Well, for my part i belive that as a loving parent I'll say no so long as I can, atleast until they are 18.
No malice intended, but if alcohol was introduced today it would have been Banned.
As it is now I use it on occasion, but it is a powerful and potentially dangerous drug.
Many people point at countries where there is a more liberal view on alcohol, France as an example and says "Se, you can drink without getting drunk". But France has a high rate of alcohol induced diseases.
So for my kids sake I'll try to keep them from alcohol as long as I can, and I'll make sure they know what I think about it.
I won't "punish" them if they get home drunk sometime, but there will be a discussion following when they sober up.
I'm sure they'll get drunk before it's legal to be so, but I hope to be able to minimize these occasions and perhaps give them enough self esteem to say no, and hopefully learn after the first time that it isn't so grand to be loaded.
But somethings one propably has to learn by doing ones own mistakes.
[ April 14, 2003, 07:28: Message edited by: Ruatha ]