First off, I feel compelled to say, I had an exceptional mother. That having been said, I do have a very unique memory from my childhood involving my mother.
When I was very sick with a cold or the flu, my mother would bring me this mysterious concoction. It was in an ornate jigger glass we had. And I couldn’t figure out at first what it even was. It was kind of syrupy–I later learned it did have honey in it, and lemon juice. But there was this third ingredient that I couldn’t quite place my finger on. I know it always made me feel better, if only subjectively.
My mother later told me what it was. Honey, Lemon and a very very small amount (my mother claimed) of blended whiskey. She got the idea from her sister-in-law, who got it from her mother. It apparently is an old, family folk remedy of sorts.
This brings up an interesting question. Was my mother breaking the law? I know in this modern era, you are not supposed to give your children alcohol for beverage purposes. On the other hand, many children’s cold remedies are already loaded with ethyl alcohol–probably even more than my mother was giving me with this. For legal purposes, this was in the state of Michigan in the late 70’s or early 80’s. Also, would it be legal by today’s legal standards?
Anyways, it was a long time ago, and my mother died in 1996. So it would be too late for anyone to get in trouble for it now. But could she have back then?
The laws vary by state, of course. I know that it is legal for parents to serve alcohol to their minor children at home in Maine but illegal in New Hampshire. If this page is to be believed, it is probably currently illegal in Michigan.
real cough medicines probably contain alcohol anyway.
And you can substitute vanilla essence. Its just as strong as whiskey.
"mother charges with providing vanilla drink to child, as it contained alcohol " … not going to happen.
An old universal remedy - I still make this when I have a cold (here in the UK). I add some raw ginger and maybe some cloves to help clear the sinuses. The booze just takes the edge off the symptoms.
I think it was also pretty common to put a drop of whisky/brandy into babies milk to help them off to sleep, or dip a dummy into whisky to sooth teething.
I doubt anyone would have cared when you were growing up. Of course, social services are much hotter on responsible parenting these days.
It was used for wind, lack of wind, constipation, diarrhoea, colic, hiccups, stomach upsets, coughing, bad form, bad breath, fever. In fact, for any ailment you could think of, gripe water seemed to be the answer. Since it contained somewhere between 3.6% and 8% alcohol, one can only assume that babies in the first half of the 20th century were mostly smashed, most of the time.
Sadly, it no longer contains alcohol, although, when my children were babies, we used to add a couple of drops of brandy.
When I was a child I think I drank quite a bit of it; Hic!
When my first was teething, my grandmother gave me this time tested advice: “Pour a shot of whisky. Dip your finger into it and rub it over his gums. Drink the rest of the shot. One or both of you will sleep better.”
Yes, but like yours, it’s now mostly alcohol free. It’s not very widely used in the mainstream white cultures, but still popular among hippies/alt medicine folks, lower socioeconomic groups and immigrants.
Your mother could have given you NyQuill, which had something like20%-25% alcohol. You would have felt great, right up until you fell asleep. If you were able to stay awake after you took mother’s remedy, it probably had less alcohol in it than NyQuill.
I doubt it is illegal.
I know in most provinces in Canada, the guardian can allow their child to drink.
In some provinces, it is even legal to serve a minor alcohol in a restaurant if their guardian is present and permits it.
Of course, the same laws about child abuse and such apply if the serving of alcohol is not done responsibly, and it only applies to your child - you can’t serve other underage persons alcohol, that’s “Providing alcohol to a minor”.
I can remember taking novahistine elixir back when it still had chloroform in it … instead of the codeine it has today:eek: I loved that stuff, would always dry up the sinuses [one thing that chloroform was seriously good at] and get me to be able to fall asleep.
I have issues falling asleep with plugged sinuses, I would rather be actively nauseated than stuffed up. [OK, you Brits can stop giggling now…:dubious::rolleyes:]
