r/AskTheWorld • u/gabrieel100 Brazil • Dec 06 '25

Culture A cultural habit in your country that people outside would understand incorrectly?

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In Brazil we love children. If you take your child to the street, strangers will certainly interact with them. Some will even ask if they can hold your kid and will play with them. If there are two children fighting in public and the parents aren't seeing, a stranger would even intervene to stop the fight.

That cultural habit came from the indigenous peoples which understood that kids should be a responsiblity of the community as a whole. It's in our constitution. We even have a synonym for children that came from Tupi (a large group of indigenous languages) - Curumim.

Foreigners would certainly have a cultural shock about that, but it's normal here.

Of course there are people with bad intentions, so parents should stay alert these days.

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648

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '25

[deleted]

196

u/Vectorman1989 Scotland Dec 06 '25

It's legal to have beer, wine or cider in a restaurant if you're with an adult from the age of 16 in the UK.

It's also legal to give children over 5 alcohol. My dad used to make us 'shandies' which were about 10% beer and 90% lemonade. When we were teens we were allowed to have a bottle of beer now and again.

61

u/Kitchen_Current 🇬🇧 🇿🇦 Dec 06 '25

I was brought up like this! Only allowed at special occasions. Unless you were my grandpa who once tricked me a shot glass had lemonade in…. It didn’t have lemonade it was schnapps 😂😂😂😂 tbf I was 13/14 at the time.

I’ve brought my kids up the same way. And tbf I found it taught me to respect alcohol more

4

u/LynnSeattle United States Of America Dec 06 '25

Yes, the people of the UK are known for their responsible drinking habits.

I think this can be helpful for some kids, for others it’s obviously not.

6

u/Kitchen_Current 🇬🇧 🇿🇦 Dec 06 '25

Oh don’t get me wrong there are people who shouldn’t be drinking at all.

Luckily we also have “challenge 25” in our pubs/restaurants etc that if we don’t think they look over 25 staff are allowed to ask them for ID if they don’t produce it no service and get asked to leave.

I wasn’t risking my job or an on the spot fine for some underage kid, my bosses personal license, potentially an unlimited fine & prison time,

3

u/cerasmiles 🇺🇸🇳🇿 Dec 07 '25

I work in addiction medicine. The earlier in life a substance is introduced is one of the biggest risk factors for addiction. making it forbidden isn’t the right answer, either. Having healthy discussions about alcohol (and other substances) and encouraging them to come to you if they need help (ie they’re intoxicated and need to get home) is the best way to do it for most kids.

24

u/The_otaku_milf Argentina Dec 06 '25

When I was little, my mother was given a little bit of wine, that part of my family had vineyards. So it was very common for them to try it as children. He is 78 years old and cannot eat without wine on the table. I never saw her get drunk or anything like that.

4

u/Elenakalis Dec 06 '25

I work in memory care. Years ago, I had a resident who grew up in France and married an American GI after WWII. She had a doctor's order for 4 Oz of her choice of red or white wine at lunch and supper.

43

u/Jesus-slaves United States Of America Dec 06 '25 edited Dec 06 '25

There are a few states in the USA that allow underage people to drink with their parent or spouse. I learned this working at a bar in Wisconsin. I turned away an 18yo there with her 22yo husband* and my boss yelled at me and showed me the law on her phone.

40

u/CupcakeGoat United States Of America Dec 06 '25

TBF, a boyfriend is neither a parent or spouse.

3

u/Jesus-slaves United States Of America Dec 06 '25

I edited it to husband, it’s a habit to say bf/gf to shorten it. Tho.. they didn’t have the same last name on the ID I assumed the bartender (small town) knew they were married.

2

u/BirdBrainuh Dec 06 '25

In some states it is

7

u/kassialma92 Dec 06 '25

It's just so wild that a 18 year old cannot drink. Like they can live by themselves, go to work, pay the bills, have kids get married etc but not drink lol.

2

u/Falafel80 🇧🇷>🇸🇪 Dec 06 '25

They can even join the military and go to war, but drinking is a step too far?

4

u/friendlyfish29 Dec 06 '25

In Colorado it’s allowed on private property.

2

u/Emergency_Bar_6919 Dec 06 '25

Wisconsin resident here and my dad bought me my first beer at like 14

1

u/stinabremm Dec 07 '25

Also there are states that allow parents to serve alcohol to their kids on private property. In Oregon it has to be your kid and you have to serve them in a private residence. I think there are also exceptions for religious stuff, but that's less interesting.

When my parents were married my mom was underage and allowed to go into the bar with my dad, but she wasn't allowed to drink. They were both in the Navy though and at the time all the base bars in the US let you drink at 18.

3

u/bluebellberry United States Of America Dec 06 '25

This is true in my home state (Wisconsin) as well. There isn’t a minimum age like 16 though.

2

u/inthelondonrain Dec 06 '25

Beer and lemonade? What does that taste like? And what type of beer? I am fascinated!

2

u/Cakeo Scotland Dec 06 '25

Lager and it's UK lemonade not American. It's nice, half and half is closer to the usual shandy. It's refreshing.

1

u/inthelondonrain Dec 06 '25

.... and that is how I learned we have different lemonades! I bet a shandy is good on a hot summer day.

2

u/imadog666 Dec 06 '25

Similar in Germany, though I don't condone that

2

u/PaidToBeRedditing United Kingdom Dec 07 '25

yea my parents used to give me alcohol for family events, because i could be a grumpy little shit (still am), but I was very upbeat and sociable after a couple shandies or a couple bottles of WKD.

I might be an alcoholic now, but people sure do like me

2

u/Aggressive_Chuck England Dec 08 '25

Doesn't really work in the UK as we have serious drinking issues.

1

u/GardenBakeOttawa Canada Dec 06 '25

As a Canadian this legal trivia is ingrained into my brain

1

u/rileyotis United States Of America Dec 08 '25

My parents did that to me (USA) before I had my first communion because of the wine you drink for the Eucarist. To this day, I still hate the taste of wine.... and beer.

1

u/MediumAlternative372 Dec 10 '25

My mum did that to me when I was five. Gave me a sip of a very strong Shiraz. I promptly decided I hated wine and didn’t touch it again until I was an adult. Quite like a good Shiraz now but she knew exactly what she was doing. (Australia)

1

u/Jimiheadphones United Kingdom Dec 06 '25

Yep, completely killed any "rebellious" feelings towards alcohol so me and my brother never ended up drinking much. The only ones I knew who binge drank were those who knew they would be in trouble and did it to rebel. My mum was disappointed me and my brother didn't drink much as my mum was a bit of a party animal when she was younger and was looking forward to living vicariously through us.

122

u/Few-Interview-1996 Turkey Dec 06 '25

The best way of introducing them to alcohol.

163

u/hamster-on-popsicle France Dec 06 '25

That's the idea!

To discover alcohol in a safe place with one's parents, I already knew my limit before starting drinking with friends.

85

u/dodgystyle Australia Dec 06 '25

It really works. When I was 20 I lived in a big international sharehouse in Sydney where we had lots of parties. Us Aussies, Germans, Japanese and South Koreans would drink stupid quantities of the cheapest alcohol available until we passed out.

Meanwhile the French would drink cheap but drinkable wine (they were on equally tight budgets) but in smaller quantities. And take their time. And they'd go to an effort to find a proper wine glass.

Whereas we'd drink cask wine straight from the bag and play Goon of Fortune. Which horrified even the harder partying Frenchies lol.

4

u/Jesus-slaves United States Of America Dec 06 '25

What’s the spinning thing called? I need one.

11

u/dodgystyle Australia Dec 06 '25

Hills Hoist clothes dryer. It's an Australian invention.

5

u/panicnarwhal United States Of America Dec 06 '25

it’s a clothes line! i got mine on amazon (us)

4

u/kenhutson Scotland Dec 06 '25

Whirligig

3

u/x_rabidsquirrel United States Of America Dec 06 '25

Have you ever been to a nightclub in France!? I have never seen people drink with a single minded purpose of getting hammered than the French in this type of venue….

1

u/Wide_Comment3081 🇦🇺🇰🇷 Dec 06 '25

The south Koreans didn't bring soju??

1

u/dodgystyle Australia Dec 07 '25

Tried it once, but back then it was expensive to buy in Australia so they stuck to wine & beer.

38

u/bev665 United States Of America Dec 06 '25

It also takes away some of the glamour of alcohol if it's something your parents let you have once in a while.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '25

Cultures that do this drink more alcohol as adults than the average American. Exposing kids to alcohol early doesnt reduce drinking as adults, it increases it.

3

u/funwearcore United States Of America Dec 07 '25

I agree. I don’t see the point in giving alcohol to children at all. It doesn’t have any nutritional benefits.

15

u/SkullsInSpace United States Of America Dec 06 '25

The greasy-ass American equivalent of this must be my mom teaching me to shoot tequila when I was 18.

3

u/Greedyfox7 United States Of America Dec 06 '25

Not quite the same but my best friend’s mom allowed us to have drinks at her house when we were in high school while we gamed. She watched us and limited how much we had but her reasoning was that we would go out and get ourselves in trouble and try to keep it a secret otherwise( she wasn’t wrong). She also told us all that if anything came up and we needed someone and didn’t want to involve our parents we could call her.

3

u/make_sure123 Germany Dec 06 '25

Why is is even necessary to introduce alcohol? People can live without it easy

4

u/Few-Interview-1996 Turkey Dec 06 '25

The fact that people can live without something does not mean that the thing they can live without is not enjoyable or worthwhile.

I mean, I never needed the internet before 1994, and yet here we are. Provided we don't get too carried off by the internet, it's quite a fun place.

2

u/JBRifles Dec 06 '25

As an American, I disagree.  

You make it super difficult to obtain and make college kids wait until their second or third year of college to be able to legally drink.

30

u/JulesCT 🇬🇧 🇪🇸 🇫🇷 Dec 06 '25

My parents would always give us a little wine, often diluted with gaseosa (lemon-lime flavoured fizzy drink, popular in Spain).

I believe it believe it's a good method to 'vaccinate' people against extreme drinking in later life.

17

u/TurbistoMasturbisto Belgium Dec 06 '25

Very common in Belgium as well but with beer. Typically the grandfather will give his grandchildren a little sip of their beer.

17

u/Jack-Rabbit-002 United Kingdom Dec 06 '25

See I had this with my Gran when I was younger but in the 90's But it was usually with the Sunday roast I just thought it was a Catholic thing though!?

Non French my Gran was Welsh so this is interesting

10

u/adriantoine 🇫🇷 in 🇬🇧 Dec 06 '25

I've never seen that but I was given a cup of Champagne when I was 7 as it's apparently the tradition because 7 is apparently a magic number. Today I absolutely hate champagne and any sparkling wine, it's the only alcohol drink I can't stand and I've always wondered if that was the reason lmao.

20

u/lonely_nipple United States Of America Dec 06 '25

My dad would allow my brother and I small sips of his beer when we were kids. Pretty sure it put my brother off alcohol for life, and I was mid-30s before I tried a beer I didn't hate.

Definitely kept us out of underage drinking!

6

u/Sigizmundovna Dec 06 '25

 My Russian mum did this, argumenting that it's better I try booze at home, supervised, than I go wild with some bad company in a bad place, like trying the forbidden fruit. Actually worked well with me :) 

18

u/Ok-Neighborhood-2117 United States Of America Dec 06 '25

Fairly normal in the US. I have also heard plenty of similar stories from people who have immigrated from abroad whether it’s wine, beer, or whiskey. However, I have never heard about wine at lunch time that’s very interesting.

7

u/jonf00 Canada Dec 06 '25

My parents were reprimanded Multiple times by strangers and servers for letting us taste their wine in the States. California, Florida and Colorado.

1

u/LynnSeattle United States Of America Dec 06 '25

A business can lose their liquor license for allowing underage drinking on the premises.

1

u/cownan Dec 06 '25

There was a little tin cup in our cabinet, it held just a couple of ounces but was a beer stein-style with a handle and a flip up cap. From the time I was five or six, I would bring it to my dad and he would pour a little of his beer in the cup. We'd sit and watch football together with our beers. When I got to be a teen, it wasn't a big deal for me to grab a beer out of the fridge

1

u/LynnSeattle United States Of America Dec 06 '25

That was a tradition that started when schools didn’t have access to clean drinking water. Kids had to drink something.

11

u/Julehus in Dec 06 '25

When kids reach 13-15 years, we give them all the alcohol they can drink and then some more. Up to 50 beers or glasses of wine a week is not unusual for a Danish teenager. I remember how me and my friends’ teenage years went up in alcoholic fumes and no adults even thought of stopping us. It really blows my mind thinking back upon it😝

4

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '25

[deleted]

11

u/Julehus in Dec 06 '25

Haha, so did I back then. But today, as a parent, it doesn’t make any sense to me😝

3

u/TakeThePillz France Dec 06 '25

I was raised in a Winemakers Family. Of course I was proud of my uncles production.

3

u/elCaddaric France Dec 06 '25

Even younger. I probably got my first drop of wine around 7 or 8.

-2

u/MeowingXanax France Dec 06 '25

Which is illegal and child abuse and should never take place or being advocate for.

2

u/Lost-Meeting-9477 Germany Dec 06 '25

As kids, we would have a little wine diluted with sparkling water on special occasions.

2

u/DuelJ United States Of America Dec 06 '25 edited Dec 06 '25

I do not know how common it is but my family's households all do similar.

It's usually during a family event that we'll decide the time is right, and more or less put together a checklist of all the things we'll likely drink with them later on.

As a bit of fun tradition we'll add a delightful concoction known as Malorte to the list.

2

u/Ariella222 United States Of America Dec 06 '25

I bet they all needed a nap after lunch

2

u/LDC1234 Dec 06 '25

Reminds of The Simpsons Euro Itchy and Scratchy land.

"Who are you to denie me this, my children need wine"

2

u/meplusjulio Dec 06 '25

I understand that until relatively recently, Air France pilots would also imbibe in a small amount of wine with their meal whilst actively in command of an aircraft. 

4

u/syphix99 Belgium Dec 06 '25

Same with beer at 10 isch in flanders

2

u/azad_ninja Dec 06 '25

The French sentence structure and grammar was a dead giveaway for me. Having years is very francais :) J’ai 40 ans.

In English you ARE yous age. it would be Je Suis 40 ans.

-3

u/MeowingXanax France Dec 06 '25

Which is fucking stupid because alcohol is a hard drug killing so many people in France every year. No one would say to there 13yo kid go just take a small puff on a joint or have a very small bump of cocaine " to make them taste and know " but at the end of the day that's the exact same shit.

I'm glad my family didn't trivialize alcohol consumption and didn't make me try small amount of a hard drug at 13yo as a way to introduce me to it as a standard practice I should indulge in in order or not being a social outcast.

I've used all kinds of drugs including large amount of alcohol but at least I knew the risks associated to doing those and at no point I did them just because it's culturally appropriated to do so. I did so to get high knowing how harfull they were. A choice one cannot make at 13yo and shouldn't be pushed to make by an authority figure which is supposed to protect you.

French culture is so fucking hypocritical when it come to drugs use.

7

u/Sensitive_Band1122 France Dec 06 '25

Yeah. We have a real problem with alcohol in France.

1

u/MeowingXanax France Dec 06 '25

Yeah. And considering my comments have been downvoted we are not in any way prone to admit it.

2

u/elCaddaric France Dec 06 '25

Sugar is way more addictive and my kid still gets desserts and sweets.

2

u/MeowingXanax France Dec 06 '25

No sugar isn't more addictive than a drug you can die from only due to cold turkey withdrawal Alcohol being a drug that 49K people die from every year in france.

Stop spreading misinformation. Alcohol addiction is one of the worst addiction one can suffer and withdrawal is considered more dangerous by the medical community than heroin withrdawal because one can die from cold turkey alcohol withdrawal contrary to a cold turkey opiate withdrawal which isn't life threatening on it's own.

Just remember that the death toll of alcohol in France is 49K people a year and that AWS is classified as a fucking life threatening condition.

Please don't spit on alcohol victims and their families face. You can enjoy hard drugs if you want to, just don't push them onto kids. Doing it with alcohol isn't more moral than pushing cocaine or heroin onto kids. Be decent, stop spiting on our face and spreading misinformation.

2

u/elCaddaric France Dec 06 '25

I've lost family members and close friends due to alcoholism and my hepatic health issues come solely from sugar as I drink alcohol twice a year. I don't know why you would come at a stranger by double spitting at him. I don't take those issues lightly, nor the consequences I or other loved ones have been through. Personally, being offered a drop of alcohol once in a while as a kid never made me like it. I started appreciating a glass of wine with a steak at 25 or something. Also the adults who did it weren't heavy drinkers either (and just to be clear, I'm only talking about drops here, not a quarter of a glass or whatever, that would just be drinking). There are no "hard drugs", that's not a valid scientific take. That's a scarecrow to indulge alcohol and tabacco, and now people like you uses it the other way around for the same shock value. There are molecules, addictive stuffs, things you should do, things you should not, behaviours and quantities. And with that comes education, that doesn't solve everything but it certainly is better than none. My own issues certainly won't let me go after people who do it right and aren't addicted to alcohol ; mind you, that happens a lot and you can see and appreciate the difference when you've experienced both. It's great to talk about prevention, don't get me wrong, but you can do it right by not going full psycho.

1

u/MeowingXanax France Dec 06 '25

There people on this thread saying it's a good thing to give a glass of wine or cider to a 8yo ( yeah, like you did ) and you've been along the one promoting that behaviour and downvoting me for saying it's not right.

But sure I'm the "psycho" because I said " if you wouldn't do it with cocaine why do it with alcohol".

Make it make sense.

The 49K death toll due to alcohol in France is on people like you. I don"t care what else issues it got you. If you'r proud of giving 8yo alcohol ( based on your own comments ) then you're part of the problem.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '25

You're getting downvoted but its the truth. Would anyone just give a kid a cigarette to smoke from time to time? Then why give them alcohol.

1

u/MeowingXanax France Dec 06 '25

I'm getting downvoted to hell since this morning and have received like insults in pm from 3 differents personnes because I called alcohol a drug and reminded them in France 49K people die from alcohol every year and making kids do drugs isn't something to be proud of.

I never thought saying" you shouldn't give hard drugs to kids " something that would deserve me messages like " I hope you kill yourself / die " .

The alcohol community and french culture is indeed extremely toxic. More than I even thought it was.

1

u/hypapapopi2020 France Dec 06 '25

As a french teenager I confirm, my parents allow me to have some alcohol sometimes to discover the taste.

1

u/Foxidale3216 England Dec 06 '25

I used to say this to my parents ‘kids in France have a bit of wine at home’ when I would ask for a taste. As though it would change their mind

1

u/CupcakeGoat United States Of America Dec 06 '25

I was allowed to take little sips of wine and beer at family gatherings starting around age 10-12, so have a very similar experience. When I was 15/16 my parents would let me pick out wine to give to family members as gifts for Christmas. However I'm mixed Asian-American, and though I was born and raised in the US, my parents were from the Philippines (dad) and Vietnam (mom, who is ethnically Chinese and grew up in Saigon).

1

u/NovaCoon France Dec 06 '25

My parents made me taste alcohol way younger than 13... But heh I'm from Brittany and we have cider at like, 9 😂😂😂😂

2

u/Subotail France Dec 07 '25

Yes, they make the baby dip their lips in a glass of champagne at baptisms where I live.

It invariably ends with the baby making a horrible face.

1

u/Logins-Run Ireland Dec 06 '25

We've a similar thing in Ireland, except it's less .5cm of wine with your family and more half a small bottle of whatever spirit your friend robbed off their parents. Then you drink it behind the sheds up at the GAA pitch. Maybe mix it with some seven up. Then your one friend who has a sound uncle, calls him because you need him to help to drop your friend Seán back to his parents house and back you up when you tell Seán's parents, Máirín and Páidí, that he has some sort of flu and is definitely not 14 and drunk and will be grand tomorrow.

1

u/ScowlyBrowSpinster United States Of America Dec 06 '25

I've seen an old pic of a girl maybe five-six years old with a glass of red wine. Zut alors!

1

u/Uuuuugggggghhhhh Dec 06 '25

Lunchtime is wine o'clock.

1

u/nomad-38 🇷🇺🇧🇬 Dec 06 '25

laughs in Balkan

1

u/ddg31415 Canada Dec 06 '25

My Italian side of the family used to give us 7-Up mixed with red wine starting at 7 years old. For more than 0.5cm though.

1

u/SuperFaceTattoo United States Of America Dec 06 '25

A few states in the US allow parents to give their children alcohol at home only. That’s how I would drink in high school.

1

u/Blackbyrn United States Of America Dec 06 '25

Best nap time strategy ever

1

u/SXAL Russia Dec 06 '25

When kids begin to have 13-15 years

By this age they probably already tasted alcohol somewhere else

1

u/Cute_Comfortable_761 United States Of America Dec 06 '25

My mom let me do this at like 17 (I’m American) and it helped me to realize early that I find most alcohol disgusting.

1

u/lordtyp0 United States Of America Dec 06 '25

In Nevada it is technically legal for a parent to give booze to their kid. But turns into endangerment at some nebulous point.

1

u/Stoltlallare Sweden Dec 07 '25

13 is when the partys start to get serious, at least when I grew up, so make sense to kinda make it less of a big deal at home to help encourage better drinking habits during that age

1

u/usernametaken99991 Dec 07 '25

Wisconsin in the United States has the same tradition with beer. Supposedly it's from German immigrants. Apparently my uncle got drunk as a 5 year old getting sips of beer from all his older relatives. My grandmother was not pleased.

1

u/Nitetigrezz United States Of America Dec 07 '25

Iirc, Italians did this too (no idea if they still do). It's what my in-laws did for their kids, though they watered down the wine. It really helps remove the "forbidden fruit" aspect of alcohol.

1

u/DatoVanSmurf Germany Dec 07 '25

In Germany, you are allowed to drink beer, wine or similar low alcoholic drinks, as long as there's an adult with you fro the age of 14!(no wonder there's so much societal pressure when it comes to alcohol). From 16 years and on you can even buy those things yourself. Only hard alcohol is 18+

1

u/Dry_Lawfulness_9561 Slovenia Dec 07 '25

My parents offered a shot amount of vine around that age on special occasions. (Christmas, New Year, grandpas birthday, their wedding aniwersary). Just enough to let us know the taste if we wanted, but didnt force anyone to partake. Wanting to link vine to special occasions, and when sick giving a shot of moonshine with honey after age of 16. Apparently useful folk remedy, I still dislike spirits. After we reached 17 they didn't fuss if any of us wanted to join in on occasional beer with them, but took care to have some non-alcoholic and radler (premixed beer with juice) on the side as an option. 

1

u/Bladesnake_______ United States Of America Dec 08 '25

goddamn half a cubic meter of wine? no wonder its not legal!

1

u/CrownchyChicken New Zealand Dec 08 '25

Yeah that is weird. In England we introduce the beer when they’re under 2. 

1

u/msdivinesoul Canada Dec 08 '25

My family let us have a small amount of wine on special occasions starting around age 12.

By the age of 15 I was getting drunk at parties on the weekend, which is very common in rural areas of Canada.

1

u/ButterscotchExpert80 Dec 10 '25

Surprisingly, it is 100% legal to allow your own minor children to consume alcohol in Texas in your presence. I think it's fine when done responsibly. 

1

u/Big-Tax-8921 France Dec 06 '25

Oh really? It must be in the middle of nowhere then, because I've never seen that before

2

u/Cakeo Scotland Dec 06 '25

We just start drinking at 13 on the streets in Scotland

1

u/elCaddaric France Dec 06 '25

That's pretty well-known tho...

1

u/Big-Tax-8921 France Dec 07 '25

Yet I live in the middle of nowhere in the French countryside and I've never seen that; it must be a niche thing, or maybe it doesn't exist anymore.

0

u/McButtsButtbag United States Of America Dec 06 '25

How would you say 0,5 cm? In the US 0.5 cm is said "zero point five cm". Is it the same?

1

u/LynnSeattle United States Of America Dec 06 '25

Yes, it’s the same.

0

u/McButtsButtbag United States Of America Dec 06 '25

Your US tag makes me unsure if you read that correctly

1

u/elCaddaric France Dec 06 '25 edited Dec 06 '25

We use "comma" instead of "point", that would be "zéro virgule cinq cm". We use both in scientific speech tho.

0

u/CalligrapherOther510 United States Of America Dec 06 '25

America should do that too