'Alcohol doesn't belong at children's parties.'

It’s so strange to me to attend a child’s birthday party and see a group of parents sitting down in a circle knocking back glasses of wine.

Kids can’t drink any of it and I certainly don’t need alcohol to enjoy my child’s birthday party and the many friends and family who join us. It just doesn’t make sense to me to serve alcohol next to the fairy bread and the chocolate cake.

A child’s birthday party is about the kids, not the adults “coping” or partying. Why parents think it’s acceptable to consume alcohol while kids eat cake and take turns hitting a pinata is beyond me.

It sets a really bad example.

I completely reject the premise that it’s not possible to enjoy a social gathering without alcohol. In fact I completely reject Australia’s entire drinking culture. Why successful, well-educated people can’t relax and enjoy themselves without hitting the grog is beyond me.

We are way too attached to alcohol consumption in this country.

I don't drink. I just don't like it. I don't like how much it costs, how it tastes and the effect it has on me. More importantly, I don't like the example I set for my kids by consuming it in front of them.

"Daddys' been working hard. He deserves a beer."

"Mummy's had a hard day. She needs a glass of wine to relax."

"Let's go out and celebrate x, y and z by drinking too much and acting stupid."

If you can't hold a simple kid's birthday party without consuming alcohol, if you can't work a hard day without the promise of a beer at the end of it, if you can't relax without a glass of wine in your hand, if you can't celebrate something without drinking, then something is wrong.

I tend to cook with alcohol rather than drink it.

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To me, alcohol has become a way we cope with the strain of modern life and I don't want my children to buy into that. That means we talk about alcohol, we cook with alcohol, we look at alcohol but they don't live in a home where their parents and loved ones drink it around them.

I grew up in an Italian home where alcohol consumption was rare and we were encouraged to try it when it was served, around four times a year on very special occasions. On the very rare occasion we come across alcohol, normally at other people's places, my son might have a sip.

He doesn't understand why people would drink it because it tastes so bad to him and that's just fine by me.

As a non-drinker, it never even occurs to me to serve alcohol, even during dinner parties when they kids are off in another room watching a movie. For me having company is about good food, good conversation and good coffee as well as being able to drive the kids home that night and not wake up with a hangover the next morning.

I'm just uncomfortable with the idea of consuming anything that is mood-altering around my children and I don't want them to use alcohol to correct their lives or emotions in the future.

I'd rather they used a block of chocolate or a power walk or a phone conversation with a friend.

Alcohol makes me uncomfortable, more so since I fully embraced being a non-drinker and no longer bowed to the pressure of friends and family who encouraged me to drink.

It would never occur to me to provide alcohol for family and friends and our many get-togethers for my kids and nobody has every brought any over thank goodness. We have plenty to drink, just none of that. I don't serve anything - food or beverage - that my children can't consume as well.

It's their party after all.