While I was growing up, my parents (well only my Mum) was very open to the idea of me sneaking a drink here or there. I was always allowed a sip of this or that, without my Dad knowing of course. Then when I was around 14, my Mum would buy me beer if I asked for it. Now she's a perfectly sensible and respectable lady, not an alcoholic. She just let me have some beer when I wanted it. As me drinking alcohol was not a problem with her, and there was no need to sneak off with my friends, the novelty wore off by the time I was around 16. So now, if I want a drink, it's purely because I like the taste of it, or in a social envirnment, it's something to help me mingle slightly better. I never drink to get drunk. Well, I never set out to get drunk, it sometimes just happens. But the fact that I was so used to having a beer by the time I was legal drinking age, I didn't feel the desire to go and get hammered all the time. Most of my friends go mad with drink when they're out, and it really does show our age at time. I can usually be found chatting to the older ones (ie. mid/late 20s) in a pub, rather than at the bar with my friends downing shots.
I think that was a good thing my Mum did, and I intend to let my kid have a few drinks in the house when they want, if they're that way inclined.
Btw, I'm the world's best at silently opening a bottle or tin of beer! Tins are a real challenge. Years of having to hide it from my Dad meant I developed a technique involving a cotton tshirt to reduce the *ssssssspsssssh* factor!
There are 10 types of people in the world; those who understand binary code, and those who don't.