Received an e-mail from the Mysterious Lurker this morning---it must drive him crazy not to post sometimes...
First of all he was surprised my keyboard still functioned and said the wine must have been very weak.
He also had looked up the Texas Code on underage drinking and I now know that not only is it legal for me to give my children alcohol, but I can buy them a drink!
On the other side, I spoke with an adolescent psychologist about this, who is strongly opposed to giving alcohol to your children at home. One of her reasons was very interesting. She feels that the message sent by "You can drink but only at home" has the subtext of "You can drink, but only if I can control you. I don't trust you otherwise." Like me, she feels that parents set boundaries for children and should present the reasons against and the facts about drinking. My guess is she treats a lot of teens with abuse problems and has seen and heard a lot. I do think that what she is saying is different from the sort of matter-of-fact treatment that Alex and Averill are describing and which strikes me as very reasonable.
I'm going to read all the posts about this topic with the boys. They enjoy discussing and talking about all these issues and I think they'll get a kick out of the posts.
Here are the Texas codes pertaining to minors and alcohol.
Sec. 106.04. Consumption of Alcohol by a Minor.
(a) Except as provided in Subsection (b) of this section, a
minor commits an offense if he consumes an alcoholic beverage.
(b) A minor may consume an alcoholic beverage if he is in the
visible presence of an adult parent, guardian, or spouse.
(a) Except as provided in Subsection (b) of this section, a
person commits an offense if he purchases an alcoholic beverage for or gives or makes available an alcoholic beverage to a minor with criminal negligence.
(a) Except as provided in Subsection (b) of this section, a
person commits an offense if he purchases an alcoholic beverage for or gives or with criminal negligence makes available an alcoholic beverage to a minor.
(b) A person may purchase an alcoholic beverage for or give
an alcoholic beverage to a minor if he is the minor's adult parent, guardian, or spouse, or an adult in whose custody the minor has
been committed by a court, and he is visibly present when the minor
possesses or consumes the alcoholic beverage.
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