You do it your way, and I’ll do it mine. I’ve talked to my son about alcohol, and I’ve advised him to not touch it until he’s college age. Early exposure to alcohol is the nearly universal experience in alcoholics that I’ve talked to, and I’ve talked to a lot. Young brains (pre-teen and teen) are are wiring themselves for the future, and early exposure to alcohol can wire them for an affinity to it. Your anecdotal success doesn’t dissuade me. I’m comfortable keeping an alcohol free house, and doing all in my power to prevent my children from consuming it.
Forgive my skepticism toward, “Young brains (pre-teen and teen) are are wiring themselves for the future, and early exposure to alcohol can wire them for an affinity to it.”
I've also been told by “experts” that pre-adolescent and adolescent brain development preclude the ability to learn algebra much before the age of 13 or 14 and calculus before one is 17.
What may be true statistically in some sense may not have much to bear on individual experience.
I've also read that nearly everyone who got into serious drug problems drank milk as a child.
Nonetheless, parents should do those things with which they're comfortable. I was just pointing out that your initial post, “Other than toasting in celebration and partaking of the Eucharist, if you are Catholic, what other reasons are there to consume alcohol? How many drinkers do you know who take a few sips from a glass a few times a year?” flies in the face of the experience of many (most?) folks. There are plenty of folks who are light to moderate social drinkers.
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