Dad, can I try your new home-brew? Erm...

This parenting business is terribly confusing. For a treat when I was little (about the age of Thomas, my eldest now, so 9-ish) my Dad would let me have a sip of his beer at home. It wasn't a regular thing which made it more special.
I mention this because a) I make homebrew (badly) and last week I let Thomas have a sip. And he hated it, of course. Quite right too.

This coincided with the national treasure that is the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) releasing a major new report called Young People, Alcohol and Influences. Specifically, it looks at how the drinking behaviour of parents can influence their offspring. It's interesting stuff and as usual for the JRF, incredibly well researched.

Maybe I should give the younger one the same beer in the hope of putting him off all alcohol in the future too...