young teenager.

I don't think it did me many favors and the studies I've read suggest that alcohol while teenager brains are forming is more likely to encourage dependence on alcohol in later years.

Obviously it isn't guaranteed and I've never been dependent but I did drink more than was healthy at times when young.

So I've always been clear with my teens that I'm not buying them underage alcohol for this reason but I'm happy to buy alternatives like nice mocktails from time to time. I wouldn't buy AF beer as I think that is just normalizing the taste of beer.

If it’s financial - explain privately this to your kids
But if it’s just you don’t like it I think YABU. They want to play grown up which is totally normal tween behaviour.

A mocktail is really no different from giving a child a coke or a Fanta.

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

party on. You sound fun

It's because it's imitating drinking like its cool. That's how kids see it. Don't see why they can't have a seperate menu for kids woth the same drinks but call them fruit xyz instead.

I am fun. I don’t need alcohol to have a good time. I don’t need to be around drinkers to have a good time. I have what I like and my kids too.

Totally with you @Thesenderofthiscard we’ve a f**ed up attitude to alcohol in this country. People need to take a step back and think about this normalising of alcohol to young kids and teens.

A mocktail is just some fruit juice mixed together and marketed a bit differently so the price can be elevated. If you don’t want your kids to have it, then don’t buy them. Ut doesn’t make them any less likely to have a drink problem later in life though.

My parents used to buy me packets of sweets that looked like chalk cigarettes. Me and my siblings used to pretend to puff on them before eating them. We all laughed. Neither me or any of my four siblings have ever gone on to be smokers as adults. Mocktails are just a bit of fun role play for kids, plus they are delicious.

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

lucky you. The real ones are only €11

‘It's because it's imitating drinking like its cool. That's how kids see it. Don't see why they can't have a seperate menu for kids woth the same drinks but call them fruit xyz instead.’

probably because we aren’t in a country that drinks the way the U.K. does, nor are there many Brits in this town to cater to.
we’re somewhere that Spaniards holiday so there are no U.K. tourist type bars at all and ‘kids menus’ consist of smaller portions or asking for changes to the main menus.

In the kindest way possible you need to relax about this. I have a (hilarious) video of my son, aged 5, sitting on a barstool in a Greek bar and doing a shot of OJ & grenadine, with people cheering when he did it 😅 he also helped the waitress deliver cocktails to the other patrons, and was "paid" in mocktails.

He's now almost 16 and has zero interest in alcohol, to the point where he won't even try a sip of what I'm drinking if we're out, and will happily watch friends drink but have no urge to join in.

I've always had a very relaxed attitude about all this stuff, and he's as straight laced as they come. You'll find your children have their own unique personalities, and as they get older will either be interested in drinking cocktails or not. What you do now will make little to no difference 🤷‍♀️

I voted YANBU purely because they are so expensive

I'm absolutely with you on this OP.
I could handle the Spiderman version or the various over decorated hot chocolate I've shelled out for on special occasions.
There has been a joy sat with my 18 year old having a glass of wine on holiday as she starts to explore what kind of grown up she wants to be.
And it wouldn't have been improved by 'practicing' when she was 13.
We're also very keen for our skinny girls to avoid spirits - life gets very messy quite quickly when there's not much of you.

I think it depends on your perception of a mocktail.

I don’t view it as “pretending to drink”. I view it as a nicer/fancier drink than, for example, a Diet Coke. Nicer flavours, refreshing, iced, and they look pretty.

The only think I do agree with you about OP is the cost. I do object to spending lots of money on what is essentially fruit juices and sugar syrup.

But if I was ever to buy my 10 or 13 year old a mocktail it would for the reasons I have described above - not because I want them to pretend to be drinking. That’s your perception OP.

I have friends who don’t drink alcohol and they like them for the reasons I’ve stated. Not to feel like they are drinking alcohol.

It’s a drink. Let’s to make it something more than it is.

*not!!

This but I'd probably say no due to the cost.

Alcoholism has been around for centuries … a lot longer than the last 20 years or so that “mocktails” have become a thing
Mocktails have been around a lot longer than the last 20 years. The story goes that the first official one was invented for Shirley Temple, who was a child at the time.

Also to add - mocktails were not a thing when I was younger and it didn’t stop me from boozing at a young age with friends. Age 14/15 we would buy a bottle of cider or a quarter bottle of vodka.

I wasn’t ever encouraged to drink fake alcoholic drinks, and didn’t see a lot of alcohol drank around me growing up.

I did have family who smoked. And I loved the fake candy cigarettes…have never and will never smoke.

Mocktails have not been widely available for long.

‘Mocktails have not been widely available for long.’

The Shirley Temple anyone?

Really? They've been around at least 30 years.

I haven’t voted because your options don’t fit. It’s not ‘letting them feel like grownups’ it’s ‘letting them have a fun treat drink on holiday’. On that basis YABU.

Well my sister ordered a mocktail for my DS 9 and was told this was not allowed in the UK. So she looked at what it was made out of and read out the ingredients instead, which was apparently fine.😂

😂😂😂