Mother puts beer in son's sippy cup

Originally posted by Panic2k11
Binge drinking is a cultural problem. ..

That is what I was trying to say...

On the continent, as alcohol is introduced to youngsters much earlier because it is part of their culture (be it the French/Italians with their wine etc), there isn't the taboo associated with it. There is no need to rebel as a teenager and get smashed if you already have access to it and have been drinking for years. I actually had my first hangover at about the age of 7, as I got into my dads beer stash and got quite legless. I didn't touch alcohol again until I was 16 and finished school. I still don't ever drink to excess or particularly enjoy being drunk, to be honest.

In the UK, we have some pretty strong taboos regarding youngsters and booze. As a result, most are kept well away from it for as long as possible and like all kids they will desire something more if it is forbidden.

This is a recent phenomenon though, as not too long ago young teenager boys could be seen in pubs and allowed to sip a pint or two, knowing they were under the watchful eye of the elders. If they stepped out of line, or mucked about, they'd be thrown out with a thick ear by the locals.

Nowadays, kids are stopped at every turn even getting near alcohol, I mean we even get ID'd for it up until 25!! I still get ID'd (I am 30) when buying the odd bottle, which leads to some rather stupid looking cashier trying to explain to me (with my 3 kids and paying on a credit card which you can only have if you're 18+) and her manager why I can't have 2 bottles of Abbot Ale.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
reply to post by intrepid

 

Or the whiskey my father use to put on my teeth as baby?

~Tenth

Back in the day my mom would give us a tablespoon of bootleg and sugar to calm our coughs when we were sick. I imagine that would probably land a parent in jail these days...but it worked damn good!

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe


Isn't that pretty much what cough syrup is anyway?

A crap load of sugar, some alcohol (of some form) and plenty of other stuff you can't pronounce but you're assured will get rid of that tickly feeling.. Only difference is it's got a brand name on it, I suppose..

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
reply to post by intrepid

 

Or the whiskey my father use to put on my teeth as baby?

~Tenth

Or the 2 tablespoons of jack with honey and lemon warmed in the microwave to kill a 3 year olds nasty cough. Do you guys know what they put in childrens cough medicine these days?

I too imagine this has been blown out of all proportion. I used was allowed to sup the froth off my Nan's Mackey's stout and Newcastle broon when I was tiny. Watered down tot of brandy for a bad tummy, warmed watered down whiskey for cough's, no problem.

Heck even when my daughter was born Gripe water was still laden with alcohol as is many a cough medicine today.

I've given my children sips of lager because they were inquisitive and insistent, but not before a warning that "You won't like it", true enough they didn't and stopped pestering. One weak mostly lemonade shandy and the same for snowballs at Christmas was always allowed since I can remember.

The bigger part of this story that I take from it isn't that a mother gave an inquisitive child a small bit of beer.

It's that people spy and report on everything everyone does.

We've made the panopticon from ourselves. And I bet the waitress was so happy to be a part of it.

And does anyone know what was in the cup to start with and if it was diluted at all?

No, we don't. But look how quickly the fires of righteous indignation can be stoked.

She told officers he "kept reaching" for the pitcher of beer.

There's an Irish joke in there someplace.

Arresting the mother is simply a waste of tax payer money. A warning might have sufficed if the mother did not have a known history of such offenses. Regardless, whether or not this was abuse is debatable.

Maybe I am just a bit sensitive to it. I watched someone go through hell with fighting alcoholism because of his parents both being alcoholics. They had him actually drinking at an early age and I remember times even at 11 years old drinking when visiting and thinking that it made me feel strange. I told my parents and was never allowed to hang out with him again.

reply to post by Rubicant13


The matter of being sensitive is one thing. We all have things we just aren't going to see eye to eye on.
The problem is we are living in a culture, a country, that encourages people to spy and rat each other out.
This woman now faces child abuse charges because of other people's sensitivities.
She faces child abuse charges for doing something that people, the world over have been doing for centuries.

To be fair, I don't know what the laws are for that state with re to wait staff reporting things. I know that usually a wait staff member cannot legally serve a minor alcohol otherwise she faces severe penalties.
But my gut says this was not about her job, this was about a waitress being a good citizen.

reply to post by SangriaRed

As far as others not minding their own business, I agree. Maybe in it's own right it's not that big a deal. There are cases where that kind of thing is necessary though. I knew a guy that was abusing his son and very badly I might add. The people that turned that @#$##%$ in did the right thing.

So the kid had a sip of beer. Big deal. Did the world end? Did anybody die?

People need to mind their own business when it comes to s**t like this.

They should arrest the waitress for being a d'bag.

reply to post by Rubicant13


There are definitely cases that people need to be a concerned citizen and say something.
It's picking and choosing what to report. Reason being is that once it's reported, it can take on a life of it's own.
And I know that from experience.
There are some things that most everyone would say is just wrong, other things...not so much.

Drawing that line is not always very clear or easy to do.

I don't think you're wrong for being a concerned person and I don't think the waitress is wrong for trying to do the right thing.
In the end, my concern is that things can be so nitpicked.
A parent makes an unpopular decision and suddenly it's abuse.

I have a number of friends who consider themselves to be 'attachment parents'.
Wow, do they get flamed on fb sometimes. Honestly, yes, sometimes, people say they're abusing their kids.
Kid ya not.




I wonder if we were less nitpicking each other we would see the bigger things more clearly and have more confidence in our decision to report those things.

:/

Beer actually has decent nutritional value. It would actually be better than juice.

A few sips won't hurt the kid. My dad used to let me sip his beer when i was little. I have always been given a little bit of alcohol.

You take the mystery out of it and kids are less likely to experiment.

My younger sister was anemic. She couldn't drink the formula that was enriched with iron. On one visit my Mother asked the doctor if our Grandfather giving her sips of beer would hurt her? The doctor said "She'll drink beer?". when my Mother told him "Yes." he showed her how to prepare it for her and how much she was allowed. She never had anemia problems again.

I was given small amounts of beer as a kid and
I am not an alcoholic. Actually I haven't had a
drink in 25 years.

Our family doctor told my parents to give beer to one of my sisters when she was little to help her appetite. Meh - it's just a little beer - which has to be better than sodas, chips, Twinkies, Pop Tarts and all the other junk foods parents pour down their kids' throats.

yeah, its their kid. the Govt allows companies to put HFCS soda companies into schools--so--not so sure this is any better. Yknow HFCS hs got a Meth-like chemical in it right?

I grew up in San Francisco and many of the Italian families drank wine with dinner.

Kids were allowed a small glass of wine but I can't remember when they started drinking wine with dinner.

It was no big deal.

When my daughter was born she kept screaming and screaming as she was teething my great grandmother grabs my lil girl heads to here liqor cabinant dumps some whiskey on her fingers rubs it on her gums. Quiet like a mouse. I'm not an alcoholic nor my little sister, but am damn sure I was given the same treatment as a child. Now I wont say give your kid a full can and crack it a pound at a young age. But also think that some people get up and arms for some of the stupidest reasons.

SaneThinking

Jesus that kid is lucky
My Ma used to feed us poison and me and my brothers had to hold up the roof on the toilet we lived in and we also had to get up an hour before we went to bed
I used to dream of sippy cup but with Beer in thats just going too far

Cran