Drinking alcohol

The Experts have put their foot in it again! Don’t let children anywhere near alcohol! It will encourage them to be alcoholics! What absolute rubbish!

Of course, easy access to excess alcohol, without restraints, would tend to encourage a child to drink more and more, because of the associated wellbeing that this could engender, and in some family units this behaviour may be prevalent. However this could also apply to other subjects, such as where there is an over abundance of food this could make a child obese if there are no restraints. There are numerous situations where a child could go ‘over the top’ if on a totally free rein. A child is a child, and he shouldn’t be left to bring himself up, he needs advice and encouragement to grow into a responsible full member of society.

A child has the right to be trained to be a responsible sociable adult. If this is perceived to require an ability to handle alcohol at a sensible social level, then a child has that right to be so trained. It must surely be agreed that a planned and controlled introduction to drinking alcohol is the only safe way to go, with a view to developing a sensible alcohol appreciation with regards to the effects of alcohol, both adverse and beneficial. Not training them is almost certainly a route to the risk of disaster!

This alcohol introduction needs to be within the family unit, where controls can be maintained. If it occurs outside such a unit, then peer pressure comes into play, where his friends can so easily be prone to goad him to take on more, and not be ‘chicken’. The chance of a child having enough courage to resist such pressure amongst such a group is not very great, unless already of very strong character. It must not be forgotten that peer groups have enormous power.

The great advantage of learning to drink within the family group is that it can also be observed what effect drink has on the parents, and how the parents approach to their children can change when under the influence, and from this the child should be able to learn how tolerance can affect the overall result.

The other very important lesson that can be learned from within the family unit is that where the reins are relaxed over time, how it is that the extra drink can affect their behaviour. Most of the time, because they are not in their peer group where there are external laddish pressures, they can learn from it and develop their own tolerance levels, much to their benefit later in life.

A child has the right to be brought up to appreciate how alcoholic drink can effect them in a family unit where outside pressures are not prevalent, and where they can be guided to develop their future acceptable tolerances in a loving environment. Of course, this reasoning falls flat if the family unit is not balanced or loving. Nevertheless the child has that right.

The starting age of having an alcoholic drink is relatively irrelevant, as the quantity offered would be dependant upon the age and the resultant effect on the child, the quantity being altered as they grow, always keeping the effect on the child to a bare minimum whilst of sufficient strength not to go beyond that which is acceptable, but also bearing in mind that they need to learn what effect just a little too much has on them. It should all be part of the learning curve towards being a responsible adult.

Where a member of the family unit is often ‘plastered’ then a child of that unit may well consider that that is normal, and follow the same pattern. In this situation it has to be accepted that it is very difficult! That child could either be similarly often ‘plastered’ or could go totally the opposite way and become tea total. A child has the right to be steered between the two, if possible.

A child has the basic right to be alcohol trained, starting in his early years, in order to be able to keep within, and not exceed, the tolerances accepted by society. A child has that right!