My mom told us that if we wanted to have a drink, just ask her and she would give us something to try. She herself would only have one drink on rare occasions. Her theory was that disallowing completely would encourage rebellion. She wanted to be present for any experimentation. Not that she would have thrown a kegger either, you know? She would not have provided alcohol for anyone else’s kids. I think she was pretty smart.

She also bought us cigarettes when we were in grade school and were talking about how cool certain brands of cigarettes were. Then made us smoke one. It sure cured me!

It was saying there is a correlation between a parents attitude and a kids likelihood of drinking. There are other factors at play here too.

Just because a parent disapproves of a child drinking doesn’t mean they will automatically go and drink themselves stupid, nor does it mean they will never touch a drop.

My comment was more in regard to parents I have heard say that their kids don’t pay attention to them anyway, so they may as well let them do whatever they want.

I also know people in both categories. The article was talking about a likelihood – not a guarantee of the kids actions.

I know plenty of people who’ve grown up in homes that discourage drinking and they started drinking. I also know of people who grew up in homes that encouraged drinking and therefore didn’t drink.

I also know plenty of people fit into other categories here. Perhaps there is some merit to it but from experience I can say that the article hasn’t got it together.

If anything there needs to be more communication between parents and kids. There needs to be some lets say experimenting within a responsible framework.

Sorry, if i’ve gotten fired up but i hate the attitude in the comment dude. It shows lack of understanding. I just hope that one day your kids don’t go what I went through.