‘Shudder’ when child has sip

Press, 22 August 1978, Page 16

‘Shudder’ when child has sip

PA Auckland i Parents who give very I young children alcohol to | “include” them in a social occasion have been criticised I by the chairman of the Alco- ; hblic Liquor Advisory CounI cil (Sir Leonard Thornton). He told a New Zealand I Temperance Alliance lunchI eon in Auckland that the drinking age was falling all j the time, according to a survey just completed on ! 33.000 children’s drinking I habits. He said he shuddered to see a toddler being given a j sip from her mother’s drink. I The moral weakness of such parents encouraged the abuse of alcohol and denied their offspring the right to choose whether to drink, he said. Sir Leonard said he was unable to give more details

from the survey, which was to be published soon. “But it. showed that many young children cannot exactly remember when they had their first taste of alcohol. Although of course that doesn’t necessarily mean they are drinking like fish,” he said. The council was working on a way of “subtly feeding information to children through the education system.” “The children are the place to start preaching moderation, but that is difficult because we have to get between the children and the parents,” Sir Leonard said. “In our environment children don’t really have the right of a free choice about the consumption of alcohol. They are under pressure from parents and friends.