What age did you first consume alcohol?

[anvi]

I think I was 9 when my dad let me drink three small glasses of white wine on Christmas eve.  I think he wanted me to go to bed early.  But I distinctly remember feeling buzzed and was hooked immediately.  They didn't let me have any more though, and the next time I drank was when a friend let me drink two beers during Monday Night Football at his house when we were both 13 and his parents were away.  I'm happy to say that this training from an early age has prepared me well for life.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

When I was 13 I was allowed to have a little champagne for the 2000 celebration.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

14 or 15. I only get drunk once a year. I don't particularly like beer or wine, but whiskey is pretty fun.

[Indy Texas]

15. Sometimes on weekends I'd stay up really late watching movies alone and after my parents had gone to bed I'd just help myself to some beer and wine. (I'd always bury the cans at the bottom of the trash can and hand wash the glasses and put them back so they'd be none the wiser.) I never got invited to any parties though, so I was always accustomed to drinking alone.

[Associate Justice PiT]

It's so sad that so many people here are self-denialists.

     What's sad is that some people feel the need to badger folks for not wanting to drink. I've drank a few times in social gatherings and I personally don't care for it. If someone doesn't want to touch it, that's nobody's business but their own.

Oh please.

I have no interest in badgering people, but I do find it silly when people make a virtue out of self-denial. You don't like it? Great.

     You must find many things silly then, since self-denial as virtue is a central theme in quite a few religions, including Christianity. Not saying that I ascribe to that value, just that it is an odd thing to be amused by.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

My first communion was at 6, and I drank the wine so I could be a big boy, so I'd say then. Never had a recreational drink outside of church.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Never (over 21), and I plan on keeping it that way.

[DemPGH]

I was probably 10 or 11 when my dad let me have a slurp of some light beer that he had, and honestly I thought it was nasty. Ha, funny how tastes change. Had my first actual glass of wine at 15 or 16, probably, and liked it. I never thought I would like wine, but I did!

[TNF]

19 (grew up in a Southern Baptist household)

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

19 voters are prudes.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

It's so sad that so many people here are self-denialists.

     What's sad is that some people feel the need to badger folks for not wanting to drink. I've drank a few times in social gatherings and I personally don't care for it. If someone doesn't want to touch it, that's nobody's business but their own.

Oh please.

I have no interest in badgering people, but I do find it silly when people make a virtue out of self-denial. You don't like it? Great.

     You must find many things silly then, since self-denial as virtue is a central theme in quite a few religions, including Christianity. Not saying that I ascribe to that value, just that it is an odd thing to be amused by.

Well isn't it wonderful to live a society where one can be amused by things that one finds (personally) odd.

I respect people's rights to live as they see fit (naturally provided that those rights don't impinge the rights of others), that doesn't mean I can't personally find things odd or strange.

[© tweed]

allowing your kid that yearly sip is probably a good thing.  when he hits 13/14 turn it into a small glass.  it removes the forbidden fruit allure of alcohol and gives him an idea of how to use it safely.  drinking alcohol safely (or 'responsibly') is a learned skill.

This is pretty much the way we've raised our kids.

good, I hope it worked out.  Stanton Peele more or less endorses this approach in his book Addiction Proof Your Child: A Realistic Approach to Preventing Drug, Alcohol, and Other Dependencies.

[patrick1]

Drinking and getting drunk started with friends around 12-13 and continued relatively unabated for a couple of decades. Had some fun times, had some horrors.

And Tweed, that doesnt always work.  My parents were permissive when it came to drink and it held no forbidden allure.  I suppose my environmental circumstances put it on a mantle and I had a genetic perfect storm to contend with.  Overall, I agree that demystifying drinking and being realistic is better. I saw a lot of kids in college who never really drank in High School crash and burn because they were finally let free of their parents watch and went wild.

[Goldwater]

19 voters are prudes.

No drinking when you're below the legal age makes you prude? In that case, shouldn't the 3 people that voted 21 also be considered prudes?