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13 years olds and no-secco

87 replies

troppibambini6 · 05/02/2024 10:45

Dd (13) went to a birthday party on Saturday night for a girl she's friends with in her year (8) at school.
There was about 13 girls there and the mum was there too.
I picked her up about 9.30 and she told me the mum had got some alcohol free Prosecco for them. Dd said she had tried it but it was horrible so discreetly left it on the table.

It's been playing on my mind and just doesn't sit right with me giving children that young alcohol free Prosecco.

I'm the daughter of an alcoholic so sometimes things can be a little triggering for me so not sure if I'm being over the top.

Is it like like trying makeup out? Trying to look grown up maybe? I'm just not sure.

I have older teens who have been allowed to drink around us after around 16/17 so I'm not anti alcohol and drink myself.

What do you think I'm I just being stupid?

OP posts:

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Plump82 · 05/02/2024 15:18

Nosecco doesn't taste anything like prosecco. It's more like Schloer but about 3 times the price. Would you have had an issue if her friends mum had given them Schloer?

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minipie · 05/02/2024 15:18

I think it depends on whether it is seen as “pretending to drink booze” or “a non alcoholic drink that is packaged similarly to some alcoholic drinks”.

I agree that Nosecco is probably on the more “pretending” end of things. But overall, it’s a good thing that there are more and more non alcoholic drinks on the market and that kids know these choices exist. And hopefully people will come to see them as a choice in their own right rather than a pretence at something else.

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Thedryjanuarydiaries · 05/02/2024 15:48

I have 3 teen DD’s and this wouldn’t bother me, in fact they have similar at friends parties over the years.

Prosecco/champagne and the AF versions are a celebratory drink, known to make important life events a little more special, the bubbles, the POP the long stemmed glasses the cheers to the cause, all bringing a little bit of magic to a party.

I see no harm in teenagers carrying on the traditions with a bottle of Nosecco.

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11NigelTufnel · 05/02/2024 16:26

I'd have no issue with it. We were definitely chugging Shloer and pretending it was champagne as soon as we started secondary school. Appreciate that it isn't marketed as being an alcohol alternative, but they are both just fizzy grape juice. Also I have been teetotal for about 15 years, alcohol holds no interest for me.

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JacksonLambsEatIvy · 05/02/2024 17:42

I think the whole ‘it’s pretending to drink alcohol’ attitude is an issue. It doesn’t have to be.

It’s a ‘celebratory’ drink. It would be great if the standard and expected thing was that non-alcoholic drinks are just as celebratory as alcoholic ones.

The problem is that people insist on seeing it as an ‘alternative’ and a lesser one. Why shouldn’t people grow up thinking that alcohol free wine is a great way to celebrate something. You don’t ever have to move on to the alcoholic version. You can just enjoy your glass of fizzy stuff. It doesn’t have to have alcohol in it.

alcohol free wine can be less fizzy than the fizzy grape juice versions. That might be a desirable feature for many people.

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tallcurvey · 05/02/2024 18:31

It's just a fizzy drink if it has no alcohol

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PoppingTomorrow · 05/02/2024 20:01

TiptoeThroughTheToadstools · 05/02/2024 13:24

The over 18 in shops is a policy, not law. There is no age limit for drinking alcohol free beer/wine. My 13yo DS often has a couple of peroni zero at the weekend. In my mind it's a gentle introduction to beer, rather than him going out and getting rat arsed the first time he tries alcohol. This way he will be well in the practice of enjoying a couple of beers without feeling the need to binge.

How is it going to achieve that? Surely it going to lull him into a false sense of security?

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TiptoeThroughTheToadstools · 05/02/2024 20:11

I suppose that's really down to the parents and how families talk about alcohol, and generally risks in life 🙄

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JaninaDuszejko · 07/02/2024 14:40

ohtowinthelottery · 05/02/2024 13:03

As a young teenager I would have been given Schloer in a wine glass at dinner if my parents were drinking wine. Surely Nosecco is just the same. The fact I was drinking cider at friend's houses and parties largely seemed to escape them!!
I remember as I child frequently buying packets of those candy 'cigarettes' with the red tip. One of my parents smoked cigarettes at the time too. But I have never taken up smoking.

Candy cigarettes are banned in several countries including the UK because there was evidence they did lead to an increase in smoking.

Candy cigarettes

Candy cigarette - Wikipedia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_cigarette#:~:text=Because%20of%20this%2C%20the%20selling,bubble%20gum%2C%20or%20simply%20candy.

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lalalala2 · 07/02/2024 14:43

Comedycook · 05/02/2024 11:00

Even when you buy alcohol free in shops, you need to be over 18

Well apple juice, orange squash and milk are alcohol free. Surely you should need id to buy them then?

Even non alcoholic beverages could have a minimal amount of alcohol in that's why you still have to be 18

If you are buying the mixes for cocktails you sometimes need to be 18 as well

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AtomicBlondeRose · 07/02/2024 14:51

My 12 yo DS has had a taste of my non-alcoholic beer before and loved it! He asked if he could have one to himself but I just don't like the idea of him sitting swigging beer even if it's non-alcoholic. He has had a can of supermarket shandy before (which is essentially flavoured lemonade) and I can't quite articulate why that's different, but I feel it is.

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11NigelTufnel · 07/02/2024 17:29

@lalalala2 lots of things kids can buy and consume contain small amounts of alcohol. Orange juice, bread, yoghurt, bananas and vinegar all naturally contain it. I think the restrictions on selling zero alcohol drinks to kids is that the papers would have a field day if a bunch of teenagers were swigging from beer cans outside of sainsburys. There would be a lot of tutting that it encourages alcohol drinking, which could well be right.

I can't help thinking that when my kids are 16, I would rather they were drinking alcohol free beer than monster energy, that all the kids round here seem to go for. The beer is low in sugar and free from caffeine and sweeteners.