You almost lost me with > "those same people are also prone to magical thinking about other things: vaccination, fluoride, radio waves, GMOs, etc." because it

You almost lost me with > "those same people are also prone to magical thinking about other things: vaccination, fluoride, radio waves, GMOs, etc." because it is not remotely the the same people who are irrational about each of those things. Glad I continued reading though, bc I like your "liquid" analogy which is apt. I do let my girls (age 10 and 11) play some games, but it's limited and as much about cultural literacy as their entertainment. They both love to read and spend probably 10h reading (mostly printed books but recently some kindle too) for every hour of tv or video games. Maybe instead of water vs alcohol, it's more a continuum from vegetables to candy. In any case, giving them some agency and trying to instill the foundation for them to make good choices -- ie, parenting -- is an ongoing and worthy challenge.