Dad with European parents asks if he was wrong to let his kids start drinking at 8 years old.

For years, people have been debating what the proper drinking age should be.

In many countries, teens start drinking younger because the drinking age is 18 and sometimes 16, whereas the United States settled on the very nerdy age of 21. A lot of people feel that if you can die for your country at 18-years-old, it's insane that you're not allowed to drink a beer. Teenage drinking is a huge plot point of many American high school films and a large percentage of kids ages 15-20 have experimented with alcohol. Would lowering the drinking age change "forbidden fruit" element of drinking culture and prevent college and adulthood binge drinking? Perhaps.

While parents are entitled to raise their children the way they see fit for their particular family, there are still laws. In the United States, it's a serious crime for parents to provide alcohol to their underage children even if it's within the safety of their own home. While some parents think providing alcohol for a party prevents teens from hiding it and therefore doing further damage, the lines can get foggy.