June 27, 2025, 2:01 am | Read time: 4 minutes
The son of our editor sometimes drinks non-alcoholic beer. What started innocuously turned out to be a surprisingly complex parenting question: How much symbolism is in a beer bottle? And how does it shape children? A personal story about everyday rituals, parental intuition, and an insight.
An Unusual Favorite Drink
On our dinner table, there are sometimes two bottles of non-alcoholic beer—for my husband, me, and our son (3). He has shared our preference for non-alcoholic beer for some time now, which we previously found unproblematic. Friends or acquaintances seeing him sip from the bottle for the first time usually laugh and say they’ve never seen anything like it. When he sips from a bottle of Erdinger 0.0 at a restaurant, we sometimes get puzzled looks. I am aware that non-alcoholic beer is not necessarily healthy. It can be high in calories, and many varieties contain added sugar. A recent study highlighted its effect on blood sugar, especially from non-alcoholic wheat and mixed beers.1 However, compared to classic soda, this aspect is hardly significant. So why shouldn’t I allow my child to occasionally take a sip of non-alcoholic beer? Just as other children are allowed to sip soda now and then?
Of course, we know that non-alcoholic beer can contain up to 0.5% alcohol by volume. It is not our son’s standard drink. On the other hand, common sense tells us that the effect of a few sips of non-alcoholic beer can never be the same as accidentally drinking eggnog. Any fruit juice that has been in the fridge a bit too long contains at least as much alcohol through fermentation as a bottle of non-alcoholic beer. The same goes for fermented foods like sauerkraut or kefir. And wasn’t malt beer, with its 2.0% alcohol by volume, once a typical children’s drink?
What’s Inside? Between Soda and Non-Alcoholic Beer
I understand that children should grow up as alcohol-free as possible. The so-called “0.0% beers” contain no measurable alcohol. Legally, they are considered alcohol-free and harmless regarding alcohol consumption. They also contain some minerals like potassium, magnesium, or sodium, similar to isotonic sports drinks.
Children want to try everything their parents consume. This doesn’t mean we would give him a sip of wine or spirits just because we drink it—that’s out of the question. It’s not about a fundamental “He wants, so he gets,” but about giving him a sense of community and equal treatment.
Many non-alcoholic beers, especially pilsners, contain significantly less sugar than classic soda (10 grams vs. 2 to 4 grams per 100 milliliters), which today often appears in a “healthy” guise—as “natural soda” or “refreshing drink with vitamins.” That other parents occasionally give their children soda is, of course, no argument for allowing your child non-alcoholic beer instead. Ultimately, it’s not about which “lesser evil” is allowed, but whether a drink is sensible and harmless for a child.
The Social Context: What Do Others Think?
Because a soda does not have the same symbolic meaning as beer, I realized over time what is problematic about our approach: treating non-alcoholic beer like soda. Although it may be comparable to soda in terms of health effects, it conveys a completely different image.
This feeling, which I now share, has good reasons. Beer is associated with adult beverages and alcohol consumption. Even if the beer my son drinks contains no ethanol, it remains visually, tastefully, and socially a “beer.” The puzzled looks from others reflect this discomfort: A child with a beer bottle instinctively seems inappropriate to them.
Also interesting: Long Periods of Screen Time in Children Can Affect Diet
How Non-Alcoholic Beer Affects Children
More importantly, if my child learns that drinking beer is normal or even “cool,” it might lower his inhibitions toward real alcohol in the long run.
Precisely because such early-learned behavior patterns can influence later behavior, I wanted to know how experts view the topic. I asked Matthias Riedl, an internist, nutritionist, diabetologist, and medical director of Medicum Hamburg. His stance is clear: “Giving children non-alcoholic beer is a no-go. They get used to the taste. This shapes a child.” Parents should consciously avoid such “familiarization” with the taste and social ritual of beer drinking.
Is Coffee a Good Remedy for Constipation?
How Women Over 50 Should Train
One Minute of Planking a Day! Join Our Plank Challenge
How We Handle It Now
My husband and I have since decided that non-alcoholic beer (0.0%) remains a special ritual, reserved for a boys’ night with dad. This way, it remains something extraordinary, embedded in a clear framework, without becoming a daily norm. Beer drinking should not be a game for our son, but something he can discover for himself as an adult.