MY son's first experience with abject drunkenness came when he was 4.

The family was spending six months in southwest Louisiana, studying the Cajun culture courtesy of the Alicia Patterson Foundation.

Every Saturday, my wife, my son and I would head out to Mamou, where we'd spend the morning at a live radio broadcast of "The Mamou Hour," a weekly radio broadcast of Cajun music and news from Fred's Bar.

Cajuns are European in their outlook on life. They take their kids to Cajun bars, and until they were outlawed, Cajun cockfights as well.

It wasn't unusual for us to take our son to the bar, even though we were not Cajun but "English."

One Saturday morning while Davy sipped on a Coke, a friendly Cajun man - already drunk by 10 a.m. and sitting next to Davy in a booth - passed out and fell against our son, who was pinned between the man and the wall.

Davy was outraged. He braced himself against the wall and, with his 4-year-old feet, pushed the guy off and onto the floor.

It was probably four years later before he tasted his first beer.

I was drinking a beer one hot summer day when my son asked what it tasted like. I handed him the beer can and he took a sip and immediately spit it out.

He was amazed that anyone could drink that foul-tasting liquid. Had anyone seen me do that, I probably would have been jailed for giving alcohol to a minor.

A couple of years later, I was doing a story on a local winemaker. I took my son along. The winemaker, my son and I sat at a table and sampled the homemade wine.

As the winemaker and I talked, my son began giggling, then laughing. He'd had one sip too many. I took him home and he slept it off.

MY son's first experience with abject drunkenness came when he was 4.

The family was spending six months in southwest Louisiana, studying the Cajun culture courtesy of the Alicia Patterson Foundation.

Every Saturday, my wife, my son and I would head out to Mamou, where we'd spend the morning at a live radio broadcast of "The Mamou Hour," a weekly radio broadcast of Cajun music and news from Fred's Bar.

Cajuns are European in their outlook on life. They take their kids to Cajun bars, and until they were outlawed, Cajun cockfights as well.

It wasn't unusual for us to take our son to the bar, even though we were not Cajun but "English."

One Saturday morning while Davy sipped on a Coke, a friendly Cajun man - already drunk by 10 a.m. and sitting next to Davy in a booth - passed out and fell against our son, who was pinned between the man and the wall.

Davy was outraged. He braced himself against the wall and, with his 4-year-old feet, pushed the guy off and onto the floor.

It was probably four years later before he tasted his first beer.

I was drinking a beer one hot summer day when my son asked what it tasted like. I handed him the beer can and he took a sip and immediately spit it out.

He was amazed that anyone could drink that foul-tasting liquid. Had anyone seen me do that, I probably would have been jailed for giving alcohol to a minor.

A couple of years later, I was doing a story on a local winemaker. I took my son along. The winemaker, my son and I sat at a table and sampled the homemade wine.

As the winemaker and I talked, my son began giggling, then laughing. He'd had one sip too many. I took him home and he slept it off.

I tell you all this for a reason.

I never made alcohol a mystery to my son. It was never forbidden fruit. Now in his late 30s, he rarely drinks alcohol.

When he spent six weeks with us recently during my recovery from hip replacement, he didn't bring alcohol into the house, and when he went out to see local friends, he usually met them at a Waffle House, not a bar.

Yes, you might say, but wasn't giving him alcohol at such a young age running the risk of making him an alcoholic?

I'm convinced that alcoholism is a disease linked to genetics, not how young or old you are when you take your first drink.

I know my son drank during his brief stay at Marshall University, but he told me that binge drinking wasn't a part of his life there. And he admits that there was no glamour in drinking 'til he passed out, the way he saw the Cajun do it at Fred's Bar.

It's why I agree with those who say the drinking age should be lowered to 18. And, except for the few crazies who would take great delight in seeing their young kids falling-down drunk, I'd say remove the age prohibition entirely.

I'll bet it would virtually eliminate binge drinking among teenagers and not change the rate of alcoholism by a percentage point,

But it's not going to happen. As a society, we'll continue to sip our rum and Cokes and preach to our kinds about the dangers of alcohol.

No one said we're a logical society.

Peyton may be reached by e-mail at david.pey...@gmail.com.