What parents teach kids about drinking

History tends to repeat itself in families. I learned to drink from my father, who was pouring me cocktails in my teens. My (someday) memoir of our remarkable relationship after my mother’s death at 31 will be titled: “He Needed the Company; I Needed the Smokes.”

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My drinking never ceased for all the ensuing years, except during pregnancy, illness or occasionally to prove to myself that I could stop. For the most part, my glass of choice had a stem and I passed many glorious evenings on dozens of porches and stoops, talking with friends and celebrating the wonders of . . . everything.

My son and stepsons bore witness to these rituals and developed rituals of their own.

I am prompted to this confession by Amy Joyce’s recent piece for The Post’s On Parenting blog. The topic was about when to start talking to your kids about underage drinking. A survey by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Nationwide Insurance found that one-third of parents wait until their children are between ages 14 and 18, yet about 30 percent of eighth-graders have tried alcohol.

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