In regard to Mark Jansen’s letter about serving alcohol to kids at family dinners (“Parents should teach children how to drink,” Dec. 25)—ummm, I don’t think so. Mark, you seem to think all it takes to teach alcohol responsibility is to let the little ones dabble before they’re out on their own. Should I let my children take a hit from a crack pipe (just a small hit) and pop an OxyContin (only when they are with me at home, of course) so they can get a feel for their tolerance level and “establish good habits”?
Or, I could teach them why drugs and alcohol are bad. I can teach them how to make good choices and the consequences of bad choices. The Cal Poly student who died from alcohol poisoning made a bad choice. Maybe he didn’t have the skills and maturity needed to be out on his own. But it wasn’t because he didn’t grow up drinking wine at the dinner table with his parents.
DeAnn Montgomery
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Jan 1-8, 2009.