- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Hawaii Babies
lelekay
member
Poll: Alcohol
lelekay
member
Everyone's response to the earlier post made me think about alcohol and children/teens. It got me wondering:
At what age did you first try an alcoholic drink? Who gave it to you?
What was the attitude towards alcohol in your home growing up? Did your parents consume it? Did that attitude contribute to your feelings about alcohol in your teen years? In college? Now?
What do you think your attitude towards alcohol will be with your LO?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Poll: Alcohol
At what age did you first try an alcoholic drink? Who gave it to you? When did I first try one? Or when did I first have an entire drink of my own? If it's try, then...not sure, mid-to-late teens sometime? My dad didn't mind giving my sister and I sips of his beer to taste, and was probably happy that we thought it was gross lol. I sampled wine a few times but didn't like it either. When I first had a whole drink of my own...not until I was 20 and out of college.
What was the attitude towards alcohol in your home growing up? Did your parents consume it? Did that attitude contribute to your feelings about alcohol in your teen years? In college? Now? My mom used to enjoy the occasional wine cooler (I come from classy stock
) when I was a kid, but as she got more religious, booze became prohibited for anything but cooking. That said, I think she's loosened up a bit in recent years - when she was visiting earlier this year, she had a glass of wine once or twice when dining with Ben's parents (they enjoy wine and share a few bottles a week).
My dad always drank beer and occasionally had wine with dinner, and had more of a "drink once you're old enough, and do it responsibly" take on things.
I wasn't interested as a teen. I thought it all tasted gross.
I was a bit young in college (I attended from 16-20) and I went to a religious school so it wasn't as freely available as it might have been elsewhere. But again, I wasn't terribly interested - I was very driven and goal oriented and not interested in anything that might conflict with that (in retrospect I wish I'd loosened up a bit and enjoyed myself more - not necessarily getting trashed all the time, but the occasional party wouldn't have hurt).
I had my little wild living period when I went to Ireland for 6 months after graduating...there were many, many hangovers lol.
These days I like a variety of drinks but don't do much actual drinking - I can't remember the last time I was drunk/hungover, even before we had kids...my body just can't cope with that like it could when I was 21! I do still like the occasional glass of wine or beer, or, if I'm feeling fancy, a dirty vodka martini.
What do you think your attitude towards alcohol will be with your LO?
I don't want them to see it as something that's taboo - I think that can often cause rebellion issues. I'm not going to offer to buy a bottle of whiskey for them when they're 12, but if they're older and want to taste whatever we're drinking in the privacy of our home, they can. If they're in their older teen years and we're having wine with dinner, then they can have a small amount (like half a glass) if they'd like it. I'd rather that they learned to enjoy and respect it vs just rebelling and getting trashed as hard and often as they can because it's forbidden. I guess I just don't want it to be a big deal?
I was really little - like 2-3 when my parents had some kind of party at their house and everyone left their drinks and went to do something, and I had some of everything, lol. Other than that, I don't know - at some family holiday dinner, my dad would always have 7&7, and he let me have some - I was maybe 10-12. I had my first beer at 12-13 (Old Milwaukee - ew) with friends who took it from their house. Started trying liquor around 13 from other friends' houses after school - decided I liked those much better than beer, lol.
we always had it in the house, but my impression was that they mostly only drank on holidays. My dad had beer in the fridge all the time but I don't remember seeing him drink it. I don't think it had much of an effect on my thoughts as a teen.
I drank on and off in high school. College was binge time for soph-sr years, weekends only, but I usually had at least 1-2 drinks fri & sat nights.
now i barely drink at all - before the baby it was b/c MH doesn't drive, and I always drove, so unless we had some at the house, it wasn't worth it, and now I'm just afraid it will impair my judgement with the baby, so I don't do it.
Not sure what we'll do yet - seems like a long way off!
At what age did you first try an alcoholic drink? Who gave it to you?
Cannot remember...probably 5 or 6...sipping off some family member's beer.
What was the attitude towards alcohol in your home growing up? Did your parents consume it? Did that attitude contribute to your feelings about alcohol in your teen years? In college? Now?
My family has a big history of alcoholism...several members are sober through AA but many more are not. Thankfully, my mom got sober when I was 12. I never really remember alcohol being in our home, exept for some cooking Sherry and the occasional 6-pack of beer in the fridge, but apparently she drank heavily after work and before coming home. All I remember is her being very difficult on work nights but I just chalked it up to her being stressed (I was a kid, afterall, and most times I thought it was my fault that she was stressed....)
I've never seen my dad drink except at my wedding in 2007 when he had a mai tai. That said, knowing his history, he probably gave booze up in the early 80's when he became "born again" and stopped smoking pot, etc. (My parents are totally SF hippies).
Given my family history...I tasted alcohol at an early age and experimented with it at parties, etc. in middle school (age 11-12)...which is just about the time my mom got sober. It was good timing because had she continued to be checked out and bogged down with her own issues I very well could have experimented MORE with alcohol and probably casual drugs too. I never experimented with any of the stuff after the 7th grade (by then, I had tried smoking cigarettes once, drank wine coolers and screwdrivers with friends, tried LSD once and pot a few times...again...I grew up with MJ in my house, so it wasn't taboo at all, although I knew I shouldn't be doing it)...never drank/smoked in high school.
In college, at age 19, I started dating an older guy (who I later married and is now my XH) and I would have a glass of wine when we went to nice restaurants. At age 21 I got drunk for the first time on too much champagne. Since then, I've only been drunk a handful of times (usually too much champagne on an empty stomach although I did overdo it on margaritas one night in my late 20's).
From 19-26 I rarely drank, maybe a glass of wine every few months or so. When I divorced at almost 27 I started socializing more and learned to love cocktails...vodka martinis, gin/tonic, cognac, etc. and hooka lounges were popular where I lived as was cigar smoking so I would also do that from time to time as well (with singer-friends, ironically, which is REALLY bad!)...I would maybe have wine a couple of nights a week and one or two cocktails over the weekend. I started to worry that I might be developing a habit of drinking when socializing and given my family disposition to alcoholism, I backed off bigtime after about 6-9 months of that. From 28-34 I'd have a glass of wine maybe once a week and a cocktail occassionally...like when I was vacationing or at a wedding or party, etc.
Once we decided to TTC and get PG I rarely drink. I've had a few glasses of wine in the past year and two cocktails...one was last Tuesday (or un-Valentine's Day dinner...I had a cosmo). Since I am still nursing, I don't forsee increasing my alcohol intake at all...especially since we hope to TTC again this summer.
What do you think your attitude towards alcohol will be with your LO?
We will be very open and honest with her about our family histories with substance and alcohol abuse (we have it on both my and DH's sides) and introduce it to her in ways that are age-appropriate and responsible. I would prefer that she never smokes and that if she wishes to drink alcohol that she wait until she's of legal age and does so responsibily. That said, DH thinks we should allow our kids to taste wine with dinner, etc (like the Europeans do) when the kids are older teens. We shall see...I don't fully agree with that approach.
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
I had the same experience. My parents weren't big drinkers but my dad will let us have a sip when we were young (cant remember what age). I think for him, he'd rather us try at home than get really curious and try outside the house. He also did the same thing with smoking cigarettes. My parents don't smoke but during the rare occasions when my dad did, he'd let us have a puff. I hated both alcohol and cigarettes and didn't think there is anything special about them. Since my parents let us try it out, I didn't feel the need to sneak out and try it out with my friends when I was a teenager. Until now, I am not a big alcohol drinker. I am an occasional drinker and don't smoke. I also think we'd do the same with Elle with proper education and guidance.
Just curious, could you elaborate on why you don't agree with it? I think it's completely fine you feel that way (many people do), I'm just wondering if there's a specific reason, like the alcoholism in your family history, or just a general dislike of the idea, or for another reason?
i don't remember how old i was but i was young and curious and my dad let me have a sip of his beer - blech! a sip is all i ever wanted and it totally grossed me out and turned me away from alcohol until i got to college and tried liquor :P the most i ever drank was in college but i drank fairly responsibly and usually only drank until i got a buzz. i didn't want to get drunk and act like an idiot like the other kids around me! i never drank in HS, partly b/c i was a "good" kid and partly b/c i wasn't really exposed to it that much. the friends i hung out w/weren't big drinkers and when they did drink i wasn't usually around b/c my parents were very strict about when i could go out, setting a curfew, etc.
my parents were very strict about many things but they didn't make alcohol super taboo. my dad only drinks socially and my mom can't drink (like manyy Asian people, she lacks the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme). i think they just raised me to have the right attitude about alcohol (ok for adults and in moderation) so i never really "rebelled" and got super drunk in college.
now i pretty much just enjoy a cocktail from time to time. i can count on one hand how many drinks i've had since Miss A was born, since I am still BFing her. i've had 2 in the last week since we're on vacation, but i only have one drink at a time (i.e. per day) and she isn't nursing as much now so i think it's ok.
i think it's fine to let her try a sip of alcohol if we're having some around her when she is older.. mainly just b/c i am sure that, like me, she will think it's just gross! hopefully we can raise her to have a healthy respect for alcohol consumption in moderation and she'll know and understand that getting drunk and becoming an alcoholic are just not that attractive.... (not saying that everyone who gets drunk becomes an alcoholic, just saying i hope she will see those 2 things as not that fun)
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
Similar story here. My dad's European and sometimes let me drink beer mixed with 7-Up when I was a kid -- just as it's introduced to young kids where he's from. He was also very upfront when it came to "taboo" things such as the human body and sex. His philosophy was that by making some natural things x-rated or hiding them from kids, it glamorizes them and makes them seem unnecessarily appealing. So instead, he had many discussions and educated me to have healthy relationships with the "vices." That worked well with my personality and I never abused the freedom I had. I don't smoke, rarely drink and also would rather have my son see a naked lady showering in a film rather than some of the violence on American TV today -- so we'll probably try to take a similar approach with A once he's old enough to understand.