A lesson in responsible drinking from France

SIR – There is concern that middleclass parents may be harming their children by letting them try alcohol before they turn 14 (report, December 15).

During a meal with the French side of my family in Biarritz, on France’s south-west coast, the father asked his children what would they like to drink. The four-year-old boy replied: “Vin et l’eau, Papa”.

This is normal practice in southern European countries and allows youngsters to get used to alcohol at an early age.

Jane Bunner

Chipstead, Surrey

Á votre santé: a Basque boy takes a drink from a traditional wine skin, or chahakoa