June 23, 2019
Myth #3 Introducing children to alcohol at home will prevent them from having problems later.
This is called the “European Model” but it does not bear out in research. Nor in the life of my friend “Barb.”
She grew up with parents who let her take her first drink at age 12. She remembers immediately feeling so attracted to it. Fast forward through college drinking and getting a job as a magazine editor. On her wedding day, the limo picked her up and provided free champagne for her in the back seat. She told me: “I kept filling up my glass, trying to figure out how much I could drink and still not be tipsy as I walked down the aisle.”
One time the police brought her to my door because she was staggering outside in her slippers on a winter night. She did not want to go home and face her husband so she had the cops bring her to my house.
Years later, she almost killed herself and her two young children by driving drunk during the day and crashing into a truck.
And let me say that she was brilliant, funny, warm, talented, and loved her children!
While she joined AA and had some years of sobriety, she eventually died under unclear circumstances, with some indication that alcohol and/or over the counter drugs were involved.
Recounting this story makes my heart ache.
