Kids should be allowed to booze at home – I let my 16-year-old son do vodka shots

WILL you be letting your children have alcohol this Christmas?

It isn’t illegal for kids to have a sip at home from the age of five but health expert Dr Aric Sigman says access to booze at a young age makes addiction more likely later on.

Here, Claire Dunwell asks two mums . . . 

No, says Hannah Verdier

HANNAH VERDIER is 50, in a relationship, and lives with daughters Mimi, 13, and Evie, ten, in Sydenham, South East London.

The writer says: "There is no way my daughters are having a sniff of alcohol at home until they’re old enough.

Booze is the catalyst that makes me dance, giggle and pick a fight over nothing, but tweens and teens already possess those skills, so why would parents fuel it by giving them gin?

I’ll be cracking open the cava this Christmas, but it’s off limits for the kids.

When I was two years old, my beloved French grandpa ordered me a small glass of red wine to go with my rare steak so I’d “get used to the taste” — but I spat it out in disgust.

In France, exposing your kids to a little of life’s boozy luxury early on is believed to encourage moderation.

But did sampling a fine Beaujolais as a toddler mean I grew up to be a sophisticated model of French moderation? No.

I was drinking endless pints at university and then I staggered through the Nineties in a hungover haze.

Only now do I realise I would have been so much healthier and happier if I’d had a stop button.

And I wouldn’t inflict how rubbish I felt after a session on a moody teen.

Any parent who offers their kids alcohol is asking for trouble.

Hannah Verdier

Statistics show that nearly half of 11-to-15 year olds have had a drink of alcohol, but their rational “thinking brains” are not even developed until they’re at least 16.

I’m a laid-back mum but the UK’s chief medical officers recommend an alcohol-free childhood.

Boozing is linked with lower inhibitions that can make you do some really stupid things and it’s up to me to protect the children from bad choices.

At their ages, their mental health is fragile and the last thing they need is the dreaded “hangxiety”.

Our job is to nurture our kids at home, not encourage them to spin out of control, so any parent who offers them a depressant like alcohol is asking for trouble.

If they fancy a tipple at home when they’re 18, I’ll have no objection.

The time will come when the girls drain my drinks cabinet or come home worse for wear, but I hope that’s years away.

The thought of them drinking in secret sooner than that fills me with horror and if that happens I’ll ground them until they’re 35."

Yes, says Natasha Harding

WRITER Natasha, 46, lives in Bude, Cornwall with her husband Paul, 51, who runs a wholesale firm, and their two children Zak 16, and Lexi, nine.

She says: "There is no locking up the booze in our house because, sooner or later, teenagers will get their hands on the stuff.

My son Zak is among the 43 per cent of young people aged ten to 17 who say they have had an alcoholic drink.

This Christmas, he and his dad will crack open a beer or two together to celebrate.

As his parents, we would sooner he experiments at home — not behind our backs.

Finding him slumped on a park bench with no parent in sight is a far more terrifying prospect.

We encourage him to drink in moderation, which avoids him feeling the need to sneak around.

Zak was 15 when he had his first taste of beer.

Since then, it’s become a regular thing but there are limits.

He has no more than five lagers or ciders across a weekend.

The prospect of finding my son slumped in a park is more terrifying.

Natasha Harding

While I allow him the odd shot of vodka, he knows to steer clear of spirits like whisky and brandy while his brain is developing because I think the hard stuff is too hardcore at his age.

With Lexi, I will be open with her too but more cautious.

She’s autistic and has ADHD which means she will be more vulnerable to the affects of alcohol.

I know children whose parents ban them from alcohol entirely and they’re the ones sneaking out to parties in the middle of the night — unlike Zak who knows that honesty is the best policy on every front.

Letting him have a drink isn’t a slippery slope either and it’s ridiculous to think it will encourage binge-drinking later in life — in fact, the opposite is true.

During their teens, kids push boundaries. Ban them from booze, and they’ll want it more.

We’ve converted our garage into a “boy cave” for Zak and his friends and, if they want to have alcohol, I insist on first messaging their parents for permission.

Because I am so open, the kids don’t feel the need to sneak around and isn’t that what every parent wants?

There have been times when Zak’s had one too many and suffered the next day but that’s a learning curve — and he doesn’t get any sympathy.

I would rather know what he’s up to. It’s better under my roof than someone else’s"