How Europeans Teach Their Youth to Drink in Moderation

Cultures from across the Atlantic may have a more sensible attitude towards drinking.

In many countries within continental Europe, it is customary to let children taste alcohol, most often wine or beer, at a young age. Parents do this to accustom them to the flavor and impart the value of drinking in moderation. As those kids grow up, they might occasionally drink in small quantities during celebrations such as birthdays, weddings, and the winter holidays. Once they’re somewhere between 15 and 17 (the age varies by nation), it may even become legal for them to order alcohol in a restaurant, with their parent’s permission and supervision. Then the official drinking age is usually 18, the same age when all the other legal implications of adulthood take effect. This gradual introduction to alcohol normalizes its consumption, framing it as an unremarkable activity that is socially acceptable so long as you don’t overdo it. Ideally, this establishes a healthy relationship with alcohol in the minds of the youth, as they understand that it’s okay to drink a little once in a while. However, getting excessively drunk is still generally frowned upon and discouraged.

Conversely, the American approach of forbidding children and adolescents from drinking any alcohol until they’re 21 has the opposite effect. It portrays the act of drinking as taboo, and as a result, alcohol takes on a tantalizing ‘forbidden fruit’ mystique in the minds of young Americans. Their natural curiosity about drinking is suppressed and shamed by society, while the seemingly hypocritical adults around them may regularly get drunk as a pastime without thinking twice about it. This strict withholding of alcohol from children and adolescents may motivate them to seek it out illegally, whether by breaking into their parents’ bottle closet at 10 years old, or using falsified identification documents in an attempt to purchase the substance at 17-20. Either way, by the time adults in the U.S. are old enough to drink legally, they will often go overboard, indulging in excessive amounts of the beverage that’s been kept away from them for so long. This initial overconsumption of alcohol is more likely to launch a dangerous cycle of binge-drinking, “maintenance drinking”, or full-on alcoholism, which is very difficult to break out of once it's started. (It is worth noting that chronic alcoholics often begin drinking for any number of personal reasons, usually stemming from a desire to numb or escape from some kind of pain. This is completely different from the )

Although I was raised in the U.S. with the attitude of strictly avoiding early exposure to alcohol, I have several extended family members (of my age group) who are European. Over the years, I have observed how they enjoy drinking a little at celebrations, but don’t seem to crave alcohol or have a dependency on it. While I am not particularly interested in tasting or drinking it myself, I believe that the American youth would benefit greatly from an early, gradual, and guided introduction to alcohol, with an emphasis on responsibility and moderation.