Giving my kids wine

[wondersofwine]

I used to be given a glass of wine (sometimes diluted with water like in WW's home) during special occasion dinners such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's. In addition, my church serves wine (not grape juice) as part of Holy Communion and I started receiving communion when I was about ten or eleven years old. I understand that the incidence of alcoholism is lower than average in Jewish homes where wine is part of the religious tradition. I learned to drink responsibily and have only overdone it about five or six times in my life. In somewhat the same way, I was allowed to have a cigaret in the home if I requested it so it had no attraction as a forbidden object. The first cigaret I tried was at a party in junior high school but I never took up smoking as a habit and have smoked a total of perhaps 30 cigarets in my life! The last one I had was on a ski trip in Austria years ago. I don't recommend this method with illegal drugs but I think it can be effective with cigarets and alcohol along with discussion of the reasons for not smoking or not overindulging in liquor.

[This message has been edited by wondersofwine (edited 08-23-2001).]