I can only speak from personal experience – I’ve allowed all my children a drink, not excessively and generally only on Sunday’s with our main meal, this has worked, none of our three boys who range from 16 to almost 20 binge drink, yes they’ve had their moments but that’s teenagers.

Now I see the government’s Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson is saying that taking that approach with my youngest who is just 7 is wrong (and no I don’t propose giving her alcohol 7).

I’m of the opinion the best way to avoid the dangers of binge drinking is introduction of alcohol at home with parents in sensible moderation. Banning alcohol until a child is 15 only increases the likelihood of experimentation outside the home, and that’s surely not the aim.

Donaldson’s advice flies in the face of reality, binge drinking is not about whether a child has a drink or not, it’s how the child’s parents deal with their children that matters and when things go wrong what support the state provides. I’m sure in an ideal world it would be better that children didn’t drink, however in the real world children are going to be curious about alcohol long before they’re 15. Any parent who says different is a fool.

And where’s the research that backs up Donaldson’s assertion that drink could seriously affect brain development in the young – how much alcohol, a small glass of wine, a half of beer, a pint?