Nicomorphinist
Bluelighter
That's interesting. I can see that method going either way. By actually allowing the kids to drink, they could go on to become an alcoholic. I'll leave the parenting to the parents (wise parents, not just any dummies who reproduce). That's why I opted out of the parenting business. Who needs the headache.
Folks who did that have told me that the follow-up was along the lines of "See, that's all the stuff is" and pointing out that one really does not want alcohol running around in their system any more than necessary (vehicle for medicines and so on) before one is in their early 20s or so because the brain does not stop developing until 23-27 or so, and it is one of the drugs with actual organic damage potential to, well, just about every system in the body if indulged in too much.
It is also food, of course. I started having wine and digestifs with meals with the family when I was 12 or so as did most everybody else and there really were not the same problems with young people when I was that age, and drink almost nothing these days because my liver, even though it is perfectly healthy, apparently can process alcohol, my medication, but not both. The two opinions I hear on whether getting to a more integrated and reasonable Austrian-type situation with alcohol in the States would take 100 years or it could be done quickly "It's not rocket science" and I am thinking there are elements of both that are true. I also notice that the world-record holders for absolute-alcohol equivalent per capita per annum consumption, the Czech Republic, also do not appear to be a besotted Lord of the Flies type situation either . . .