Do Children in France Have a Healthier Relationship With Alcohol?

[elleng]

'The Italian Senator Dario Stefàno proposed a bill last month that would require schools in Italy to teach one hour of wine culture a week to students starting at age 6. Mr. Stefàno clarified that the intention was to teach children about the cultural importance of wine in Italy, rather than to teach them to drink. But the idea of wine education for children would seem very foreign to most American parents.

Still, whether parents in the United States or elsewhere realize it or not, most children are already getting an informal education in alcohol consumption. From infancy, children are learning about their worlds – the rituals, practices, and languages that make their culture thrive. What adults eat – and drink – is a major part of this cultural fabric. Food selection is learned early in life, and it is social from the get-go.

One of us, Katherine Kinzler, was part of a team of researchers that found that by 12 months, babies are learning what foods are eaten in their culture. In the study, American babies were given two foods to try. One of the foods was offered by a native English speaker, who tried the food first and expressed appreciation for it. The other was tried and offered by a French speaker.

Babies tried both foods with glee – remember, babies of this age love to put things in their mouths, including dirt and dog toys. But when babies were given the choice of the two foods a second time – when they had to pick between the two foods that they had just tried and enjoyed – they picked the native speaker’s food. This is evidence of cultural learning: Babies are figuring out not just what tastes good, but also who eats which kind of food.

Even if a child has yet to have his or her first sip of wine, children are also witnessing how people drink alcohol. They are observing and learning whether alcohol is drunk with food, whether it is imbibed in groups or alone, if it makes people feel happy or sad.

How children learn about wine and alcohol consumption sets the stage for drinking habits across the lifespan. Differences in learning become readily apparent when comparing drinking behaviors of young adults in countries with a rich wine culture to those without one.'>>>

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/do-children-in-france-have-a-healthier-relationship-with-alcohol/?

[Warpy]

1. I drank beer when I was little

In fact, that's how I learned how to drink out of a glass. I also got wine mixed with water at fancy meals. I can see how children raised with it as a beverage instead of a drug might have a healthier relationship with it, but my family is also full of people on both sides who drank themselves to death.

Still, I've always thought the drinking age should be lowered and the driving age raised.

[EL34x4]

4. Today, your parents could be arrested for letting you sip beer as a child.

Instead, you will learn to drink away from home, at college, from your friends.

Is there any wonder we have problems with binge-drinking?

[Warpy]

6. No shit.

However, I always knew enough to keep my mouth shut about it until I was grown up. Since there was no novelty attached, I was unimpressed by it by the time I was old enough to get into real trouble.

[Igel]

9. Not in most states.

Various sites say 45 states permit underage drinking in present of parents/guardian (sometimes only at home, sometimes anyway), but I can't find what the other 5 are.

Not Oregon, TX, NY, or MD, at least.

[malaise]

7. Dad gave us a sip of beer

and we were taught to drink wine at special family dinners - very little but as we grew older we got a little more. What it meant is that we never ran around looking for it. None of us is more than a social drinker to this day.

[TexasProgresive]

2. The worst binge drinkers I encountered

were from teetotal families. They go into the military or away to university and slip the bonds of childhood in a scary way. I grew up in a family where alcohol was consumed at meals and social occasions. We kids got a taste if we wanted and none of us are heavy drinkers. We can take it or leave it. Many other countries have a healthier attitude about alcoholic beverages.

[malaise]

8. I only have my family's evidence but that sure is true for us n/t

[procon]

3. I grew up living in many European countries.

Wines and liquors were cooked into the foods we ate, and served at every meal. The bottles were on the table, and more were on the sideboard. As children we didn't get more than a well watered taste or wine, but thought nothing of it because if was all as ordinary and commonplace as the salt shaker. I think the key is that any sort of alcoholic drink was served along with the food, not separately.

People always had a tumbler of red table wine with their meal, and sometimes a tiny after dinner cordial, but I don't ever recall anyone getting drunk or acting crazy stupid like they do in America. We always had a houseful of guests, and they talked at great lengths about their favorite vineyard and argued over the qualities of the vintage being served.

My parents learned about wines from the different people who sat at our table, and as I grew up, all of us kids learned to appreciate wines and how to drink socially without becoming a fool. I've only gotten drunk one time in my life, and it was planned that way to celebrate a special New Year's Eve Party. All my siblings keep wine and liquors out in plain sight, and their kids have likewise become accustomed to alcohol served with meals.

[kimbutgar]

5. They gave the same attitude in Italy

I was at a restaurant in Venice and an Italian family were letting their 13 year old son have a small glass of wine. The boy then asked for a soda. In my hotel they had an honor bar and I saw kids enjoying wine with their parents in the evening. Kind of jarring but I was told later that it is part of their culture.

[senseandsensibility]

10. In the early 70's my brother and I

(aged 10 and 7) were offered wine in a restaurant in Quebec, much to the chagrin of my parents.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

11. I spend a lot of time in the suburbs of France

Saturday night there looks much like Saturday night in Orange County. Kids generally don't binge drink with their parents.