Self-defeating legislation?

What do you make of this suggestion that parents should be prosecuted for allowing their young children to drink alcohol at home? Nanny state again? I suppose the way to approach this is to ask two questions - (1) to what extent is under-age drinking a problem, and (2) will this suggestion do anything to alter matters? There certainly seems to be evidence that alcohol consumption by those in their early teens has significantly increased in recent years, and the concern is that this is a "ticking time-bomb" for the NHS in years to come. Whether this is sufficient of a problem to justify legislative interference is a moot point. As to the second question, I think you can divide parents into three groups as regards their attitude to drinking by their children
- those who do not allow any drinking at all
- those who allow supervised drinking in moderation, usually with meals
- those who don't care and let their children drink what they want when they want
Obviously legislation such as is being proposed will have no effect on the first group, will almost certainly be ignored by the last group, so the only group likely to be affected will be the second group, who I think most of us would agree are not the problem.