The acceptance of children drinking has always been a matter of degree. Children would be given small amounts from a young age, but it was considered irresponsible to let them actually get drunk. Jack London wrote in his book John Barleycorn about his time working in a bowling alley as a preteen where he was given a beer on break; he initially tried ordering ginger ale, but it was more expensive than beer and the other kids told him to stick with beer if he wanted to keep his job.

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At least in America, the lowering tolerance for children drinking can be tied to the wider temperance movement that would lead to Prohibition. Initially most states had few or no drinking age laws, but as the temperance movement began gaining steam between the 1870s and 1890s they started enacting them. Some were strict (Wisconsin raised the drinking age to 21 as early as 1866) while some were lax (Illinois wrote in their 1876 law that parents could give written consent for the children to ignore the law).

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As we all know, the temperance movement gained enough prominence to lead to Prohibition. While the experiment was a miserable failure, it still reduced the alcohol consumption of the country in general. Many states and counties kept laws on the books restricting alcohol consumption. Generations growing up under these laws would obviously find alcohol consumption by people who were legally underage less acceptable than those who grew up in the 1850s where everyone was fine with giving a kid a glass of wine at Christmas.