Introducing your kids to the good stuff!

Can you remember your first drink? Chances are your Mum and Dad played a big part either in what you drank then or what you've drunk since.

The greatest challenge faced by a parent is instilling in their child the ability to make good decisions. Parents want their kids to be 'the best they can be' but that won't be much if they are duds at choosing.

The most important decision a child will make, aside from picking their AFL team, is selecting their 'drink of choice'. It is critical that a parent give the right support in this most difficult of times by getting the introduction to alcohol right.  Asking punters at the recent Red Wine Weekend about their first experience with the demon drink confirmed the importance of good parenting.

It appears that children who had the good fortune to be born to parents of the European persuasion, particularly the Italians or French, had the best initial experiences. They were given small amounts of wine with their meals. Often this wine was made by the parent or some other family member. These stories also demonstrate how a lack of hysteria about drinking produces sensible behaviour. No wonder people from the Continent have produced large numbers of level headed wine lovers.

This is good parenting. It demonstrates the benefits of a controlled introduction to a small amount of alcohol accompanied by food and a positive social setting. To paraphrase all those annoying politicians "it sends all the right messages".

This doesn't mean that such enlightened views don't exist amongst Anglo parents, it's just that they don't seem to be as wide spread. Too much of the "oh I shouldn't" or "it's not good for you" attitudes spoiling otherwise very fine people.

However, introducing alcohol to young folk doesn't always go smoothly even for the most skilled and well intentioned parents.

Occasionally they don't get the chance.  

A punter recounted how, at four years old, he managed to down Dad's beer in the lounge room, Mum's wine in the kitchen and Nan's sherry in her bedroom before being run to ground by the pursuing and increasingly angry adults. This isn't bad parenting, it just means that little 'way too much initiative' Johnny will grow up being the dictator of an African country, president of some 'evil' multinational conglomerate or the 'Don' in a local mafia gang.

Sometimes other kids decide that the time is right.

Another punter's first experience was being fed West Coast Cooler until they were drunk and then sick. "My Dad gave my sisters the biggest belting of their lives" she laughed. This is bad parenting. Hitting young children in this situation is completely justified but having West Coast Cooler in the house is not.

Another mistake is having children at grownup's parties.

A punter recalled a 'friend' who, at 2 years old, was found lying under a table catching drops from a leaking cask of wine. Bad parent, naughty parent. Why, in the name of all that's holy, is a wine, even a cask one, being allowed to leak?

Finally, if a parent is going to introduce alcohol it needs to be the right one. 

Obviously this means a premium Tassie wine. Unfortunately too often punters reported being given Drambuie, Cognac or even over proof rice wine. People, this has to stop. Sure, watching a child splutter and jump about after taking a big mouthful of this sort of stuff is entertaining and, thanks to those funny video TV shows, potentially profitable but it leaves psychological as well as physical scars.

Worse, it might even turn your child off alcohol for the rest of their life. They might even become another anti-alcohol activist! Don't we have enough of them already?

So there you have it. Be a responsible parent and protect your child by introducing them to a quality Tassie wine as soon as possible. Follow the example of a well known southern Tasmanian wine maker who did just that. His daughter doesn't binge drink because "she refuses to drink cheap stuff and can't afford anything better!"

Got a good story about your first alcoholic drink?  Send us a comment