I grew up in a Jewish household and even as little kids we had sweet Kosher wine at seders (heavily diluted with selzer) and it didn’t seem to change our lives much. We’ve let our son have a sip or two of beer, not really out of any grand theory either way but mostly because he was curious and I don’t believe that a single sip of anything makes much difference either way (I don’t believe it somehow immunizes him against alcoholism, but neither do I believe it dooms him to it). We’ve been pretty clear with him than alcohol is poisonous and that more than a sip would make him very sick, and that even for adults it must be handled with care. He sees his dad, primarily, drink a beer or a glass of wine with dinner, and no more, and that’s probably the best modeling we can do for him. Beyond that a lot of it appears to be genetic or has to do with the kind of peers the kid winds up with during adolescence.

“…even as young as five?” Shoot, my 21 m/o and my 3 y/o have been taking sips from our beer since about age one! As in, a sip and then they’re done, they’re not sippin’ on beer all night. Clearly, I don’t see a problem with it, though the comments on the Motherlode link are pretty interesting. They both take a sip right now, and make a terrible face, but then they ask for more because they see that we like it. My husband and I certainly don’t drink to excess, nor do we have alcohol every night (couple times a week, maybe?). I guess that that’s what I take my guidance from — how we treat the drink. I don’t have a firm opinion either way. I do remember, though, that my dad had the occasional beer when I was very young. When I was old enough to ask for it, maybe around 3, he let me have a sip of something cheap and nasty. I hated it, and I really didn’t touch alcohol again until my 21st birthday. (My parents were both teetotalers for most of my childhood.) The total abstinence approach sure didn’t screw me up. I’ve been drunk a handful of times, and those were all around age 21. Now I don’t drink more than a bber or maybe two at a time because I get really grouchy and lethargic if I do. I think that there are a few different ways to approach this topic, and I’m certainly not against either cutting my kids off altogether until they’re older (though maybe I’d let them have a sip of warm, cheap beer around age 5 to kill the pleasure for them!), or against mixing wine with water or giving them a few sips of beer on special occasions. The only line I would draw, I guess, would be that I would never give them hard liquor, especially any of those drinks that taste like dessert. Deceptive!

I would allow my child to have a sip on rare occasions like champagne at New Year’s.

Eric, I still cannot STAND whiskey to this day! (It got used on one very desperate night when I had strep throat and a nasty cold…in a town with no 24 hour pharmacies…if they existed back then anyways). I did have occassional sips of my Dad’s beer…usually the conversation went “can I have a try, Daddy?” “You aren’t going to like it” “PLLLLEEEEASE?” “Okay but you aren’t going to like it…” “BLECH, here Daddy. How can you drink? ICK!” “Told you you wouldnt like it…”

As a child my parents did let us sip their kalua with milk, I thought it was good, still do. I can recall once I was curious about a container mom and dad brought from of friends house and asked to taste it. It was Mezcal (moon shine version of tequila) I didn’t ask anymore after that. I do drink occasionally now as an adult. I now have a 5 month old daughter and I don’t see the harm, once she’s older. We never snuck alcohol as teens, because we were allowed to try it at home. I have two older and two younger sisters and a couple of us drink and a couple of us don’t now as adults. I have an eleven year old niece that knows how I take my bear and margaritas, she preps them for me. She sees it as fun. She has tried them, but doesn’t like the taste.