What Was Your Family's Policy on Alcohol Consumption When You Were a Child?

[marylander1940]

While my parents didn't let my brother and me throw back six-packs, we did get champagne at birthdays, sips of cocktails, and the occasional quarter-can of beer.

 

a little is ok... they said. Later on in life they warned about how dangerous it was and I a cousin "scared me straight" into not making drinking a daily thing.

[spider]

Parents didn't drink. So, not on offer for any of us growing up.

[+ Topseed]

My parents had at least one tall Scotch and soda every evening. Sunday morning breakfast included a shot of Crown Royal with a grapefruit juice chaser. I didn’t think that was unusual until I went away to college and then I realized they both drank far more than my classmates’ parents. Far more.

 

I enjoy a cocktail or a glass of wine, but I can take it or leave it. I consider myself fortunate to not have alcohol so present in my life the way they did.

[rocky]

Well I thought this was about parents drinking so a bit confused about some of the responses. My father was a bartendar all his life and a World War 2 vet when the American Legion and VFW flourished. He drank heavily but so did his friends. My mother would drink coffee through the day but had some wine or a scotch fizz on the rocks but would also be up at 4am to go to work. So I grew up in a household of hard drinking and hard smoking family but it was common and I didn't know any better.

[+ WilliamM]

a little is ok... they said. Later on in life they warned about how dangerous it was and I a cousin "scared me straight" into not making drinking a daily thing.

 

You are lucky, only may mom lived for quite a while. Our dad died when my younger brother was in the fifth grader and has never completely recovered, nor have l.

[+ MysticMenace]

I always think knowing a posters’ age helps put these questions in perspective. I’m 37. Grew up in a dry house where alcohol just wasn’t present. I didn’t try my first drink until after college when I was touring Europe in 2004. I didn’t pick up another one until very recently when my social circles tried to make me into a wine connoisseur. It was too late and it all tastes like NyQuil to me.

 

I’m vacationing with friends now who are trying to introduce me to assorted vodka brands mixed with juice and Hennessy with soda but it all tastes gross to me.

 

even a Long Island is gross? or margarita? or sangria?

[+ Coolwave35]

even a Long Island is gross? or margarita? or sangria?

All of it!

[bostonman]

I enjoy the taste of just about all beverages - except beer. Beer totally grosses me out. So I can certainly understand someone who doesn't have a taste for alcohol at all. (After all, beer is a tremendously popular drink - and I sometimes feel like an outsider because I hate it, lol.)

[Islesguy]

I never saw my father drink so I was never sure if he ever did. My mother has always hated the taste of alcohol so she never drank. My sister and I were allowed to drink on holidays. I didn't drink anything besides wine (hate beer) until I was in college when I started some heavier stuff, mostly different types of whiskeys and cordials. I've since added gin cocktails to my repertoire. I've only been drunk once when I was served large cannolis laced with some sort of liquor in a restaurant while underage. They didn't tell me it had alcohol in it and didn't card me. Didn't enjoy the hangover the next morning so I make sure never to reach that point.

 

My sister, otoh, went to a party school and was a major binge drinker for a long time. She's cut back her drinking so much in the last few years, she can't tolerate it as much. Funny how that works.

[+ Lucky]

Alcohol is best avoided. I never had an interest, so drank very little and finally just saw that I was only being social, so I stopped altogether. The pressure to have a drink with others was immense, so I found that if I said I don't drink at all there was less pressure.

[TruthBTold]

Well I thought this was about parents drinking so a bit confused about some of the responses. My father was a bartendar all his life and a World War 2 vet when the American Legion and VFW flourished. He drank heavily but so did his friends. My mother would drink coffee through the day but had some wine or a scotch fizz on the rocks but would also be up at 4am to go to work. So I grew up in a household of hard drinking and hard smoking family but it was common and I didn't know any better.

 

Being Italian we always had wine with dinner. I don't think we ever thought of it as alcohol. They also drank Campari in one form or another. Again I am not sure they thought of it as alcohol. We really never had the brown liquors (scotch, whiskey, etc.) I still have not. As I mentioned my aunt brought me to the gateway of gin but my parents never did. I never drank vodka nor did my parents.

[KrisParr]

The only drinks we had were water, juice, milk, Coca-cola and iced tea. Then I went to college and met some great buds.

 

Budweiser. And Miller. And Smirnoff. Indica, sativa as well. All things in moderation. Even sex, I suppose.

[samhexum]

My father owned a liquor store but barely ever drank-- only on holidays, never just to have a drink. My mother drank even less often.

 

We had a bar with the glasses & other accoutrement in the top section with a door that folded down and a shelf that jutted out when you opened the door. I used to play with that section. There was also a locked section underneath with the booze... and the key was in a shot glass in the top section. My parents were never worried about us having access. My father went to wineries when I was a kid so he could get freebies and gifts and dragged us along; the stench was so god-awful it put me off alcohol permanently. When I was old enough to go to clubs I'd order weak mixed drinks like a screwdriver with mostly OJ until I realized it was cheaper just to order a coke. I haven't even had a sip of alcohol in about 30 years... I even faked a sip of champagne at my sister's wedding. I'm a pothead, but I've never even been tipsy.

 

When I was a teen, I emptied out a couple of mostly-empty bottles, filled them with water, added food coloring, and gave them to a friend as a 'gift', and she put them in her mom's liquor cabinet. I 'fessed up a few days later before there was any chance of an embarrassing incident.

 

P.S. My dad's store was right around the corner from the subway stop in what is now the heart of hipster Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He (& my uncle) owned the building, which had 3 apartments over it. That property would be worth millions today... not that I'm bitter, of course. The store is a hat shop today.

 

 

The store, with the subsequent owner's name, but my dad's original liquor sign:

Edited February 26, 2021 by samhexum

[+ nycman]

I grew up in a home where cocktails were served promptly at 6pm.

Often saw my Mother, stone cold sober, closing important business deals at 9pm....after 6-7 Martinis.

So yeah, I grew up around alcohol. The only rule was the the first time we got plastered, it had to

happen at home under our parents supervision. Strangely enough, that environment lead me to

being quiet the teenage teetotaler and not having my first drink until I was 18.

 

My first “experience” ended with me throwing up all over the giant stone hearth in my parents

living room. My older sister‘s future husband dutifully clean everything up after I was put

to bed. I will always love him for that. The next morning at breakfast I told my sister, “well

at least we know he REALLY loves you!”

 

Also, my parents would offer cocktails to my friends while they were waiting for me to get ready

for a night on the town. My friends thought is was a trap and didn’t tell me or accept the offer for

several months. Once I realized what was happening, I told them, “my parents are kind of pissed that

you guys won’t have a drink with them”. We all had a good laugh and Saturday night “Pre-party”

drinks with my parents became a ritual for years.

Edited February 28, 2021 by nycman