If it was actually possible to limit their consumption and amount consumed to when they were with their parents on special occasions, like maybe a (1)beer after the triptaphan(spellcheck) in the turkey was taking affect, then I might see your reasoning.
Maybe I should have underlined if and limit in the above statement. or maybe I wasn't entirely clear in my post. Most kids get there first taste from Mom or Dad.
Now that they have tried it, and are still to young to be responsible. The next step is usually unsupervised consumption generally from the parental stash. If the child has been taught that underage consumption is not allowed and the reasons why(similar to the parental drug talks) than the chance of any real problems such as alcohol poisoning or drunk driving are diminished. Yes it will still happen, some kids will not be deterred and will binge. It sounds like all of you are responsible parents and I commend you for that. But the simple fact is not all parents are. They give their kids alcohol without teaching them the dangers. The developing brain of young children is a delicate instrument and should be given every chance to mature without damage. Some have stated "my 16 yo is allowed a glass of wine on special occasions." I don't have a problem with that at all. You have set the limit and by that age although most still lack responsibility, you are being the responsible one. Society has set age limits due to the fact that most young are not responsible enough to make limit decisions. Granted some will never be responsible enough, particularly when the sense of reasoning is the first impairment that alcohol makes.
Thank you for your condolences to my loss. You would have lost that $100 wager. The incident involved a 17 yo who had been at a family outing, and decided he needed a pack of smokes. Not some kid who was parting with his school buddies. He was released from prison(with the permanent loss of a drivers license) after a much too short of a sentence and has since returned after being convicted of another DUI. Thank God he didn't kill again.
It wasn't my intention to open up a huge debate, just to state a few obvious problems with underage drinking.