Home health remedies Is it right to let your kids try alcohol at home?

Is it right to let your kids try alcohol at home?

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Parenting is wild, isn’t it? From the moment your fleshy offspring enters the world, every single choice you make (or, alternatively, don’t make) will shape its future – for better or for worse.

Fortunately, the world is bursting at the seams with other humans who have done the whole reproduction thing before you. Unfortunately, they don’t agree on anything. Not one thing.

Now that teens have (mostly) stopped snorting condoms and giving each other second degree burns with cans of deodorant, the parenting topic of the moment is, once again, booze.

(Related: 8 things that happen when you stop drinking alcohol)

A survey carried out by alcohol awareness group Balance found that 43 per cent of parents think children should be introduced to alcohol before they turn 15. That way, they’re less likely to become heavy drinkers as adults. Look at France, where children are encouraged to sip wine from an early age. 

Faultless logic, you might think. So why are health advisors now urging parents to delay introducing their children to alcohol for as long as possible? 

Rather than making children less curious, starting them younger “can be a trigger for drinking”, warns Balance director Colin Shevills. France, he continues, has twice the rate of alcohol dependence seen in the UK. 

(Related: 7 signs you might be a functioning alcoholic)

Furthermore, research published in The Lancet Public Health journal revealed that teens who were given alcohol by their parents were more at risk of developing alcohol-related issues later down the line. Maybe early exposure isn’t the answer after all?

“We found that a lot of parents were not aware of official guidance around children, and were more likely to call on their own experiences growing up when making decisions about alcohol,” Shevills told The Independent.

(Related: 8 ways to combat the effects of alcohol)

“The medical advice is clear, no alcohol before 18 is the safest and best option, and absolutely not before 15. It can affect brain development and is linked to mental ill health.”

Parents of the internet may not agree, but as far as the experts are concerned, you’re best off locking the booze cabinet. 

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