Sitting on the deck, perusing the AHA forum and enjoying a wheat beer. Saw my 10 year old in the window, held up my empty glass and he came out, got the glass went down to the keg and brought me a refill without a word. What a great kid!
Canadian instinct runs deep 
Both my kids can work the taps and bring me a beer (9 and 14). The oldest one has been doing it for several years. I tell both of them if nothing else pans out they have a career as a bartender. OTOH it may be getting time to invest in tap locks.
Not to be a debbie downer but my wife showed me an article a few years ago about children that “get their parents a beer” and how statistically they are over 40% more likely to become alcoholics. Since reading it i never asked my son (now 14) to bring me any kind of alcohol for fear that i would somehow encourage him to drink.
Ironically, when i was young (from 8-9yrs old) my grandfather taught me how to make his mixed drinks for him, my uncles and his buddies (tom collins, old fashioneds, screwdrivers, manhattans, gin & tonics, etc) and I turned out ok…
I tried looking for the article but I couldn’t find it so i guess take this with a grain of salt. If i find it i’ll edit and add the url.
Just something to think about
Tony
That sounds like a load of crap to me. Too many of those “articles” aren’t really based on very sound science.
OK, now I feel guilty. Not guilty enough to get my own beer but sort of guilty.
I think a genetic pre-disposition is one of the biggest factors as well as parents and societal attitudes towards drinking.
I did a quick google search and I’m not gonna say it’s correct but apparently 4% of Canadians have a problem with alcohol versus 10 to 30% in the US (which I think is total BS). Depends on how you define it.
The thing about these studies is they fail to take into account way too many factors. Sure, Bubba sittin’ on his porch telling his son to bring him his 12th natural light could cause a problem. A well educated person who teaches values and moderation, maybe not. I do have a problem with people who hide their alcohol use from their children. If you feel the need to do that you probably shouldn’t be drinking, period.
In America there is too much negativity towards alcohol. I believe that if kids are raised around alcohol, and responsible adults who drink alcohol, they would be much less likely to drink early and often. By hiding alcohol from our children we teach them it’s okay to hide alcohol. It’s not fair to read an article that someone wrote about a study they did and immediately relate it to themselves. By all the articles I’ve read about health, I should be dead by now from salt, sugar, HFCS, fake sugar, alcohol, fat, trans fats, not enough omega 3, to much grain, gluten (don’t get me started on gluten), and 50 other things I may have consumed in my lifetime.
It very well could be! I’ll defer to your extensive knowledge of the subject since I can’t seem to produce the original reference and you seem to have a firmer grasp on the science than I do. You know what they say about statistics!
I really wish I could find it, it was an interesting read and even if the science wasn’t sound, at the very least it got me to think about how my wife and I handle the subject about alcohol around our son.
I think the way you should handle alcohol depends on the individual child. I dont believe asking your eight year old to work the taps on your keggerator puts him at any heightened risk whatsoever.
I wouldn’t worry too much unless you catch them sneaking off to cut a hole in the lake and go ice fishing with a case of LaBatt’s.
Not to be a debbie downer but my wife showed me an article a few years ago about children that “get their parents a beer” and how statistically they are over 40% more likely to become alcoholics. Since reading it i never asked my son (now 14) to bring me any kind of alcohol for fear that i would somehow
encourage him to drink.
So in other words this study says “The probability of becoming a statistic is 60% against the odds”.
I have to be Debbie Downer II. We need to be responsible and very careful with our kids when it comes to alcohol.
I dunno, for me if I was in the middle of, say, mowing the lawn, or brewing, or otherwise occupied, I would have no problem with asking one of the kids to get me a beer. Now if I was drunk, that would be an entirely different thing, but I will never be drunk around my kids (with the exception of major holidays) so it seems more like it’s similar to asking them to get me a glass of water, except they get to play with the special daddies-only machine.
If my dad had subscribed to the “don’t” bulls*** I would never have had the opportunity to try Ballantine IPA.
Could we PLEASE have more PC bulls*** in our lives… Please?
I think this is true. I also agree with Keith that parents who hide alcohol use from their kids is damaging. It turns it into a taboo. Kids should be educated about it and taught responsibility and the best way to teach them that is to be that way yourself. In no way does that mean you should hide or prohibit alcohol in your house.
How is that being a DD? Sounds like an obvious conclusion to me. Any thinking person would realize this.
^^^^^ This.
You don’t have to hide it, but you don’t need to flaunt it either and they don’t need little sips. There’s plenty of time for that later in life. Parents can do things that kids are not allowed to. Unfortunately too many parents want to be “friends” rather than just good parents.
I’m not going to argue about that, and I certainly don’t want my kids drinking or especially binge drinking. But I also have seen these “studies” recently that suggest drinking in front of your kids increases their chances of being alcoholics, and I don’t buy it nor do I think these studies have been done very scientifically and I definitely think there is an agenda behind it. But if you do feel that strongly about alcohol and kids you should probably not drink period, because that basically confirms that you think alcohol itself is inherently evil - and it sends kids a mixed message which I personally believe is far worse.
I would agree. I think getting blasted drunk in front of your kids all the time can be very damaging but having being responsible about alcohol and teaching them that responsibility instead of hiding it. How does that create more alcoholics?
I feel this way based off how I was raised and how I treat alcohol today.