Unacceptable alcohol usage?

[Hagnumber4]

Just musing really but interested to hear others perspectives.

I'm currently nursing an alcohol free gin and tonic. It's my third (maybe fourth) of the evening.

I can't drink alcohol as it makes me so very ill but I was wondering on drinking "etiquette."

Eg if I were to have a glass of wine and then go to work as a doctor or a teacher, not ideal. What about alcohol free wine?

Where is the line drawn? My boys are young and have expressed an interest. Is it ok for them to have it?

Can I have my gin and tonic in my water bottle while I look after kids in a nursery?

How about an alcohol free cider with my breakfast? I mean it's just apple.

Where is the social and moral line? Is it the alcohol content? If so, why do I get ID'd when I buy it? (I wish! I just see them cancel the age check).

Hopefully someone can make sense of my musings and help me clarify my thoughts. Perhaps rather than the alcohol content it's like a hangover from the taboo of it?

We’ve got alcohol free martini. I stopped DS (18) using it as a cordial. It’s too bloody expensive. I keep it and AF gin etc for “drinking” times.

Alcohol free means alcohol free (well it often means 0.5% but thats about the same as a ripe banana). So yeah technically you could drink it wherever you would happily drink a diet coke or whatever. In terms of kids, I prefer mine dont drink it as its usually quite high in sugar and I prefer they dont get used to the taste of 'alcohol'. My work do have a rule that we can't take AF drinks in to the office etc but thats because of perception (i work for a well known public body where alcohol is an absolute no no and they don't want anything alcohol adjacent)

After I read your post I actually looked up the requirement to have alcohol free beer and wine etc authorised at a supermarket check out. Tbh it's something that has irritated me in the past.

I didn't actually know that legally children are allowed to buy and consume alcohol free drinks. And that the supermarkets impose their own rules about sales and authorisation of these so that they don't inadvertently end up selling alcohol to children because of similar packaging and misapprehension about products. A safeguarding thing.
I never knew this and I find it interesting.

I don’t drink alcohol (recovering alcoholic) and so I sometimes drink alcohol free ‘alcoholic’ drinks.

I’d say all those things you’ve described are technically fine, but maybe a bit weird in practice.

It would be fine for my dc to drink an AF drink, and my teen has had an AF fruity cider at a BBQ because it was just there. Generally though, I don’t let my kids drink them because I don’t want to normalise alcohol consumption. There is no reason they need to drink them. They can drink a lemonade, just like I can, unless I really want an AF beer because I like it more. They can make that decision one day too when they’re grown ups.

Otherwise, the rest is fine. I’ve had work colleagues drink an AF beer during a Teams meeting (he pointed it out so we wouldn’t think it was an actual beer, it was like 25c and the only thing he had in the fridge).

You’d be amazed how many mums have a real G & T in their water bottle at the playground! 😂 Trust me. So yes, an AF one is fine, if a bit of an expensive choice.

I’d say alcohol free alternatives are usually there to mimic alcohol consumption in social situations where alcohol consumption is happening - bars, parties, meals out etc etc.

I would think it a weird choice to have for breakfast/at the playground because it would mimic and taste like having alcohol for breakfast which aren’t normal alcohol drinking situations.

As for kids, it’s just one step closer to an alcoholic drink that a can of coke is and it would be a step I wouldn’t want them to take when young because it will more easily lead to them reaching for an alcoholic drink more often/more readily or to accidentally consuming an alcoholic variety.

I don’t think it’s socially unacceptable to have it necessarily but the drinks are designed to be drank instead of alcohol which is why they’re socially confined to circumstances where alcohol would be an acceptable alternative.

Also, for what it’s worth, if an alcoholic were drinking alcohol free alternatives I think that would make it a smaller step to relapse and have a friend who won’t drink them for that reason, he considers it to be halfway to relapse even though there no alcohol involved so that’s another interesting perspective.

Gosh. Some really interesting thoughts. So it's almost like a self imposed social norm.

I reflect on why it feels weird and can't pinpoint other than it's the way society is. I don't think I'd have them outside of usual drinking situations either. But why is that? Conformity? Humans are interesting creatures

interesting question

@Lmnop22

I’d say alcohol free alternatives are usually there to mimic alcohol consumption in social situations where alcohol consumption is happening - bars, parties, meals out etc etc.

This. I can’t really understand why you would want a drink designed to mimic alcohol (even though not alcoholic) in a scenario where alcohol would be really incongruous.

And encouraging/allowing kids to do it seems part and parcel of normalising drinking habits and culture.

I don't actually allow my kids to, I'm just pondering.

Like why the taboo when it's non alcoholic? Because people have decided so?

I'm finding it fascinating

Same way you probably wouldn’t buy your children a fake heroin injecting kit for Christmas even if it didn’t have real heroin in it or let children watch very violent films even though the blood is fake and nobody actually got hurt - it’s not really setting them up to make good life choices if they’re over exposed to potentially dangerous things and those things are normalised from a young age.

I've been thinking about this. Personally I'd rather keep them mentally in the places it would be normal to have a drink box. But that's because then they stay feeling like a treat. I want to be able to enjoy a couple of 'beers' and then drive safely etc.

You'll have people saying why shouldn't you, what difference does it make to you etc, but so much of why we drink is about the social interaction and the rituals around it. It's not just about the alcohol, or we'd all be on the Frosty Jacks.

But it is a fuzzy line. I'd be happier giving a kid a mocktail than a fake beer. But then I'd probably rather they drank beer than alcopops. The logic there has always been that you should be aware of the alcohol; it's too easy to neck blue Wkd. Hmm, I wonder if alcohol free alcohol will break that feeling too.

The moralising about alcohol free drinks is utterly miserable. I joined a Dry January group a couple of years ago and about half the group were looking for decent AF wines to help them stay off it while the other half were whinging about the evils of alcohol free wine, and it was really disheartening. Be careful of creating an extra barrier to people who want to cut down or quit.