What do you drink with meals?

I've noticed that whenever my teenagers have friends over for dinner, none of them drink milk. We offer milk or water, and 100% choose water - if they don't first ask for something else (the answer is no, you get milk or water - that's it).

I grew up in a family of milk drinkers, and no, we're not dairy farmers. I remember my parents drinking milk with meals as well, so it wasn't just a beverage for kids. Back then, we didn't even think about the calcium and vitamin D in milk promoting healthy bones - we just drank it.

I even continued to drink milk in college, where I was also one of the few who routinely ate breakfast. Old habits die hard. The only exception I make is when skim milk isn't available. I can't stand 2%, and don't even think about offering whole milk! Call me a skim milk purist. When I was in the Army we always had an option of skim milk, unless we were out in the field subsisting on C-rats, which would have been vastly improved with a glass of milk.

My teenage boys both drink milk, and even pour themselves a glass of milk when they fix their own lunch. It looks like I started another generation of milk-drinkers. Sure, I know some people don't believe adults should drink cow's milk, but I come from northern European ancestors who used everything they could from their cows - including drinking the milk. There's no osteoporosis in my family, thanks to good genes but also to a long history of drinking milk.

Milk or water - that's it for meals at our house.