College. And I would hope that my adult children would limit it to wine and not hard alcohol. Don't mind them drinking in front of me as adults but would prefer they didn't get hammered.

Anonymous wrote:When would/did you start to allow your DC to have an occasional alcoholic beverage (beer, wine, etc) to drink with you and other of-age relatives in your home? How did you come to your decision? When did your parents allow you to drink alcohol in their presence?

21 unless enlisted.

Isn't the law 21? I don't understand how you allow your child to break the law. So then you are in a situation where some laws are OK to break and others are not? How do kids learn right from wrong. Very confusing to me.

We're not quite there yet but probably once the son goes off to college (he's a HS junior now). We're parents of friends who have let their kids drink since 16 on camping trips. One of my son's childhood friends- not close anymore- has been going to bars with his parents since 14.

Here's a little wrinkle to throw you DC folks in a tizzy- in Wisconsin it is legal for a tavern to serve alcohol to a minor with a parent present and consenting. Chew on that one.

21. There are parents who let their children have parties with alcohol in high school. I just don't get it. Why would you encourage your child to drink?

15 or 16

Anonymous wrote:

Kids typically don't actually like wine - they are drinking cheap beer and vodka.

Girls definitely do.

Not mine - too many calories for too little effect.

Honestly I am European so I was having sips of this and that around age 13. But I have read about how if a child ingests alcohol before the age of 15 they are literally changed, chemically and deeply more likely to develop problems with alcohol as adults (see book on Teenagers by David Bainbridge).

So honestly I'd like to keep my kids off it for as long as possible. Probably till 17 or 18.

Kids typically don't actually like wine - they are drinking cheap beer and vodka.

Girls definitely do.

21. My parents let me drink earlier. While it didn't hurt me, I don't feel like there was any benefit to it, so really what's the point?

Anonymous wrote:I'd allow a little big in high school, maybe 16 or 17 years old. This just takes some of the mystery off and allows for actually teaching how to drink alcohol. I think waiting for them to discover it at age 21 is just dangerous.

I don't think it teaches them to drink alcohol, it teaches them that you are okay with them drinking. That's a slippery slope in my opinion.

And they don't discover it at 21, the latest is at 18 when they go to college, but likely earlier with cans of Natural Light in high school.

Kids typically don't actually like wine - they are drinking cheap beer and vodka.

Anonymous wrote:When would/did you start to allow your DC to have an occasional alcoholic beverage (beer, wine, etc) to drink with you and other of-age relatives in your home? How did you come to your decision? When did your parents allow you to drink alcohol in their presence?

Option of wine at Thanksgiving and other big meals sometime in HS. My parents let us drink when we came back for winter break as a freshman in college.

Anonymous wrote:I think 16 is good

+1

My kid is 5, so it hasn't come up yet.

Myself? I was maybe 10, 11? A couple of tablespoons of wine, with water, at very special occasions (like Christmas).

I allow my 18 year old to sip my wine or have a glass with dinner very, very occasionally but only if it's just our nuclear family and it's only one glass.