Can Sips at Home Prevent Binges?
Lisa Adams/NYT
Parents always want to share their passions with their children. Whether you’re a fan of baseball or the blues, sailing or tinkering with old cars, few things are as rewarding as seeing a spark of receptivity in the eyes of the next generation.
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I can’t help hoping that my sons might share my taste in music and food, books and movies, ball teams and politics. Why should wine be any different?
If you agree that learning how to drink alcohol at home is the way to NOT drink like an idiot later in life, check out the above linked New York Times column by Eric Asimov.
Dr. Vaillant compared 136 men who were alcoholics with men who were not. Those who grew up in families where alcohol was forbidden at the table, but was consumed away from the home, apart from food, were seven times more likely to be alcoholics that those who came from families where wine was served with meals but drunkenness was not tolerated.He concluded that teenagers should be taught to enjoy wine with family meals, and 25 years later Dr. Vaillant stands by his recommendation. “The theoretical position is: driving a car, shooting a rifle, using alcohol are all dangerous activities,” he told me, “and the way you teach responsibility is to let parents teach appropriate use.”
QUESTION: Should teenagers be allowed to drink at home and learn how to do so responsibly? Should it be legal to do so?