Is It Ok To Let Your Kids Drink At Home?

Many parents are relaxing the booze rules at home, but is it reasonable or irresponsible to let youngsters have a tipple at the table?

- 

For most parents, allowing their children a small glass of wine at dinner might seem harmless enough. But a recent study indicates that by the age of 18, 60% of teenagers have been drunk at least once. According to research that’s been carried out by South African Breweries (SAB), the Department of Trade & Industry and the National Youth Development Agency, nearly half of SA’s high school students admit to having had alcohol, and 35% of those were binge drinkers (drinking five or more drinks on one occasion).

Rather than breaking the boozing taboo, what if parents are inadvertently normalising a potentially damaging habit? A 2012 substance abuse survey by UNISA’s Youth Research Unit found that one in two teens have experimented with alcohol, even though an SAB study indicated that most parents believe their children do not drink at all.

Research has also shown that children who try alcohol from the age of 15 could be four times more likely to binge drink at a later stage, than those who try alcohol later. We speak to two mothers who have very different views on the matter…

YES

‘ Parents should be trusted to know what’s best for their own children’

Jo Middleton, 40, is a single mom and full-time blogger. She lives with her daughters Bee, 23, and Belle, 16.