Well that surprised me

There was a report in the paper recently on recent research showing that children who had been given even small amounts of alcohol by their parents were far more likely to have problems with alcohol as adults and that it’s a myth that small amounts teach them responsible drinking - and that the French who are always used as examples in the practice of giving children wine have a very high rate of alcoholism!

Here in France, children are taught to respect alcohol at a fairly young age. Thereafter one very rarely sees teenagers totally inebriated and falling-down-drunk as one does in UK

As children we were allowed watered down ginger wine at Christmas. And also Lucozade, which was a great treat! When I was a teenager one of my aunties used to give me a small glass of sweet sherry when I visited her. Never had anything else till I went to college.... We allowed our children a small drink when they were teenagers, but they weren't that keen until they too went to university.

My mum often told how she gave me a sip of her Cherry Brandy when I was 5. When she turned to take it back, I'd drunk the lot. Later that day I came out in hives (an all over rash..... Never got another sip of any alcohol till my late teens...

So, Granstender, just how unhealthy is your first child compared to the others?

Am with Baggs here. Children should not be harmed physically or emotionally. There are laws to cover that. If a child was being harmed by deliberate intoxication by carers that would be very wrong. If child has an occasional glass of dilute alcohol pribably OK. A law is not going to prevent those adults who do not care from harming.

JackyB, I was told by my GP to drink a pint of Guinness a day during the period of breast feeding. This was in Yorkshire in 1980. My second and subsequent babies were born in the Netherlands where the GP was appalled when I told him,and I think kept a close eye on me from then on. Looking back,I cannot believe I adhered to the Guinness instruction to the letter.

Years ago after a big family meal we cleared the table of plates and leaving glasses of wine on the table were all in the kitchen washing up. A four yr old drank all the drinks on the table and was then violently sick several times. When the child then passed out we called the doctor as we couldn't wake them up. The doctor said child was ok as had vomited 8 times otherwise it could have been fatal. From that day on nobody in my home was allowed to drink any alcohol unless my children were asleep in bed. It was a lucky escape from what could have been a real tragedy.

Anyone who wastes their money on alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, heavy gambling, designer goods etc. is a fool in my eyes. As a child, I was given port and lemon or a snowball at family parties but now the most I drink is a shandy a few times a year.
It is said that the best things in life are free and they are... like a walk in the countryside listening to birdsong while we still can or paddling in the sea with a toddler laughing their heads off as they fall over in the waves. Why people get pleasure from being out of control drunk or even tipsy I will never understand.

I remember having a sip of milk stout when making christmas pudding with my grandparents. Not the same as giving me the rest of the bottle

I used to give my daughter Bombay Sapphire in a sippy cup when she was three. Never did her any harm, although she preferred Tanqueray.

I remember with shame that the doctor once told me it was OK to have a small beer or such when I was breast feeding. One warm summer evening I indulged in a glass of beer and almost panicked when DS2 (a few months old at the time) slept for ages afterwards. I put this down to the alcohol and never touched any again until he was weaned.

We used Gripe water when it contained alcohol (it doesn't now) and thought it helped with wind. If we were out visiting and didn't have any, would give a spoon of sherry instead! My husband thought it was the alcohol in the Gripe water that helped relax the muscles and release the wind, so any type of alcohol would do the job.

Gripe water for babies used to contain over 3% alcohol. Not sure if it still does.

It was common practice to rub whisky on the gums of teething babies in the fifties

In that case Nfk he did a good job.
Whisky is a very adult and aquired taste, most younger people hate it.

Apparently my grandfather gave me a sip of his whisky when I was at a tender age. It put me off spirits until I was at least 18!

When my mum was little her grandparents gave the kids a little bit of wine at Christmas. When I was a child, one year on Maundy Thursday Mum made unleavened bread for supper. We kids had grape juice and she and Dad had wine, but they gave us each a little bit of wine just in a shot glass (and not the entire glass, just a sip) to taste.

"In the olden days" - really long ago, there was no such thing as fresh tap water.
So what did children drink then?
Having said that I remember being given a sip of port wine by my grandad and thinking 'yuk'.

It could be that this is an ancient law – there are still a lot of them – brought about to protect babies from the practice of putting gin (and laudanum) in a baby's bottle to get her/him off to sleep.

I still have a small liqueur glass that my grandfather gave me the Christmas I was 7, to drink a small portion of raisin wine from.
I don’t think I suffered in any way.

My beloved granddaughter aged thirteen was allowed a tiny amount of pink champagne in a champagne flute, unbeknown to us at the time she put it on Instagram, she is now in serious trouble from her parents

When the grandchildren were younger ( 6/7?) they would always ask " what's that like" I'd say " have a sip" they would recoil in horror: yuk yuk
They soon stopped asking.

My now retired GP brother let his kids have small amounts of wine too. They're a strong strapping healthy adult bunch now.

But perhaps other people did 'need' (or just want) it to be a quasi philosophical debate, anja. Those don't do any harm either.