Beverley Paine

We don't drink often - an occasional drink now and then. The kids know all
about addiction from the theoretical side. That's a comfort. When April
turned eighteen she went to a slumber party with her girlfriends (no boys)
and they bought enough booze to sink the Titanic. April came close to
poisoning herself... This was the tail end of a three month experiment with
alcohol stage during a time she was meeting and making new friends... After
her binge episode she she couldn't touch a drop of alcohol for about three
years without feeling very ill. She was then able to introduce the odd half
glass of beer, and then a half glass of spirit with cola/juice. She
invariably can't finish her drink and usually doesn't bother. It's six
years on now and she can put away a couple of glass of beer now and then.
We were rapt that her body rejected the alcohol so vehemently - it's been a
good lesson for her brothers too. We made sure she had a safe place to
experiment with alcohol (she wouldn't smoke pot because of her asthma and
hates cigarettes with a vengeance). We didn't say no or prohibit and things
worked out well. But we're not overly addictive people and we have a
history of allergies, so that probably helped.