My family also let us drink whenever we wanted -- alcohol and coffee both. I literally don't remember my first drink of either one. I remember having wine with dinner if I wanted before I was old enough for school, and just a couple of years later having cocktails before dinner if I wanted. And if I wanted a screwdriver heavy on the OJ and light on the vodka, I had to ask for it that way, otherwise I got a regular drink.

For all of that, I don't drink now. I can't stand the taste of alcohol, even a tiny bit in a mixed drink or punch is revolting. I drank the occasional glass of whatever as a kid because it was a grown-up thing to do and I wanted to do what the adults were doing. After even Irish coffees failed to mask the taste of the alcohol, I finally decided at around seventeen or so that this was stupid, I had nothing to prove, and I quit trying. I don't drink at all now.

A funny: as I said, I could also have coffee whenever I wanted, if it was around, and how much sugar and/or milk I put in was up to me. I remember staying over at my grandparents' as a kid -- I think I was eight or nine this one time -- and one morning I got up and wanted a cola. My grandmother said no, that it was "too early in the morning" for a cola. I could have all the coffee I wanted, though. [headdesk] Ridiculous, but that was my grandmother. [wry smile]

Angie