>I agree!
>
>I have never been much a of a drinker but a few years ago I made the decision to not drink at all. My ex-husband is an alcoholic who doesn't realize it yet and he has turned to violence with our children. I decided it was important to set an example for our children that alcohol is not needed to celebrate the good times nor is it needed to drown out the bad times. I talk about this often with my children and stress the importance that addictive behaviors can be genetic so they really need to be careful considering the addiction problems in both sides of the family.

Cathy - in general, I agree with your choice. The one piece you might want to consider is somehow helping them to know that if they don't have the addiction gene, there is a middle ground between drinking too much and not drinking at all. That is, that having a beer or two at a ballgame or a glass of wine with dinner now and then is acceptable, if you can do that and then stop.

Of course, as you know, I'm talking through my hat a little since I don't drink at all (because one drink makes me feel like I have the flu). But we did work hard to help our kids see what appropriate behavior toward alcohol looks like.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you don't want to pose this as an all or nothing, because if your kids try drinking (as they almost inevitably will), you want them to know that there is a way to drink wihtout going overboard.

Tamar