Why LeBron James Let His Sons Drink Alcohol At 11 & 14 Years Old
He has a unique parenting style.
Tinseltown / Shutterstock / Instagram As a parents to two teen boys, LeBron James and his wife have worked hard to raise Bronny and Bryce to be responsible.
However, back in 2018 the NBA star's parenting style caught some heat.
LeBron James allowed his sons to drink wine while they were underage.
In October 2018, James revealed to CBS News that he allows her son to drink alcohol at home.
“My 14 and 11-year-olds drink wine. That's how mature they are. They'll be driving next week too," he stated.
When asked what his kids drink, the basketball player told reporters, "Whatever dad's and mom's having."
However, he insisted on taking the blame — anticipating any backlash he and his wife, Savannah, might get.
"Put it on me, though. Don't put it on moms. Put it on dad. Put it on dad,” James said.
It's not clear if James was kidding when he made the comments, but some people didn't appreciate his words — regardless of whether it was a joke.
Twitter users gave LeBron James a lot of criticism for this decision and blamed his parenting style.
One user wrote, “Awesome parenting, how privileged they are to be able to drink well below the legal age and make sound like no big deal! any other normal parent would have been hauled in for all [kinds] of charges and threats of taking their kids.”
“Hearing @KingJames promote #UnderAgeDrinking is like hearing #NFL promote #concussions in kids,” one person wrote.
In numerous similar comments, many people shared their concerns about underage kids drinking alcohol and how it could negatively impact their brains.
However, there were many people who supported LeBron James’ choices.
As many European countries have a legal drinking age of 18 compared to many other countries that have a legal drinking age of 21, many people felt that James was right to let his kids drink at home where they could be supervised.
One user wrote, “What about the rest of the world? In Italy, it is pretty much the same as James's actions. Is Italy a country of alcoholics? Same for a lot of other countries. We had a [18-year-old] drinking age for quite a while and didn't have a problem. You demonized it and whined.”
Another user wrote, “Visit Europe & educate yourself on how they handle alcohol. Silly to forbid alcohol till they hit 21 & expect them to automatically know how to handle drinking responsibly. Did you go straight from crawling to riding the bicycle in one step?”
Sanika Nalgirkar is a News & Entertainment Writer for YourTango. She has a master's degree in Creative Writing. See more of her writing on her website.