“We were often criticized for not drinking”: Corine, 63, tells how she stopped drinking alcohol

I come from a family where it was normal for children to drink.

When I was little, my dad would pour a little peach liqueur into my morning bottle to spice it up and said it made us feel relaxed. We were definitely calmer!

Later, as teenagers, it was normal for us to drink at the dinner table, with my brothers and sisters, as a family, or when my parents had friends over.

It was a glass of wine and it didn’t shock anyone, because my parents also drank a lot. But like today some people drink water or coffee.

Become aware

I come from Berry, near Châteauroux, and it was when I left my hometown to study in the Paris region that I understood that all this was not normal. Today I think it is a generational issue. My parents and my family had this habit and in their eyes there was nothing wrong.

When I arrived in the Paris region, I realized several things. The first is that I don’t really like the taste of alcohol. Having fewer opportunities to drink, I naturally reduced my consumption.

At my parents’ house there are still cases of wine in the kitchen, it’s normal. At my house there is no alcohol. Later I met my husband who, unlike me, comes from a family that does not drink or drinks very little alcohol. He was very surprised to see that my family drank and helped me understand that it was not normal.

We had 3 children, now adults, to whom we tried to demonstrate that you can have fun without drinking, be happy without drinking.

Above all, we quickly explained to them that the consumption of their grandparents and some uncles was not the norm, that it belonged to a way of doing things from another time.

Helping people suffering from addiction

Meeting my husband and the opportunity to escape from my environment really helped me become aware of the problems of addiction, which is why I have never smoked cigarettes. And I have never had an addiction, to games for example.

That being said, it also made me want to collaborate with organizations that help people struggling with addiction.

There is a kind of modesty in my family, which means I have never confronted my parents, brothers and sisters about their alcohol consumption. I don’t think I would dare.

In addition, they often “scold” us for not drinking, telling us that we are too rigid. Which proves that I could not have said anything to them. My mother even scolded me one day for having become “too Parisian”. Today my parents are 93 and 96 years old and still drink regularly, but only a small glass. They did not have any particular health problems, which does not prove in my eyes that alcohol is not a problem, on the contrary.