Interesting Link On Homebrewing And Exposure Of Kids To Alcohol

[drfad]

http://lifehacker.com/5836767/homebrew-wit...mystify-alcohol

My kids love helping me brew. They also know yeast is the best thing in the world because it gives me beer and pizza!

 

[bignath]

http://lifehacker.com/5836767/homebrew-wit...mystify-alcohol

My kids love helping me brew. They also know yeast is the best thing in the world because it gives me beer and pizza!

I think that column makes a lot of sense.

My parents didn't treat alcohol with fear, they taught me the difference between resposible and irresponsible consumption, and as such, i am usually able to make smart, safe and sensible decisions when it comes to consuming it.

Does it mean i don't get tanked every now and then - no it doesn't. But i make smart decisions about where i'll do it, when, what the consequences will be the next morning looking after kids etc... etc...

Will take the same approach with my little boy.
(who knows daddy makes beer, knows what hops and yeast does, but sees his dad take great passion and care with the production of it, that hopefully he will grow up to respect it, and not treat it like one great big wet paint sign.)

 

[Pollux]

My daughter is very involved in my brewing. She helps weigh grain, empty the mash tun, puts the hops in (She has been taught from a very young age that the brew kettle is hot and should be respected). She knows how to fill the kegs as she is given the job of filling the soda water one with fresh water when it runs low.

But she also knows that beer is for adults because it contains alcohol and it shouldn't be drunk by children. She knows that if I have too many beers in one night I might act silly and then in the morning have a sore head. And most importantly she knows that alcohol can be treated as an ingredient in cooking and will often go to the keg fridge and half fill a jug for me if I need it while at the stove.

It's the mystery and forbidden nature of alcohol that leads to teenage binge drinking.

 

[Nevalicious]

Absolutely fascinating subject!

Of course it has come up recently on AHB and other homebrewing websites, but no-one has said it better than this guy...

Link dragged from the link posted above.

My wife and I are currently trying for kids and this is a subject that hasn't popped up yet (obviously as we don't have any yet) but is no doubt going to come up one day...

I have seen first hand, the destructive force of substance abuse (drink and prescription drugs (friends BTW)) and it isn't pretty and didn't end well. 3 friends from years past are now dead and they were all my age (or thereabouts)

Guess what, every one of them was never tought from a younger age, how to respect alcohol and what it can do. They were let loose and look how it ended up

I'm with Big Nath. Just because I respect alcohol, doesn't mean I cannot have fun every now and then, however there is a time and place! Everything in moderation!

Nev

 

[Nevalicious]

It's the mystery and forbidden nature of alcohol that leads to teenage binge drinking.

Precisely!

 

[DWC]

It's the mystery and forbidden nature of alcohol that leads to teenage binge drinking.

This may be true to some degree, but it's also the Aussie culture
Of drinking to excess that needs to change( my god, I think I'm groing up!)
A night on the piss still means the same as it did when I was 18( or younger)
go out, get smashed , hangover, do it all over again! In most circles , the
drunker you were, the more respect from mates etc.
My kids see me enjoy a few beers now watching footy or cricket, and not overdoing
it like I used to.
Cheers

Dave

 

[Tim F]

Agree, i'll be taking this approach with my son. The other thing is if you teach your kids to appreciate the smell and taste of good beer when they are old enough, they are much less likely to be able to get into drinking megaswill

 

[brettprevans]

http://lifehacker.com/5836767/homebrew-wit...mystify-alcohol

My kids love helping me brew. They also know yeast is the best thing in the world because it gives me beer and pizza!

yup agree with article. this discussion gets a bit of threadtime on AHB semi-regularly.

I like this from the article "Geek icon Wil Wheaton also recently posted an entry on his blog on how homebrewing with his college-aged son has strengthened their relationship".

now homebrewers who are star trek NG fans can double rejoice. although it occurs to me that wheaton is 40 (accordeing to wikipedia), which means he had to have had his son when he was 22. I wonder if a bit too much college drinking lead to his son being born. there's some irony.

 

[hsb]

Sorry to play Devil's Advocate, but the musings of a brewer with kids aren't really evidence that involving them in 'demystifying' alcohol means anything whatsoever about their future lives.

I've got kids, I don't 'mystify' alcohol, brewing isn't a secret, neither is beer. But I don't drink around my kids, that seems like a more important issue to me than 'demystifying' alcohol, whatever that means exactly.

I can see it is a plus to involve your kids in your life as much as you can, them helping you brewing is just one way of doing that but the relationship between parents, alcohol and kids is a complex one imvho, and that from a kid that spent many a childhood year playing in the pub garden with all the other kids to closing time most weekend nights, and irregular summer weekday nights.

Is drinking around children a good thing? Inherently always a bad thing? I don't know, just saying is all.

If anything I would think that how you behave with alcohol is far more important in what you teach your kids, preach one thing and do another, that's 'mystifying'.

 

[WarmBeer]

yup agree with article. this discussion gets a bit of threadtime on AHB semi-regularly.

I like this from the article "Geek icon Wil Wheaton also recently posted an entry on his blog on how homebrewing with his college-aged son has strengthened their relationship".

now homebrewers who are star trek NG fans can double rejoice. although it occurs to me that wheaton is 40 (accordeing to wikipedia), which means he had to have had his son when he was 22. I wonder if a bit too much college drinking lead to his son being born. there's some irony.

Wil Wheaton has a teenage son?

I suddenly feel very, very old

 

[Batz]

 

[benno1973]

Sorry to play Devil's Advocate, but the musings of a brewer with kids aren't really evidence that involving them in 'demystifying' alcohol means anything whatsoever about their future lives.

I've got kids, I don't 'mystify' alcohol, brewing isn't a secret, neither is beer. But I don't drink around my kids, that seems like a more important issue to me than 'demystifying' alcohol, whatever that means exactly.

I can see it is a plus to involve your kids in your life as much as you can, them helping you brewing is just one way of doing that but the relationship between parents, alcohol and kids is a complex one imvho, and that from a kid that spent many a childhood year playing in the pub garden with all the other kids to closing time most weekend nights, and irregular summer weekday nights.

Is drinking around children a good thing? Inherently always a bad thing? I don't know, just saying is all.

If anything I would think that how you behave with alcohol is far more important in what you teach your kids, preach one thing and do another, that's 'mystifying'.

I agree to an extent. There's certainly no scientific studies quoted in this article that link early adolescent homebrewing to lower levels of liver disease or alcohol poisoning. God knows I was hoping that there would be.

I also agree that how you behave with alcohol is far more important.

But isn't not drinking around your kids in a sense preaching one thing and doing another? Not drinking when the kids are around says to me that you're either ashamed of your kids seeing you drink, or you don't want them to know that you drink. Not having a go at you hsb, just throwing it out there.

 

[hsb]

I agree to an extent. There's certainly no scientific studies quoted in this article that link early adolescent homebrewing to lower levels of liver disease or alcohol poisoning. God knows I was hoping that there would be.

I also agree that how you behave with alcohol is far more important.

But isn't not drinking around your kids in a sense preaching one thing and doing another? Not drinking when the kids are around says to me that you're either ashamed of your kids seeing you drink, or you don't want them to know that you drink. Not having a go at you hsb, just throwing it out there.

lol at the bit in bold!

re: drinking around kids, yes there's definitely a flipside (and some 'couch time' in there too potentially ), I am just playing Devil's Advocate as it (the article) seems like a bit of a boxticking exercise in making one feel better about one's homebrewing (and possibly) alcohol addictions and raising children.

I am minded of that drinking-passing-from-father-to-son and so on advert they run (here on Oz), it's all about lifestyle choices, it depends how you 'normalise' alcohol. Sure, keeping it a 'secret' could be doubly destructive - my kids are preschoolers so it's a bit different to those with more grown up ones. I don't think drinking at preschooler social gatherings is going to help their futures but when they're more grown up you are indoctrinating them into adult life and alcohol is a part of that.

Worst case is you lose them totally to wines and/or cocktails. 8)

 

[NickB]

View attachment 48128

Mealtimes are always fun at the Bat Cave, 'eh Jeff

 

[chadjaja]

"Weatooooooooooooon!!!! "

 

[probablynathan]

Love the fact that the first response to the Will Wheaton blog post was from John Palmer.

Hey Wil, Welcome to the obsession!
Isn't it great to have Eagle Rock brewing supplies as a local?
(Kegging beats bottling every which way from Tuesday.)
We should brew together sometime.
Cheers!
John