KIDS BOOZE BAN HARD TO SWALLOW

27-04-2007

Has someone at Alcohol Concern been at the bottle? They’re suggesting today that parents who gives booze to kids under the age of 15 should be prosecuted.

The charity’s verdict comes in a report today called Glass Half Empty, which claims that that alcohol consumption among 11-13 year olds has rocketed.

I’m sure it has - but if anyone thinks that’s because youngsters are sitting down and having a glass of wine with their mum and dad at meal-times, they aren’t living in the real world.

Kids try to get hold of the "demon drink" precisely because it's theoretically out of reach to them - in Britain, it marksthe thresholdof adulthood. Increasing the taboo is unlikely to make it any less available, but will surely enhance its glamour - as well as penalising responsible parents.

The contrast between our attitude and that of our Mediterranean cousins is as striking as it’s inevitable - children there grow up with wine at every meal, and from a young age, they are encouraged to sample a watered down version of the real thing.

Kids quickly grasp the idea that alcohol is a gentle social lubricant to enhance conversation - not firewater to make you a better fighter at chucking up time.

There are so many things wrong with our attitude to alcohol - it’s glamourisation in the media, it’s consumption in anti-social boozing barns, it’s easy availability to children from dodgy shops happy to sell to under-18’s.

But in the home? Under parental supervision? That’s not an alcohol problem, my friends. That’s part of the solution.