Hmmm, this is an interesting thread! It's interesting to see cultural differences in actions so obviously!

We almost never had alcohol in the house when i was growing up. My parents almost never drank (2 glasses of sherry on Christmas day, a box of liquers for my dad at Christmas and maybe a glass of Pimms at one or 2 BBQ's during our short wet Scottish summers LOL). I was given beer at my brother's wedding, where i was the flowergirl, age 2. I thought it smelled like pintpots (a shandy-flavoured gum candy you sadly can't get any more) and i wanted a mouthful. It was revolting. Age 5 i asked my daddy for a chocolate. It was a whisky liquer. It was revolting. I think had nothing more until i was about 15, perhaps a sip of wine here or there, but i never liked it or understood why people had it. Then i started to go to over-18 nightclubs. My parents trusted me and told me not to drink, my dad used to drop me off and collect me on the grounds that if i still got past the bouncers with him at the kerb i was allowed to go in. I literally NEVER drank. I didn't want to break trust. I once had a pimms at a summer barbeque, which was weak and mainly fruit and i didn't get even remotely tipsy and i got my mother's permission (it was a neighbour's BBQ) before i had it. When i was 16 my parents said i was allowed to have one drink when i was in a club. I often had none (coke or OJ is cheaper and they didn't fund me, i had a job!) but i never had more than one, because i knew their trust was precious.

Fast forward a little, at 17 i began drinking more, by which time my parents expected me to be in at a certain time and NOT be rolling drunk. I never was.

The one time in my life i was ever ill from alcohol, this was the scenario. My mum had cancer, i had quit uni to nurse her through radiotherapy, i was 18. I rarely got out of the house. I had gained nearly 24kg in weight because a lot of time i was just sitting with mum while she slept. My friend invited me out, and other friends i knew and she knew decided to give me a good night out. They kept buying me drinks, talking to me, dancing with me, in their own way they were trying to help me cut loose because they could see how hard my life was at that point. I was wasted. I went home and passed out. I woke up and threw up for 12 hours. I slept for a few hours and i was better. I was cured, i have never been so drunk again.

In Europe alcohol is not seen as such a no-no. Really, allowing a toddler a sip of beer or wine IS like letting them have a sip of coke, a bite of cake, something a bit "naughty" but not evil, not by a long way! I mean, look at the Bris, a lot of boys only have a finger or 2 of the blessed wine as pain-relief and they're 8 days old - it doesn't seem to have damaged the intelligence of the Jewish peoples these last 4000 years!

It just isn't seen like smoking or other drug abuse, i guess because a lot of us might have a glass of wine once a month, once a quarter, once a year, but smoking is highly addictive and is rarely done so infrequently (there is actually a technical term for those who can smoke the odd cirgarette without addiction developing, a "chipper" - for some reason they do not become addicted to nicotine despite repeated exposure). Also a small amount of some alcohol (red wine for instance) is known to be harmless or even beneficial whereas even one cigarette is known to be harmful.

Physical addiction to alcohol is secondary to psychological addiction - after one dose of heroin the BODY craves it, one has to drink heavily for a sustained period for the body to start driving the addiction. So of course people can become addicted to alcohol, but not because they drank some watered down wine age 10. An alcohol addiction begins as a psychological addiction to drunkeness, often because the addict is seeking escape, and the risk is one of general addiction, it's not specific to alcohol.

So, to sum up, i'm with Ryn. I was never under the impression that alcohol was anything but a slightly nasty-tasting drink adults, mysteriously, seemed to enjoy. I drink now in moderation (the weekly recommended limit or a woman i consume in perhaps 2 or 3 months). I do know people who thought it was like the Holy Grail in their teens because they'd been so shielded from it, and the lure of the banned substance held sway, and so i will be bringing DD up as i was, that it is no big deal, and not something to be excited about, but also not something we indulge in daily or even weekly. I wouldn't let her try it now, but i wouldn't freak out if someone let her try it as i was allowed to when she's still a kid. I'd rather she drinks safely than insist she doesn't drink and then have her drink irresponsibly due to the forbidden-fruit factor. As Ryn says, in the UK at least it is not drinking alcohol that it illegal under 18 it is BUYING it. In a bar restaurant here you can order full-strength wine for your kid provided they have food and you pay and they are at least 16. I won't be encouraging law-breaking, but i won't be banning alcohol either.

It's great to see such a deep cultural difference though - i can REMEMBER when drink-driving was seen as "cool" in the UK! A few massive government and police campaigns later and it's so frowned upon it's unbelievable it wasn't always so. I wonder what further cultural changes will come about in the new global communication era...

Bec