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In continuing with the theme of questions we didn't think we'd have to answer for a long time, if ever, The Boy came up with this one last night, as we ate dinner in a casual restaurant and the hubby and I each had one beer.

First it was, "Dad, does that beer taste good?" This one was easy. "Yes, but probably not to you. Plus, you have to be 21 years old to try it, anyway."

But then, "Dad, did you ever get drunk?"

Instead of letting him answer the question, I stepped in. "Well, let me explain something first. Drinks that have alcohol in them - like beer, wine, or other drinks for adults only - can make a person drunk. But if you only have one or two, most likely a person won't be drunk. But it all depends on how much they drank, how big they are, what they ate, and how long it has been since they drank," I said.

"Well, if you have to be 21, how come Grandma says the beer bottles down by the creek are from teenagers?" my savvy little boy asked.

"So here's the deal," I said. "You have to be 21 in the United States because that's when lawmakers believe you're old enough to be responsible for what you do. But sometimes, teenagers - who are NOT responsible - want to drink anyway. They get beer illegally, then they go somewhere and drink it."

"Oh. So do they get drunk?" he asked. "And what is drunk, anyway?"

I could see he was not going to let this go. So I decided  to be as honest as possible, without portraying drinking as being cool. "When you get drunk, you sometimes do and say stupid things. Sometimes it may seem fun, but it's really not - the next day you get sick, and it's also very dangerous at the time. So teenagers drinking by the creek are probably trying to be cool - but they're breaking the law and behaving in ways that can get them into a lot of trouble."

I thought for a moment, then decided to tell him a true story. "You know Laura down the street?" I asked. Laura (name changed to protect her), a girl in her early 20s, walked with a permanent limp and slurred her speech. "When she was in high school, she went out one night in her car with a bunch of her friends. They all got drunk, and then she went to drive them  home, and she got into a terrible car accident. That's why she limps and talks funny." I took a deep breath. I wasn't sure whether I should say this part of the story, but I really wanted to hammer home for The Boy why drinking is so dangerous for kids. I hope that the example makes an impression that lasts.

"Two of her friends died that night," I said. "They were killed in the car accident."

For a moment, he was silent. Then he looked at the half-consumed beers in front of me and my husband and said, "How are we going to get home tonight?"

Oh, the hypocrisy! I explained that Daddy and I had one beer each with a big dinner, and at Daddy's size, one beer is absolutely not enough to make him drive in an unsafe manner. But it got me thinking: when I was in graduate school, my boyfriend wouldn't drive or let anyone drive him if they'd had even one drink with dinner, hours before. Pretty much the rule was: if you drink today, you can drive tomorrow.

I know that rule pretty much guarantees safety (at least in terms of impairment from alcohol). And now that I see what an observant kid I have, maybe that's what we need to implement. Because clearly he's constantly watching us!