s/o one alcoholic drink with dinner thread

[ElizaG]

We're fine with wine, beer, and cider in front of the children.

 

I have some reservations about the harder stuff, especially when it's combined with fruity mixers and soft drinks. From my own experience, people in our circles are more likely to overindulge (often by mistake) when those sorts of beverages are served. They also don't really fit with the cultural heritage that we'd like to pass along. Except for something like the occasional single malt. Mmm, Band-Aids. ;)

[Laurie4b]

"Would you drive them if you had gotten less sleep than usual the night before? Also a risk."

 

I wouldn't be taking them out to eat at all if I were sleep deprived, and I thought we were discussing impairments caused by things that might be imbibed while dining....

 

"Then the would do the breathalyzer, and realize you were not over the limit. No problem. By the way, why would they stop you?? Are you saying you might speed while driving another person's child? How risky."

 

Actually if we proceeded back to the child's house and the first thing they told their parents was all about our police stop and my being checked for alcohol levels, then yes, it might be a problem between my family and theirs. And I was thinking of other times I've been stopped as an officer suggested that my stop had been a bit too "rolling;" stopped to tell me I had a signal light out or a brake light, etc. There are many reasons other than speeding for which one may be stopped.

 

The OP asked a question and since I replied shortly to the original thread, I thought I would attempt to explain to her why *I* would not do this and that it has nothing to do with religious beliefs, etc., for me. I believe I am allowed to pursue my beliefs on this issue, am I not? I have no idea why another person would wish to argue with me about my opinion.

 

There was lots of arguing on the other thread and I didn't want to continue that here. I actually asked a different question which was not about drinking and driving other people's children. It was: What do you base your practices on in terms of what type of alcohol consumption you do and don't expose your children to? It's not an opinion question, it's a "What do you do and how did you decide to do it that way with your own children?" question.

[Bluegoat]

I might have a glass of wine or beer once a week or so, and dh has a beer most evenings, or a scotch after dinner. Or in summer, a G&T. I don't have an issue with the kids seeing it, or having a taste.

 

Back in our youth in the army we both did some hard drinking, but we're too old for that now - we'd never be able to get up in the morning.

 

I noticed a few people mentioned not drinking when breastfeeding - there is really no need to avoid it. If you're drunk enough to pass on a significant amount to the baby, you're too drunk to be in charge of a baby.

[Jenny in Atl]

 

I just wanted you all to know that Dave Matthews Dreaming Tree Cabernet is good. Really Good. And inexpensive...

 

One better... Maynard Keenan also makes wine!

 

http://www.vvwinetrail.com/caduceus.html

[catz]

I grew up Congregationalist, and although our congregation was very socially liberal, there were aspects of our Calvinist heritage that were never relaxed. So the biggest shock to me after I converted to Unitarian-Universalism? Wine and beer are served at church dinners! I like it, but I don't think I'll ever get used to it. ;)

 

Another UU convert! Cheers! :D I know EXACTLY what you mean.

 

I am having a glass of wine right now. My first one in many days. I LOVE red wine. I rarely drink beer or anything other than wine. Our kids see my husband and I drink maybe a couple times a week. It is a very, very rare occasion that we'd have 2 instead of 1.

 

This is my favorite cheap red!

http://menageatroiswines.com/red.php

[ChandlerMom]

It seems like I was pg or bf-ing for most of the last 9 years, so I'll have a glass of wine a few times a year. We have seen/felt the impact of alcoholism in our extended family/friends, so we just...don't. I don't think the kids have ever seen the kind of gathering where anyone was drinking more than one drink -- it's just not part of OUR lives. ;)

 

I just read an interesting article about the liver and alcohol, saying that it's better for your liver to no drink every day:

 

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20111024/Three-dry-days-a-week-reduces-risk-of-alcohol-related-liver-disease.aspx

 

Maybe it's as simple as drinking daily is just not a good habit? Just one more consideration.

[cindergretta]

Interesting, very interesting. :D

 

We aren't drinkers. I don't know why. We don't buy alcohol and we rarely drink alcoholic beverages. There is exactly one alcoholic drink in the world I like (OJ, Malibu, and grenadine.) My dc have been around people who are drinking in moderation and we have talked about drug and alcohol *abuse,* but drinking a glass of wine with dinner or having a beer around a campfire is hardly earth-shattering within our family. Dh can drink one beer for 4 days! :lol: (J/k! He sips on it all evening and tosses it. Who wants a 4 day old beer???)

 

We don't have alcohol in our home and it isn't because we are teetotalers, our religion doesn't ban it, we aren't philosophically opposed to it... We just never buy it and when it is brought into our home by others, it sits around until we get sick of it taking up room in the fridge. (I do have a bottle of Bailey's in my freezer in the garage from 2006 when my sister came to visit from Germany! :lol: And the owner of dh's company also is a part owner of a winery and will often give dh a bottle of wine. I think those end up being given to people who enjoy and appreciate wine, as we don't.)

[nono]

I just read an interesting article about the liver and alcohol, saying that it's better for your liver to no drink every day:

 

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20111024/Three-dry-days-a-week-reduces-risk-of-alcohol-related-liver-disease.aspx

 

Maybe it's as simple as drinking daily is just not a good habit? Just one more consideration.

 

Oh, I can believe that. Hence, my wish for non/low alcoholic wine. :) Everything in balance, eh?

[LaxMom]

I grew up with parents who drink when they want to. A beer, a glass of wine, a cocktail, no special occasion is necessary but it's also not a regular occurrence. Now, my parents each have a glass of wine with supper pretty much every night.

 

If I'm drinking, it's rare that my children aren't with me. Again, it may be a glass of wine with dinner at someone else's house (because wine would turn to vinegar before I finished it here), a bottle of cider, a rare cocktail... I cook with alcohol, so they have sherry in cream soups or French onion soup with port as a regular thing and notice if it's left out.

 

My rule has always been - as it was when I was a kid - that they may taste whatever I'm drinking. There's no mystery there, no alluring unknown. It's funny when one of them asks what I have then wrinkles their nose and says "no, thanks. I don't care for ____ ". People are so scandalized.

 

We generally don't take them places where there is drunkenness, though, so they only see people drinking moderately and responsibly (ie at a friend's wedding, I had a couple of cocktails, but my husband didn't because he was driving).

 

So far, the eldest tends bar but isn't much of a drinker. The others are too young to guess, but they don't seem to give alcohol much of a thought at all.

 

Eta: I'm :lol: at the morning sluggishness comments. I'm firmly in the stage of my life where I feel hung over if I'm up past midnight, no matter what I'm doing. Sad, sad days. :D

Edited October 26, 2011 by MyCrazyHouse

[mcconnellboys]

Our family got in trouble over a Sidney Sheldon novel once! We had recently moved here and my mom brought a big pile of books to me. She had borrowed some from me and mistakenly got rid of them (I had asked her to return them), so she guiltily brought me a pile of her romance novels, instead (which I detest)....

 

The stack was on the floor in my living room walkway area where she had left them and my older son trailed in with a neighbor boy. They knocked the stack over, and there was a Sidney Sheldon novel that had a lady photographed from the back, in silhouette. I think she was holding a glass of wine or something. Her back was all that showed and it did look like she was naked....

 

My son went, "Ohhhmmm, she's naked!" The other boy looked, but I don't recall him saying anything.

 

Well, he must have gone home and reported that we had "books with pictures of naked women at our house" because we started noticing after that every time any of the rest of his family was around they sort of acted funny. He had five sisters and they all stared and glared at my husband. It was SO WEIRD, LOL! It was only after they MOVED to the next neighborhood over (could they really have moved because of us?) and after we'd talked about all the things that had happened for a while that we decided their behavior was related to the book incident....

 

You just never know how people are going to react to things....

 

I have no problems with drinking in my own home in front of my children or anyone else roaming through my home. I allow my children to taste, too. This is how I grew up and how I've always done things. I have no problems with however other people choose to handle their alcohol consumption, but I would not drink (even one) and drive with someone else's child in my car....