Your personal opinion: Why/Why not, is it wrong for a 13 year old to have a bit of wine every once in a while?

Answer 1

because a 13 year old is under the legal age and breaking the law

Answer 2

My personal opinion:-

I have no problem with a 13 year old having a 'Small' glass of wine/beer/lager with a special meal, or say as a 'Toast' for Christmas, or at a Wedding etc, so long as it is only a glass, and the parents are aware of it, and can monitor/control the amount being drunk so as to protect the child from becoming intoxicated!!

Though a contentious issue: as you can not legally by alcohol from an off licence or pub until you are 18... at 14 (here in the UK): you can legally drink beer and Perri with a meal in a pub/restaurant anyway...so I don't think a year in age will make much difference!!

The problems arise: when the child is going taking a drink with his/her peers down at the local park, where what is being drunk, and the amount, is not being monitored or controlled!! And we all know the results of that!!! lol

Answer 3

Health wise, a little bit of alcohol probably doesn't cause that much harm. I have been a bit since I was a kid (under 13); used to have soft drinks and whisky mixed. I still have a whisky every now and then, but I don't think I abuse. Health wise I'm fine.

I think the key is what else comes with the drinks. I was brought up knowing I shouldn't hide things from my parents. So if I drank, I drank in front of them; if I wanted to smoke I would have done so in front of them. (They smoke, I don't; tried but it just didn't appeal to me).

Furthermore, I used to drink when my uncles were around and we were having a family gathering.

I guess that as long as responsibility and the proper social context are there, a little bit of alcohol is perfectly fine. I actually that this type of context helped me take responsibility for what I do since a young age, and I also think that that's a good thing.

Answer 4

Although I hear that people in France and some other European countries regularly serve wines with meals to children, I don't know the alcohol content or if they water it down. The bad idea with giving wine to minors, besides it being illegal, is that alcohol destroys some brain cells in everyone. Since a youth of 13's brain is still growing it wouldn't be a good idea.

Answer 5

The Irish attitude towards drink has often been an unhealthy one. Binge drinking is too familiar especially these days. People don't drink socially, they over drink and drink to cover up hurts in their lives.

The Europeans have a much healthy outlook on drinking they socially drink alot of the time with food. Yes teenagers would drink in France with their parents but I wouldn't give a young teenager in Ireland a drink. It doesn't stay within a safe context of the interest of the child.

An age limit is there for a reason to protect children's interests as been smaller. It can lead to unplanned pregnancy, and alcohol dependency, binge drinking at an early age.

An unsupervised child does not understand the risks and the effects it has on your system in taking alcohol and smoking, but an adult should! Alot of It comes down to what the adults responsible attitude is and the environment around them.

Answer 6

Once in a while, a BIT of wine won't do an average 13 year old any harm but it does rather depend on the environment around him/her. A lot of pissed adults pressing him/her to join in the fun or a friendly family meal where wine is discussed and appreciated are two very different scenarios. I favour the latter.

Answer 7

i believe in this day and age kids should be introduce slowly into alcohol . from my own experience it was thumped it to me never to touch it ,that it was a bad thing and guess what I'm more or less a alcoholic. to buy the booze nowadays is easy !!!
it is better to educate the kids about the effects and what it does to your body and for the parents to introduce it rather than age restriction (they will let you breed(16 in UK) but you cant have a pint till your 18 maybe I'm drunk again but i think there is something wrong in that decision
anyway back to the question no i don't think is is wrong at 13 to drink wine as long as it is under parents supervision

Answer 8

If it's very occasional with parents/family no problem, but if it's with friends then that could be setting you up to be too reliant on alcohol as a means of relaxing, socialising or being more confident as an adult. Other reasons are that physically it's just no good for a body thats still developing.

'Children and young people will be more affected by alcohol than adults who are generally bigger and have developed more tolerance to alcohol. The same amount of alcohol will make them feel more drunk, and could cause damage, alcohol poisoning and coma much sooner than it would in adults'. (See source)

Answer 9

Every once in a while? Most of the 13 year olds I've known seem to whine all the time!

Answer 10

In the Med it is seen as normal, although they do tend to dilute the wine with lemonade.

I think it is a good thing, the teenager learns that alcohol is a thing that is to be enjoyed as part of a meal and with family, and not only as a means to lose inhibitions and get drunk

Answer 11

It's illegal.

Your liver cannot repair/ function as much as that of some one who can legally drink alcohol.

You'll get drunk that much quicker and unfortunately - you'll get sicker...that much quicker.

You may think you are all sophisticated drinking 'wine' however, your body has not fully developed the coping-mechanisms used to handle even the smallest amounts of alcohol and you could be giving yourself long term damage.

Even if it means waiting just until you are at least sixteen (if you really cannot and absolutely will not wait till you are eighteen) please stay off the alcy.

Don't become another statistic!