Um, it is fun to drink. That's why so many people do it.

But showing what really happens (e.g., we really used to sneak the leftover drinks from our parents and sometimes pour them drinks) isn't the same as condoning it. And in those days, smoking and drinking WERE still glamorous (oh, do I miss smoking!!). It's a soap opera for adults--a well-written and well-acted period piece that is also a show about social change.

Eventually, we'll see these folks with smoker's coughs, lung cancer, cirrosis and in AA meetings. But in 1962, smoking and drinking were indeed something most people wanted to do. And some characters, maybe even Don, will take up marijuana, LSD (indeed, it was very popular in like 1964 and 1965, before it became illegal--the head of Time, Inc was a big proponent of its "benefits" as was Cary Grant). For those that partook, that will be a "trip" down memory lane, but not necessarily condoning as well.

I have noticed in previous seasons Don and Betty coughing when they woke up. Also remember when Roger came to their house and drove home drunk. Don told him he was going to the wrong car.It didn't seem to worry Don at all that he was driving back to town drunk. Other people have mentioned not using seatbelts. I noticed Don and Betty coming home didn't use them but it brought back memories when she scooted over next to him so it was realistic.

I was born in 1962 and we had "Happy Hour" every Sunday (after church, before dinner). My dad taught my sisters and I how to take orders, make Whiskey Sours, and let us taste the foam on the top (didn't like 'em then, don't like 'em now). Mad Men brings back so many of the truths that I remember it's kind of freaky at times!

My parents were basically teetotalers, but let me make drinks for them and their friends at the holidays or special gatherings. I was born in '55. It was a big deal for me. Highballs, Tom Colllins, vodka gimlets, gin and tonics, Seven and Sevens. Nothing fancy, and no one drank wine - there was no good wine in our suburban town then. I love that scene in Season 1 when Don is building Sally's birthday play house, and drinking beer out of the fridge in the garage. There's a church key hanging on a hook near the fridge, because there were no pop-tops. It was a shock of nostalgia to see and hear that pop.

Also, there were no seatbelts in cars - I'm not sure when they were mandated, but me and my siblings were always sliding around on the seats, and climbing around in the back. I hated when my father smoked in the car, but was always grateful when he opened the little side windows. I miss those little windows.

Yep, that part rang very true. I would guess it wasn't the first time Sally took a sip either. It also showed an attitude that I, personally, miss. Kids were there to wait on their parent's. "Your legs are younger than mine, run upstairs and get my coat'. And don't forget, not only could children 'run to the store' and buy their parents a pack of cigarettes, but there were candy cigaretts, so kids could play at it. Although, it was very easy to just slip one out of a pack, since they were every where. There was a holder you could stick on the wall to hold a carton of cigaretts and it even matched the rest of the kitchen decor. No seat belts, as ballrow said, and the car seats, if you even used one, often had a toy steering wheel on it. In case of quick stop, the baby (sitting in the front seat between the parents) would hit the plastic wheel.

As I say, all that ran true, but I am wondering about Don's doctor prescriptions, if he takes what the doctor ordered and how it reacts to the alcohol.

There's a big step from enjoying a drink or two and alcoholism. A little perspective, please. Sally is a curious kid; trying the drink doesn't mean she's going to become a raging alcoholic.

I'm surprised we haven't seen Don under the influence of his prescriptions more - the writers gave us information about what he's taking, and somewhere I read that the side effects of one of his prescriptions is impotence. To say nothing about mixing phenobarbitol and booze.

I also am not disturbed at all by Sally's behavior - she seems totally normal. Bobby might need some professional help later in life though. Betty's got some 'splainin' to do to him one day.

I just love the way that some people try to apply Today's 'morals' to a period piece. There was a time when people didn't have to travel around in Government mandated safety gear with an airbag for every orifice.

It's a wonder the Human race made it this far without the Nanny State or the trial lawyers suing for every little splinter.

MM, with it's right-on portrayal of the early 60s, must be quite a cultural shock to anyone born in the 70s and later.

I remember my mom piling 14 kids into a station wagon to take us to the Thursday afternoon movies during the summer. The local merchants sponsored the shows (cartoons, short film and the feature, usually a Disney film) while the moms shopped. Seatbelts (front seat) were introduced in 1968 but not mandated by states until 1984 in New York; other states followed.

My dad mixed his own martinis; he even had a travel case to take the fixins on the road for a conference (sort of like carrying coals to Newcastle, that.) But I remember making highballs, bloody Marys and screwdrivers, and I had a great-aunt who loved her Presbyterians (drinks, not the religious folks.) Many a grown-up party they had after our bedtimes but we sat on the stairs like the Draper kids listening to music, laughter, and snatches of conversation we didn't fully understand.

Someone mentioned the Draper kids were whisked off to bed early, 7:30 in the most recent episode. That was not considered early for the times and their ages. Parents wanted alone time without kids underfoot.

Nokomis - absolutely f'ing great post. I feel the same way. I was laughing the other day with a friend about the playgrounds we had back in the day - the aluminum slides that got to be a flesh searing 200 degrees in the summer; the chains on the swings that pinched your fingers almost off, especially if someone was twisting you around, the rusty bolts that ripped your thighs open, and everything was set up on cement or asphalt. Somehow we managed to survive. Good times.

Nokomis: WELL SAID and I concur! In school, we were smacked by teachers, the playground jungle jims were erected on a cement slab, nobody severed a foot playing on a see-saw or got their drawstrings caught in a slide. Or if that happened, it was a dreadful accident, not a reason to sue. And drinking used to be fun. Now adults can't stay out past 11pm or they'll get a DUI just for having a .08 (2 drinks) if they get pulled over for any random reason or another. Even the original MADD founder said it's now turned into a vigilante group that she has no use for. Sighhhh.....

Laughing at toys like "bag o glass" and kids sneaking drinks is one thing, wishing we could live like that again is another.

I'm quite glad that the law requires cars to have seatbelts so I don't have to go without one--though part of me misses the bench seat. And though I look back fondly on some of our fun but quite dangerous toys (what was that one that put out about 1000 eyes?), I'm kind of glad that we try not to give our children toys that are poisonous (even if China still does...). And as much as I miss them, I'm certainly glad I don't smoke anymore and that thanks to lawyers, I don't have to inhale secondhand smoke, which is even more dangerous...And I'm kind of glad that the lawyers made our employers stop trying to have sex with us women all the time and to hire us/promote us even if they don't like women. And I guess black people would feel the same way.

Can you imagine if we just let companies do anything or sell us anything they wanted without any check or regulation? We'd end up with 5 year olds smoking Camels.

But again, it's not all black and white--either you let kids play with matches and let smokers smoke anywhere like the old days or the government will force people to live in a protective bubble. It's kind of more complicated than that. A kid can sneak a drink without being grounds for CSS to come and take away your children, true...

That's the problem with analyzing the show from the moralizing perspective of "right" or "wrong" or "those days were better" v. "these days are better." It tends to force these either/or polarized discussions.

It doesn't matter anyway, because one thing is true, for better or for worse, we can't go back! We keep moving forward whether everyone keeps up or not, while as a society, alternating between getting smarter and getting stupider.

Everyone drank in the 60s. Everyone smoked. As kids, we were often given a "sip" of mom or dad's drink and nobody batted an eye. However, I'm a little taken aback by Sally mixing drinks. That would never have happened.

My parents partied with their friends and colleagues and while the booze flowed like ...well ....booze, I can't say I ever saw anyone drunk. As for kids mixing drinks? Or being allowed near the bar ( for fear of breaking the crystal, if nothing else ) it just didn't happen. I think most of the adults would have thought it inappropriate, even in 1962,

I know there's a scene in "Auntie Mame" where Patrick mixes a martini, but the audience ( even in the 50s ) laughed at the absurdity of it. It wasn't common practice or passively accepted.

MicheleKay - mixing drinks for adults did happen then. It was common. Martinis, no. Simple stuff, like several of us commented on above, definitely.

LOL--that's what's so funny! They'd let kids mix drinks like scotch and soda, but if it required some "finesse" like a martini, or god forbid, letting them touch the good crystal, then fugghedaboudit!

I think the drink mixing by Sally was seen in part as helping her learn something useful, like learning how to set the table and where to place the silverware. Have you noticed that many of the safety restrictions of today came about because of the 60s and 70s. It is as if the children of the 60s who rebelled against parental rules produced a generation who created rules. How old is Sally? I was thinking around 11 or 12, but if Dick/Don was in Korea, then it is unlikely Sally was born in 1950.

Sally's supposed to be about 7.

In my first "corporate" job, my new boss threw a party at his home.
His daughters played bartneder and were fixing and serving the drinks. Theoldest daughter was 8, the youngest was 4. They knew what they were doing too!

I was amazed at the size and strength of those Bloody Marys the daughter made. The scotches Don pours are barely a finger or two. If you order a mixed drink from a child, you're going to get a strong one (ever ordered from a rookie bartender?) Does having your daughter make your drinks subconsciously absolve you from the responsibility or guilt of drinking heavily? Are the kids are not only figuratively but literally making them drink too much?

We were never allowed to mix drinks. Not even colas - but we could have a sip from a kindly aunt or uncle.

Sorry guys but I am well aquainted with the sixties as I was working in NYC at an AD AGENCY on Mad. Drinking and smoking were not yet looked down upon and many parents accepted that their kids would be following their habits. However, I'm sure there were many families where the responsibility to children came before their "pleasures". Don's little girl is only around 8 or 10 years old, but because she has seen her parents drink and smoke she might follow their example when she is older. I have heared of children allowed or encourage to drink when very young developing addictions both to alcohol and drugs as young adults. I do not think their actions were that of responsible parents to little kids.

My father is Don Draper's era and he had some old Super8 footage of a cocktail party. Everyone is in suits and big fluffy dresses. Everyone with a cigarette. And they were playing "musical chairs." No kids, just adults smoking, drinking, playing musical chairs, and laughing their butts off.

I never got to make my dad a drink, but I don't think it would have been a big deal. Of all the changes in parenting we've seen in Mad Men from the 60s, I think the most jaw-dropping was when that neighborhood parent not only disciplined but slapped someone else's child at the birthday party (with a parent witnessing it and condoning it).

Legs, I wasn't at an ad agency in NYC, but I have parents who were from this era. They drank and smoked, and didn't think they were doing anything wrong, much less setting a bad example, much less dooming us into alcoholism. Good parenting meant teaching kids there were things that were acceptable for grown-ups but not for kids (drinking, cursing, smoking, coffee, sex).

By the way, when I see school kids drinking coffee, I'm still like "what the hell?"

guyblur - kids drinking coffee makes me think the same way. When Duck first started at Sterling Cooper, he wanted young writers to put on the Martinson coffee account, because everyone young was drinking Pepsi, and coffee was for old folks. Our world's gone upside down since then.

I missed that. I thought she was asleep because she was at the office and bored. Like I am now. Drink up now kid, because in the future the country will be run by big mommy government, teetotalers and soccer moms. There is no future. Enjoy.

We have to keep in context the mores of the time period we are talking about people!As an African American it totally disturbs me that in season 1 the only people of colour we saw were janitors.But then I put myself in check and say oh yeah..it was before the Civil Rights movement.More upsetting to me than seeing a little girl mix drinks are the scenes of pregnant women smoking.But it was how it was..I was born in 1965..my mom smoke all the way through her pregnancy..as a result I have asthma.She feels guilty but they really didn't know the harm(thanks to the mad men and their excellent advertising strategies)..lol

The scene in Season 1 when Francine lights up her newborn's nursery just killed me. The doctor was smoking while examining Peggy. I think the smoking was a little overdone for effect, but not much.

I'm glad to hear an African American perspective, because there doesn't seem to be too much which would speak to you with all those white middle class suburban settings. They weren't the good old days for everyone.

Well ballrow you are right..it reminds me of when i saw Gone with the Wind for the first time..it was so beautiful and my best friend(white girl) said aww don't you wish we were back in those days with those beautiful dresses? I was like ummm ..yeah.Then i thought about it and i was like hell no..you would have the beautiful dress and i would be in rags..screw that..LOL.
Well I love period pieces and thats what I see mad men as a glimpse into another era and I accept it for what it is. :-)

I was born in 1960. My father had me "trained" when I was about 10/11 to have a Martini ready and waiting when he hit the door form his long commute (we lived in the Valley then,he was driving from Riverside,CA). I also remember during special occasions me and my cousins were allowed to have a little nip of the adult's alcoholic beverage. We didn't like the taste then so it wasn't like a prelude to alcoholism.
I don't think Don and Betty are negligent parents by allowing Sally to bartend for them. That just seemed to be standard behavior in some households of that era,ours included. During that time it wasn't as P.C. as it is now. I vividly recall being 5 or 6 and romping around the backseat of my Grandma's old Rambler holding onto this cord that ran across the back pre-tending I was waterskiing.No seat belt laws then! She'd probably get a ticket if a policemen happened to see that.

I was born in 1960. My father had me "trained" when I was about 10/11 to have a Martini ready and waiting when he hit the door form his long commute (we lived in the Valley then,he was driving from Riverside,CA). I also remember during special occasions me and my cousins were allowed to have a little nip of the adult's alcoholic beverage. We didn't like the taste then so it wasn't like a prelude to alcoholism.
I don't think Don and Betty are negligent parents by allowing Sally to bartend for them. That just seemed to be standard behavior in some households of that era,ours included. During that time it wasn't as P.C. as it is now. I vividly recall being 5 or 6 and romping around the backseat of my Grandma's old Rambler holding onto this cord that ran across the back pre-tending I was waterskiing.No seat belt laws then! She'd probably get a ticket if a policemen happened to see that nowdays.

I was born in 1960. My father had me "trained" when I was about 10/11 to have a Martini ready and waiting when he hit the door form his long commute (we lived in the Valley then,he was driving from Riverside,CA). I also remember during special occasions me and my cousins were allowed to have a little nip of the adult's alcoholic beverage. We didn't like the taste then so it wasn't like a prelude to alcoholism.
I don't think Don and Betty are negligent parents by allowing Sally to bar-tend for them. That just seemed to be standard behavior in some households of that era,ours included. During that time it wasn't as P.C. as it is now. I vividly recall being 5 or 6 and romping around the backseat of my Grandma's old Rambler holding onto this cord that ran across the back pre-tending I was waterskiing.No seat belt laws then! She'd probably get a ticket if a policemen happened to see that nowadays.

Please excuse the repetitive postings! My computer is acting up.If I could delete the extra's I would do so!

Auburn Annie,sounds like you grew up in similar circumstances.

One of the many reasons I love this show is for the precise memory of days gone by. Noone had cell phones but strangely enough,every kid's Mom seemed to know their whereabouts.
(maybe they had a morse code sent via the neighborhood clotheslines!)

Today's "P.C" was yesterday's "good manners" and social taboos so every period has its dos and don'ts. And despite all these fun trips down memory lane, I think the 50s/60s were possibly only "better" overall for middle aged white males, but then even they got lung cancer and cirrosis...but for most women and blacks/ethnic americans, and everyone else who wants to live a bit longer, I would say it's probably much better to be around today.

And again, it's not all one thing or another. Letting kids try booze isn't a one way ticket to skid row...The French and Italians let their children have wine from like 8 years old on, and they generally don't become alcoholics. But unlike Americans, particularly back in MM days, they aren't really drinking for the sake of drinking. It's something to have with food.

I'm laughing my head off at this conversation. I was born in 1952 and the writer's have the culture down to a T. The attitudes toward drinking and children and children drinking were what they're showing us. Scary as it is, I love watching it.

In that era, all adults smoked and drank. It was common to ride in the car with the windows closed when adults smoked, and kids were not supposed to complain. When my mother left home, she was often concerned that she left a cigarette burning in an ash tray and we would stop back home. My baby shoes were bronzed and made into ash trays. I knew how to mix drinks as a kid. My father thought nothing of serving beer to my teenage buddies ("Better that kids learn to drink at home"). At adult parties, it was not out of the ordinary to see family friends passed out. For all the excesses of that period, it was a fun time to grow up (at least in retrospect, but we are all nostalgic for our youth).

Everybody smoked everywhere. Kids mixed drinks and got to taste them. But my Dad would never have taken us to his work--that was a no-no from his point of view and from his bosses. Also, I remember sheer joy as a child and Don's daughter seems hardbitten and old for her age. We were cute, adored, fed, bathed, and tucked into bed according to a schedule. Where is Dr. Spock in all this? He was my mother's god. Also, this was a very literate time. Where are Betty's stacks of womens magazines, her Book of the Month club books? She's just now getting around to Fitzgerald? My mom didn't even graduate from high school and read all the best sellers and then some.

How did our generation who grew up with the smoking and drinking become such authoritarian nanny state loving (thanks Nokomis!) a-holes with our own kids? (not me, particularly, but in general).
Then, adults ruled, you knew you weren't entitled to do what they did until you grew up, and there was no discussion about anything. That's what MM shows so well.

PJ - turning the bronzed baby shoes into ashtrays wins the thread.

We probably saw our parents hobbling around pulling their oxygen tanks and thought, hmmm, should we be inhaling that?

Do you really want to plop your kid on the front seat without a seat belt or child seat? I mean, YOUR kid. Not my kid or someone else's kid. YOURS? Then go ahead, be my guest. Darwin is usually right.

Again, those that think the Sopranos was a show about the Mob are probably the same ones that think Mad Men is about "the good old days."

I was born in 1959. We were allowed to taste mom and dad's cocktails (brandy alexander and rob roy, usually!), to taste beer, wine, etc. As a result we had no burning curiosity or fascination about alcohol, and we kids never experimented or went overboard with drinking. It was a very sensible way to introduce kids to an enjoyable aspect of life. Life is so micromanaged now - it's a shame. Most kids are strange nowadays. Way too tied to parents, too dependent. Sorry, but that's my opinion and observation.

Betty Crocker - the nostalgia is for the good old days when the government didn't intrude into what should rightfully be decisions made by parents and adults. A lot of us survived the hazards of the day with plain old common sense. We don't need laws for everything. I agree that seat belt laws have saved lives, and smoking should not be allowed everywhere, but I don't think the police should be able to stop and ticket someone who doesn't have a seat belt on like they can do in my state, and there are places where employers have the right to dictate whether people can smoke in their own homes. It's pleasant to remember when we were left alone to make our own mistakes .

I think it's the use of the word "rightfully" and "plain old common sense" that is annoying. I think "in my opinion" would be a better choice of words.

But again, it's about reason and moderation--If YOU don't wear a seat belt and are ALONE in the car and won't become a human projectile, then fine, again, Darwinism prevails. But again, do you really think you get to choose whether you put your child in a safety seat in a dangerous vehicle on the city streets and highways? You don't think the city/state has anything to say about that?

And again, as much as I miss smoking in that romantic, nostalgic, I wish it were Mad Men days so I could smoke with impunity...In the REAL world, I don't want to breathe your cigarettes, period. A corporation should not really be allowed to poison me without any regulation in the name of "freedom."

As your employer, do you want me to allow you to be a heroin addict also?

BUT if you want to smoke alone, and not subject it on me or your children or other people that have no choice in the matter, and if you don't get sick more often than nonsmokers, then fine. Smoke away. I'll still hire you as long as you don't take more breaks than the average nonsmoker or get sick more often.

Wow, Betty Crocker, you're harshing our mellow.

LOL, cuz I thought you were harshing my mellow!

It bums me out when MM gets reduced to some sort of simplistic political statement. It is fun to trip down memory lane, but I don't think the writers intended for it to become a conservative white male's wet dream! Indeed, it's about when people who think they own the world find out they can't take certain things for granted.

Betty Crocker misses the point about MM. It is a period piece with a storyline depicting the lives of flawed people (like us) in particular settings which recreate the period. The writers are not making value judgments. They are not condoning smoking, womanizing, or anything else. Nor are most bloggers.

Betty is personalizing the show to condemn characters, events, and practices repugnant to her value system. That is the mentality of the P.C. Police and Nannystaters (as ballrow points out) who want the State to institutionalize their notions of vice and virtue because they know what is best for the rest of us.

This is storyline is very true to the times. Do no apply today's standards and political correctness to the 1960s. Kids did make and serve drinks to their parents and visitors to the house. Most of them did not turn out to be alcoholics. We saw Sally take the drink off the desk and it would only be natural that she would be curious about how drinks taste. Millions of people rubbed whiskey on their baby's gums to help them with teething - today that would get your baby taken away from you, but in those days it was good parenting.

This was a different time and in some ways a better time, in some ways not better, but do not judge it with today's standards. Just enjoy it - that is what people did in the 1960s, they enjoyed life. God, we could sure use some of that.

I was born in 1965 and used to LOVE tasting the sour mix my parents used. It was also a major treat, and the adults thought it was the cutest thing, for us little blonde girls to move from person to person begging them for the cherry from their drink! We didn't mix drinks but it wouldn't have been a big deal. The adults thought it was funny to watch us make faces after sipping their whiskies. I remember my parents drinking & smoking with their friends like there was no tomorrow. My Pop and his fondness for Camels with no filter, and my Dublin-born Mom with her Benson & Hedges. They had 2 sisters as friends: one smoked Parliament green, the other Parliament blue. Remember those? Also remember their friend who was the Avon lady drinking with Mom, I used to love to get the little lipstick samples in the tiny tubes.

I must not be making my point very well--I'm agreeing with PJ that indeed, the writers are not making value judgments and so I wish we wouldn't either. I LOVE watching all the antics from that period. I want to remember making drinks for my parents and sneaking sips or watch the SC office shenanigans WITHOUT having to decide whether that was "good" or "bad."

Meaning, I am reacting to other people's value judgments--either the ones saying, "how dare they show a child drinking" to others ranting about how those times were better and the PC police/nanny state ruined everything. Indeed, I want to enjoy the scenery of the show without all the political commentary about how irresponsible it is for MM to "glamorize" drinking or the opposite, how awful the Nanny state is. Cuz, e.g, I really don't think you want to put your child in the front seat without a car seat. I really think you're just like saying "the nanny state sucks" but don't quite know what that means.

I.E., I wish I could smoke, but I watched my mother die of lung cancer, so I am very GLAD our society has become more enlightened than in 1960 about smoking generally, and banning smoking in public places. But I still want to enjoy the show and pretend we don't know any better for an hour/week.

I'm merely reacting to other people's value judgments, which once you raised them, are open to discussion. I would just prefer to laugh about the drinking/smoking, remember how we lived and enjoy the show.

I enjoy the show on many levels with good writing heading the list. I love to be reminded of how it was and I think the production staff has gone out of their way to try to add that realism to the set. But, when I take that trip down memory lane, I never find myself wishing any of it back. That doesn't keep me from feeling a little tug on my heart. I do take from it some insight that as an adult I have now and didn't have when I was living in those times. Just as Sally was seeing an adult world, but absorbing it as a child.

"Millions of people rubbed whiskey on their baby's gums to help them with teething - today that would get your baby taken away from you, but in those days it was good parenting."

Flashback! In our house it was an airplane sampler size bottle of Southern Comfort kept on the shelf above the kichen sink. And Coke syrup in the fridge for upset stomachs.

LOL Auburn Annie, you too must've been raised Southern.

I cannot wait until 2038 when someone creates a "period" piece based on the early 21 century and includes all of the things we currently think of as "good" or "bad" or "correct" or "dangerous" or things we just flat out take for granted and society puts 2008 under the microscope.

It will be priceless.

Nope, missholloway, I'm born and raised in NY - though I do have a sister who now lives in Atlanta.

Pink Human - I think Woody Allen did that in Sleeper, pretty much. "Oat Bran - the silent killer"

Auburn, we had those remedies in my house, too - coke syrup for tummy aches and nausea, but it was brandy rubbed on the gums for the teething pain. A kid is not going to die from that.

The first sip of an alcoholic drink I was given was a Brandy Alexander. Uh Oh! I just thought of something...Peggy was drinking a BA on the blind date with the truck driver! She said Joan introduced her to them and she liked them. Does that mean Peggy and I are the same?! Very scary, next thing you know I'll be wearing bangs, a pony tail, and getting blue eggs from priests, be afraid, be very afraid!

Oh god, Pink, don't even go there...it will be like the movie Brazil...all terrorism and religion! Arabs and educated people, BAD! James Dobson and Nascar, GOOD!

Pink Human, the thought is frightening! Can you imagine how paranoid and uptight this period is going to seem in 50 years? They'll be showing pictures of 80-year-old women and 4-year-old boys being "wanded" by the airport security and it will seem like the McCarthy Era all over again.

Is Sally precocious or what? Her "Let's have a conversation" with Paul was interesting! Not only does she assume the picture on his desk is his maid but then she launches into the tough questions. Cute.
Did you catch Joan's long look down the aisle at Don after Sally finished about "the big ones"?
The first time I watched this episode, I got interrupted. I thought someone finally slipped Sally the drink to keep her quiet!
In another few years, Sally will be running circles around Don and Betty. I think she's already smarter than they are.

In 50 years I doubt that there will be a recognizable Western civilization much less a USA that resembles what we now enjoy.

Had to laugh at Sally making the drinks for Don and Betty. I was born in 1951. I would serve as "barmaid" when my grandfather would come over to play pinocle with my father and his friends. I would fetch and open the long-necked beers and pour shots of bourbon for the table. I was about ten or eleven at the time I started doing this. Grandpa even humorously called me "barmaid", which at the time I thought was cool. There was a lot of drinking, smoking, and card playing, especially "bridge clubs" at our house. It was a very loving household and I never became an alcoholic, neither did my brother. But, I still have a smoking problem. Took to cigarettes immediately, and still quit and start, quit and start again.

I don't think it's even been that long ago when the "culture wars" happened and we started passing laws to regulate social behaviors (drinking, smoking, etc.) Sometimes it seems like we're on a dangerous slope to having a law for every aspect of our life, but I'm glad that we have rules that protect kids and discourage people from doing things that can harm others.

I was born in the early '80s, and watching MM has been a fun way of seeing how much we've changed, and how silly some of those overly-PC changes might have been. As for the Sally drinking issue, I can relate a little. I can remember being about 8 years old and asking my dad for a taste of his beer. He let me have a sip, and it was so disgusting that I still hate beer to this day. I was also allowed to have very small glasses of wine at big family dinners while still in my early teens. It took the mystery out of alcohol, and I think that's why I wasn't tempted to drink in excess during my college years. My point is, that sometimes parents might do things that don't seem PC or that "modern", "enlightened" people would frown on, but that doesn't mean that it will result in tragedy.

I was discussing this episode with a friend. She was born in 1966 and I in 1953. We compared notes on kids serving drinks. My parents drank beer occasionally, so I never bartended. When I mentioned the scene where Sally practically filled Don's glass with vodka (OMG! She barely made room for the tomato juice!), my friend perked right up and said she served her dad a Bloody Mary every day after work starting in about 1974! She would have been about 8.
Honestly, until I watched MM, I had NO idea children mixed drinks for their parents! It's true that you learn something every day.

My friend I also agreed on one big thing: hard liquor would have tasted like medicine (or worse!) to a child, right? I would have been so spitting it out!
Sally's first hangover?

I think that there is a lot of judgement about somethings that were true for the time. I was born in '67, but even well into the 70's the drinking, smoking, etc. was common place. I cracked up when Sally made the Bloody Mary's heavy on the vodka w/just a touch of juice for color! It was just as I would have done in the 70's for my parents and I'm not an alcoholic and niether were they. The smoke filled bridge parties with coctails flowing were something we all remembered. We too always made our appearance to say hello and then were scooted upstairs where we had to stay the rest of the evening and we did.
Sure things have changed, but this still remains a period piece and it would be wrong to depict the era under current standards. The funny thing is that we're always hearing about our own anti-moral society today, when in fact we are better at covering up our vices to be politically correct.
If you want to see this attitude fast forward to the mid-70's, try catching Swingtown on CBS this coming Friday. They are catching a lot of heat for thier period themes of swingers, sex and drug use of the mid-70's, and they are on regular network TV.
Again, I don't think that anyone is saying all of this is okay, it just is what happened during a particular slice in time. I seriously doubt that anyone wishes they could smoke and drink through pregnancy, but I am sure that some of us wouldn't mind an occational Martini Lunch without speculation!
Like I said, some of this is still going on, it's just not in the open like it used to be.

I also enjoy the memories this show brings back - it's fun to recall all the dangerous things parents let their kids do without thinking. I used to light my parents' cigarettes, and my mom once made me ride my bike to the store 2 miles away (one way) in 90-degree heat becauae she had run out of smokes and my dad had our one car at work.

We all survived it, but that doesn't mean they were OK to do. Ignorance and luck.

Anyone recall the scene last season when Sally and Bobbie are playing inside the dry-cleaner bags -- and all Betty cares about is that they don't make a mess! So funny.

Sometimes I envy the "Mad Men" moms' casualness about their kids, their ability to just let the kids go be kids and not hover around them. But then it also seems to me that Betty really doesn't like her kids very much, and neither do most of the other mothers on the show.

I wonder if the show will make it to 1968? That'll be interesting . . .

Yes, the Generation Gap is coming! We see it in Roger's daughter wanting her own kind of wedding instead of a cookie-cutter one. Sally and Bobby will be about the right age.