No harm in odd nip of alcohol for children

Feb 1 2009 by Ken Oxley, Sunday Sun

LADIES and gentlemen, I wish to propose a toast. Raise your glasses please and give thanks with me to alcohol!

Booze has been getting a pretty bad press of late, so I feel it’s my duty to redress the balance.

First of all, drink is without doubt a social lubricant that banishes inhibitions and brings people together in a way that often forms lifelong friendships.

But it’s more — much more — than that. In my book, the fermentation process that produces alcohol ranks as one of mankind’s greatest discoveries.

And I simply cannot imagine life without it . . . the wholesome flavour of a hoppy real ale, the fruity intensity of a mouthwatering red wine, the peaty warmth of a Islay single malt.

Why would anyone deny themselves such pleasures?

Of course, the secret to enjoying alcohol is to respect it. Never has the saying “you can have too much of a good thing” been more appropriate.

As a parent, I’ve always been at pains to impress this point on my children. But I’ve never made drinking a taboo.

As youngsters, they grew up in a household where alcohol was almost always around. They got used to seeing their parents enjoying a glass of wine with a meal or a nip of whisky late at night.

Inevitably, they asked for a taste and I rarely said “no”. Sometimes — even when they were as young as 13 or 14 — I’d allow them a glass of lager or beer at a family get- together.

According to Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, that makes me a bad parent.

This week he issued guidelines to parents about teenage drinking, recommending that children under 15 should never be given alcohol.

And, he went on, even those aged between 15 and 17 should not be allowed to drink more than once a week.

He said there was emerging medical evidence that brain damage can occur in those who consume alcohol at a young age and insisted: “Not drinking is the healthiest option.”

I’m not in a position to dispute this “emerging medical evidence”. However, as a parent I know that the moment you make something forbidden, it becomes much more attractive.

That’s why if my children were still under 15, I’d ignore Sir Liam’s advice on the grounds that it’s likely to create more problems than it solves.

Of course we can’t turn a blind eye to the very real issues surrounding drink, such as the rise in anti-social behaviour and alcohol-related illnesses.

But the problem is not the drink, it’s the drinker.

As I said earlier, drink itself is a marvellous thing to be savoured and enjoyed. And, in moderation, it does neither your body nor society any harm.

This is what we should be teaching our children.

Rather than banning them from touching a drop — which will only make them more curious — we should be encouraging them to acquire an appreciation of alcohol . . . and a healthy respect for it.

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