sooo, another alcohol question!!

[RickinNYC]

Hey cocktail, I need another waitress!

 

[SherryNC]

Hey cocktail, I need another waitress!

You must be really drunk. That she is a he.

 

[sunni]

I used to serve alcohol for family gatherings until it became clear that an in-law had a drinking problem, then we switched to sodas only. My thought was that alcohol isn't a necessity for kid's birthdays or Christmas eve, not if it ends up distracting from the purpose of the gathering. Now that the family member is no longer with us I'll offer beer & wine again if I have it on hand. If it was my father's family I wouldn't serve alcohol for two reasons: 1) many are drunks, and 2) they always have their own with them. I've seen them pop the trunk and pull a beer out of a cooler at 10a.m. in a nursing home parking lot.

I try to be sure I'm not tempting someone who may have an addiction. If I'm not sure (say I don't know my guests that well) I play it safe and leave out the alcohol; I believe it would be wrong for me to take a chance on such a serious issue. I have a lot of respect for those that are in control of their addictions and I would never want to unwittingly sabotage their efforts.

 

[bajanswife]

Second this:
In my country you are allowed to drink beer, wine, champagne and similar light stuff at 16, liquor at 18. As a teenager I was a member of two different youth groups. : A catholic group at Frankfurt Cathedral, and a group at our Ambulance Service (Similar to Youth Red Cross). In the Catholic group beer was allowed, we had two fridges with about seven different brands of beer, Coke, Sprite, etc. People who liked a beer simply had one - no taboo (As long as you were at least 16). Everybody took care of each other and learned to handle the stuff.
The other group at the Ambulance Service was strictly 'dry'.
Both groups did field trips over a weekend every other month. In the Catholic group we never had problems on those trips, because it was nothing special for the people to have a beer - or two
With the other group we always had wild parties with heavy drinking, because it was something special to be abroad and be allowed to drink.
IMHO by prohibiting something strictly, you only make it interesting.

In Barbados we drink young too. We don't have any more alcoholics than anywhere else - in fact, for most teens who are going to drink (many don't due to religious or cultural factors), drinking is old hat by the time they get to college, so you don't find the Bajans being rushed to hospital for alcohol poisoning!

At home we try to drink a lot of water, we don't drink soda much at all, and we enjoy wine and beer in moderation. I don't see a problem with this lifestyle, and I don't mind if my kids copy it when they grow up.