I’ve struggled with this and tried to piece together some family policy about alcohol consumption but I’m not sure what’s best. My parents had a pretty healthy attitude toward alcohol. It was drank sparingly. But Dh was an alcoholic. His parents are currently struggling with alcoholism. His grandfather bankrupted the fmaily with his alcoholism and HIS father disappeared from the family and was never found. Everyone suspects alcoholism had something to do with it. We just found out after doing some research that my birth father struggled with alcoholism his entire life (I was adopted at birth), so it’s possibly a genetic issue on both sides of my kids’ family.
Because Dh has successfully been on the wagon for 18 years, we don’t drink. It’s not part of our life. I don’t limit my kids on any other drinks- we make all kinds of yummy nonalcoholic mocktails, stock energy drinks at home, sparkling waters and sodas at our house and those get served at parties, taken on picnics and outings, etc. We don’t judge anyone else and in fact I have a couple of drink stations at our New Years Eve party where alcohol can be added. We have it in the house but it gets dusty and expires before it gets consumed. We have talked at length and included our kids in the discussion about their grandparents’ issues. We have told them and hopefully modeled ways to avoid alcohol at parties and professional dinners. We have tried to show them ways to make it a non-issue. Others around them will drink and that’s ok, but our kids know they are much more susceptible to an addiction if they drink or do any drugs. They just need to stay away from it or it will likely ruin their life, their career, etc. Ds1 said he’s had some at college but it was beer and it tasted nasty. He said his best friend at college is addicted and even knows he’s addicted but can’t stop himself. We are in Italy now and he’d like to try some wine but I remind him it’s not smart to taste it. What if he likes it? What if he wants more? And then more? Is it worth going down that road? He’s seen up close what it can do to people’s lives.
It’s a tough topic, for sure.
" I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent." Mahatma Gandhi
"This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesn't solve any problems." Martin Luther King, Jr.