03-26-2008, 10:13 AM | #1 (permalink) | |
Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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Can Sips at Home Prevent Binges?
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This did nothing to prevent me from binging when I had the opportunity. I didn't drink for taste, I drank for effect. I taught my sister how to drink and not get wasted so I thought. But I just gave her a higher tolerance so that guys couldn't get her drunk and take advantage of her. She too could binge very well in college. But she didn't continue to drink, I did. I do think that it's a good thing to expose kids to alcohol at an early age. It gives them an understanding of a very complex system and lifestyle that makes them feel more comfortable in social settings when they are older.
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03-26-2008, 10:22 AM | #2 (permalink) |
Registered User
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I think it's all about the situation. If I as a parent notice that I have some addictive qualities and those same qualities are in the children then I have to be a bit more careful about introducing the alcohol. Of course if it was used to augment meals and taught that moderation is the key then hopefully that would curb any binging.
but then.. I fully expect the kid to be a kid and try to get away with whatever they can. that's just part of life. in my own situation, any type of alcohol consumption was sinful to my parents. so it wasn't introduced in any form or manner. so what did I do? well.. I think most of you know the answer to that question. there's a fine line in this somewhere..it's just finding where it is for you and your kids. |
03-26-2008, 10:26 AM | #3 (permalink) |
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
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Being brought up as the child of children of alcoholics, I've (hopefully) been given both a clear warning and perspective regarding alcoholism. I have memories of my grandmother and grandfather being intoxicated and I developed a strong aversion to alcohol as a result. I will occasionally drink alcohol, but never in my life have I been intoxicated to any real degree nor will I ever.
IMHO, this is the appropriate behavior to model to children, but allowing them to break the law is massively irresponsible and stupid. Allowing children to consume alcohol here in the US is illegal. Teaching your children that some laws can be ignored when you know you won't be caught is a terrible lesson. If you want your child to enjoy alcohol with dinner, cook it in the meal, burning off the alcohol. I've got hundreds of recipes that include wines that you can have, but don't let your kids drink unless it's legal where you live. |
03-26-2008, 10:28 AM | #4 (permalink) |
Husband of Seamaiden
Location: Nova Scotia
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I used to live in Portugal (and we should get Little_Tippler to comment on this as well) and I'm not sure if there was a legal age to drink or not, but teenagers used to have beer in the cafes and there wasn't as much of a binge sort of mentality amonst the teenagers as there is in North America. The bar I used to work in, would get little kids coming in at night, trying to get a drink at the bar, but the bartender would just give the kid a swat and send him back out into the night. When they got older (pre-teen) and young teen age, they would graduate to a drink called a "Christo" which was cherry syrup and beer. I used to see quite young children at dinners in restaurants with their family having a glass of wine with their meals. I believed then, as I still do now, that there is nothing wrong with giving children a introduction into drinking. Better to instill your values about drinking with your children as they grow up then to have them come up with their own at some 'teenage beer drinking party.'
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03-26-2008, 09:42 PM | #5 (permalink) | |
Crazy
Location: Montreal
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My father did wise up in the end, but the damage was already done. After suffering from various health problems for ten years, he died last August of liver cancer at the age of 75. So no, I don't want a drink. |
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03-26-2008, 10:17 PM | #6 (permalink) | |
Kick Ass Kunoichi
Location: Oregon
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I have to be honest--I didn't start binge drinking in any sense until I was old enough to buy for myself. Even then, it was because that was the culture I was in (college), and because that was what my peers were doing. It was not on a regular basis, and I quit doing it many moons ago. Now, I drink wine and beer now and again, only one or two, and I am very responsible about my consumption. I'm fairly sure my parents' allowance of alcohol played no role in my choices to binge drink, and it was more about belonging in the group than anything else.
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03-26-2008, 10:23 PM | #7 (permalink) |
Confused Adult
Location: Spokane, WA
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ok so my family liked to get together and drink, a lot, my dad was alway out to sea, so it was my mom and grandparents. I was treated as an equal as I was growing up at the table and participated in a lot of discussion with them as they drank, eventually, as I became the only sober person in the room, it became apparent that they were getting dumber. like clockwork, every night ended with my grandmother and mother getting into screaming matches over religion, politics, relationships, or finances. Basically my mom couldn't do anything right in the eyes of my grandmother and I watched that relationship unfold every weekend, I eventually picked up on the trend that it was always the alchohol they blamed the next day when they "kiss and make up"
I thought it was sad, that 2 adults, would resort to childish behavior, and it just reminded me that possibly, deep down, maybe thats all we are, and we're just conditioned with our own human version of a HAL. Basically a "soft" translator between our emotions and our mouth that goes through the filters of the other person's "HAL", comes back through it as a response. the alchohol desolves away at this social conditioning as far as the topic, I agree, i drink for effect, not for taste. I drink to strip away my "agent smith" who keeps my mouth glued shut in social situations. I have social anxiety and while it may not be the best method, it works. It strips away that stress and lets me chill out and socialize. |
03-26-2008, 10:31 PM | #8 (permalink) |
Winter is Coming
Location: The North
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Drinking at home under the supervision of your parents is legal in 14 states, and unless you did something really egregious you'd probably be able to do it and get away with it in all the states. I think modeling good behavior with alcohol as well as letting kids try (though obviously not get drunk) is an excellent way to prevent binging later in life. I firmly believe that a lot of our problems with college students and alcohol is because they've never had any exposure to it before in a social setting and the novelty has an enormous draw.
The alcohol laws in this country are awful, but I think parents can and should do their best to make sure that kids have a healthier experience with and knowledge about alcohol. |
04-06-2008, 01:35 AM | #9 (permalink) | |
Leaning against the -Sun-
Super Moderator
Location: on the other side
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Quote:
From 16 onwards I was having drinks out occasionally with friends - beer, shots, cocktails. It didn't do me any harm. I'm pretty sure that if we weren't allowed it would have been worse, as in we'd make it a point to be able to get a drink any way we could. Like smoking up was a much bigger deal then, drinks, eeh. In this way, since nobody was controlling it, it was just something natural, that you can have or not, depending on what you're in the mood for. Of course there's always bingers, but it's not a big thing. Nowadays I hardly drink, only when I go out with friends, and usually only one or two drinks. Sometimes none at all. I don't see why kids shouldn't be able to taste it early on. As long as it's supervised and they are taught about its dangers. If it's forbidden, it will become an objective, for sure. I don't think, however, that people become alcoholics because they were denied booze at an early age. To me alcoholism has to do more with a particular mindset more than anything else.
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Whether we write or speak or do but look We are ever unapparent. What we are Cannot be transfused into word or book. Our soul from us is infinitely far. However much we give our thoughts the will To be our soul and gesture it abroad, Our hearts are incommunicable still. In what we show ourselves we are ignored. The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged By any skill of thought or trick of seeming. Unto our very selves we are abridged When we would utter to our thought our being. We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams, And each to each other dreams of others' dreams. Fernando Pessoa, 1918 |
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04-06-2008, 01:25 PM | #10 (permalink) |
Too Awesome for Aardvarks
Location: Angloland
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I do believe that giving alcohol to children in moderation is a good way to avoid excessive binging.
Sure of course they're going to do it, but at least if they've been introduced to alcohol, how to be reponsible with it, the effects and after-effects, then they will be better prepared when they do go out and get totally battered. I'm not going to get into alcoholism, i'm too tired.
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04-06-2008, 03:26 PM | #11 (permalink) |
Poo-tee-weet?
Location: The Woodlands, TX
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I sometimes had small glasses of wine and tastes of my dads beer when I was younger. I still drank a lot in college when school allowed for it.
In Texas a minor can drink with a parent/gaurdian at a restaurant or other place in public as long as they are with their parent (http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/LegInfo/MinorCode.htm)
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04-06-2008, 03:29 PM | #12 (permalink) |
Addict
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I don't think it matters at all whether kids are exposed to alcohol, taught moderation, told never to drink and drive or whatever.
It depends on their level of maturity, personality and how well they are learning and coping with the barrage of negative and positive affects that continue to influence them in becoming individuals. I think awareness is a good thing but too much may lead to complacency |
04-06-2008, 04:25 PM | #13 (permalink) |
...is a comical chap
Location: Where morons reign supreme
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I really don't know if moderation at home will help prevent binging in the future. My mother is an alcoholic; I didn't drink until I was legally able to do so because watching her behavior growing up totally turned me off of alcohol for a long time. My brother was a full fledged alcoholic in his early 20's. I just hope I can instill a healthier appreciation and concern for alcohol in my son than I had growing up...I want him to know it's ok in moderation but overindulgence can be harmful.
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04-06-2008, 05:32 PM | #14 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: Ontario, Canada
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My family is English - hence, most of them are booze hounds as it is part of the culture. Lots of early exposure in both a family context and otherwise. Didn't stop most of us from drinking too much.
The UK has a huge drinking problem that people are only starting to come to terms with.
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binges, home, prevent, sips |
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