Good grief. A glass of wine warrants media attention?

[LynzM]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16818362

Personally, I think Americans need to chill the hell out about a glass of wine. That, or most of Europe has a lot of explaining to do about this...

How many parents wouldn't have a glass of wine or a beer (or two) while home with their own children? How is it any different if the moms get together to socialize while doing so?! Yes, getting together to get drunk isn't the best of plans with kids around. But to me, this article just screams Overreaction and Hype. Oy.

*dons flame suit*

Your thoughts?

[KenHodson]

1. Sometimes I get angry with a bunch of people I will never meet

[LynzM]

2. The media? The writers?

Not quite sure who it is you mean.... :hi:

[flvegan]

3. Do they smoke at these playdates?

[LynzM]

8. I don't know....

Would make for a better flamewar if they did, though, wouldn't it? :hi:

[Connonym]

4. Sweet jesus on a pogo stick

Just another way to slam women, imo. What if it was dad having a few beers while watching the game? This shit makes me wish I lived in a cave in the wilderness.

[LynzM]

13. Dude, I hear ya

Can I get a cave with a hot tub, though? :rofl:

[stuntcat]

20. what you said.

"Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay"? oh please.

A sippy cup of chardonnay in the afternoon chilling with your friends and your kid.. OMG it's the end of the world.
This makes me want to hit somebody.

[stuntcat]

21. (dumb sippy cup quote)

the stupid part was from the article, I was agreeing though, the What You Said! part!
Okay I shut up

[petronius]

22. Mom Stephanie (in the article) said exactly that:

“I think it's just another way that women judge other women's parenting.” Probably the only intelligent point in the piece, although I'm sure a bunch of guys will happily jump on the judgement wagon, as well...

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. Not only should the parents drink,

but the kids should partake as well!

It'll certainly make nap time a lot more interesting! :D

[LynzM]

14. LOL

I've definitely heard from some older women that you should treat teething with a shot and a half of alcohol... one for you, 1/2 for the kid!

[TommyO]

18. My godfather taught my mom a similar trick

When I was teething, he showed her how rubbing my gums with scotch helped - I still love the stuff to this day, 40+ years later.

[BarenakedLady]

6. Oh please...

:eyes:

We mommies aren't allowed to have fun. I wish I had playdates like that. Might make life more bearable. LoL.

[LynzM]

7. LOL, you don't get to?

Come on over, I'll pour you a glass. :toast:

Of course, moms aren't allowed to have fun. Let's keep pushing the idea that anything less than giving 100% of yourself to your children, whatever that entails, is unacceptable. I mean, they pretty much flat-out say that in the article. *sigh*

[Bunny]

9. Holy crap, if I had to sit through playdates I'd get boozed up myself!

One glass of wine is nothing, although more than that could be a concern when you have to put your little darling in a car and drive him/her home. Everything in moderation.

And yes, this seems like just another way for *some* women to claim the upper hand in mothering skills. Frankly, I get a little concerned about women (and men) who sacrifice everything about themselves at the altar of their children. Before this generation, our parents most certainly did not do that, and we all turned out okay (by and large). Things have become so weirdly child-centric in this country, I don't understand it.

And I'm the proud mother of two girls, if that matters to anyone.

[LynzM]

10. I agree

See my post #7, above. I think it's good that there is more consideration for kids, and I can wish that that would lead to less abuse and violence, though I can't prove it. But I think that kids also need to learn that they are part of a family, a community, a world, and that their needs don't always come first in line, 100% of the time. That's not to do specifically with the drinking thing, just a nice tangent related to the "100%" line in the article. But yeah, I agree that burning yourself out for your kids doesn't necessarily make a better mother.

[Arkansas Granny]

11. Oh my, how many times have my friends and I been guilty of doing

this in the past and never realized that we were endangering our children?!?!? How surprising that they all lived, grew up and had children of their own. And I suppose they occasionally have a drink while they are watching their children. What horrors have I been responsible for?

[LynzM]

12. LOL, exactly

Thanks for the giggle, AG. You just embodied exactly what I'm getting at. And those of us who have dinner dates with other couples with kids, and split a bottle of wine over dinner? Good grief, now we're getting the men involved, too! The horror! :rofl:

[Arkansas Granny]

16. I see you can't be happy with just setting a bad example for the

children by yourselves, you have to bring in accomplices. The shame of it all.

[LynzM]

17. Ah, yes....

Sharing the guilt always makes it a little easier, no? ;)

[Fleshdancer]

26. HAHAHA!!!!

first we corrupt them with the apple, now we use the fermented grape! serves men right for not learning the first time :rofl:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

15. but its always cool to let dad sit on the recliner and drink a sixer

:eyes:

[SayWhatYo]

19. A glass of wine? Pthh, that's nothing...

When I was younger my dad and uncle would drink ten pitchers of beer and then drive us out to go fishing on some mountain lake(often times up very windy narrow roads)... Sadly, I'm not kidding either... Sigh...

Anyways, I don't see an issue with these mothers having a glass of wine. So long as they are not getting wasted and driving their kids around, then I see little issue...

[LeftyMom]

23. When I was a kid my Dad used to drive us to his best friend's house

and he and his buddy would have a few beers and watch football while we'd play with his friend's son, then we'd go home.

Never once did "Men Drink Beer and Watch Football While Children Play" make the national news. :eyes:

[Fleshdancer]

24. I saw this segment on tv a week or two ago....

and you're right, the over reaction is insane. How many kids were present when mom and/or dad watched the Super-bowl last Sunday? How many of those parents do you think went beer free because little Billy was in the room???

I think the problem here is that the people love to judge other people because it makes them feel superior and better about themselves. I know there's a term for that...learned it in sociology class a million years ago but I can't remember. Regardless of what it's called, it's pathetic.

As for me, I'll gladly drink a glass of wine on a play date and I won't feel any guilt over it. As a mom, I already have way too much to feel guilty over and the only way to stay sane is to not sweat the small stuff.

[Dastard Stepchild]

25. I'll discuss this the next time I smoke it...

with the moms that I know. :)

This is seriously ridiculous.

[RedStateShame]

27. Children drive their parents to drinking? Duh.

:puffpiece:

[Crazy Dave]

28. It's more dangerous to drive kids around...

...with a damned cell phone in their ear yacking and not paying attention (one such rear ended the wife last year) than one or two glasses of wine drank over an hour or so.

[johnnie]

29. I have to bring this up

I brought up a smoking issue when one of the states decided to put the no smoking in your car with children under 18 law into effect. Many people were all for it. Just as with the Ohio smoking ban that made it illegal to smoke in your house if you run a business out of it.

As I mentioned then, it won't be long until they start passing laws against having alcohol in your house if you have children. People don't think before they vote.

[Crazy Dave]

30. You're right, they don't think when they vote

A lot of stupid laws are created in the name of "protecting our children" and to oppose or not vote for it labels you as "someone who hates kids and doesn't care". Nobody wants that on their conscience so they go with the flow so not to feel guilty and keep themselves up at night.

[jobycom]

31. Well, you shouldn't bring it up

Cause now I got to answer. A parent cannot smoke around a child without the child automatically becoming a smoker. A parent can drink around the kid without the kid consuming any alcohol. You are comparing apples and corral reefs.

You can make arguments against bans on smoking around kids, but that's an argument for a separate thread. This is a completely different issue.

[johnnie]

32. You are correct, smoking and drinking are different

Except, that wasn't my point at all.

[jobycom]

34. It was, whether you understand your comparison or not

You made a comparison between restrictions on smoking in cars with children and having alcohol in your home. You post was the old basic "If we allow A, it won't be long before B." For that comparison to be valid, A and B have to be connected somehow. If I posted "murder is illegal, so you can soon expect eating vegetables to be illegal," no one would have a problem seeing the nonsense of that comparison.

A person voting to ban smoking around a child is voting to ban an activity that in itself clearly hurts a child. That's thinking. That's what government is for. Drinking a glass of wine near a child, or as your post said, having alcohol in the house, is not a parallel issue. Banning hitting the child would be parallel, banning driving drunk with the child would be parallel. Banning something that does not in any way affect the child is not parallel.

[johnnie]

38. I disagree with you

"For that comparison to be valid, A and B have to be connected somehow." They are, some people would consider that smoking around your child and drinking around your child is an endangerment to your child. That is what this story posted is about. That, to me, is a connection.

"You post was the old basic "If we allow A, it won't be long before B." The attempt to belittle my opinion is cute, but "the old basic" is also reality.

There is a story concerning women drinking around their children while having a play date. (I would link to it, but you could probably just go to the OP and click on it.) To me, it looks like someone is questioning whether it is a good idea to have alcohol around young children. Maybe it is just one news story, but I don't think it will take long before that catches on.

As long as we let them in our front doors, people will continue to think of new ways to tell you what to do behind those doors. I don't feel comfortable with that.

[Reverend_Smitty]

33. wow that is one of the most ridiculous news stories I've read in a long time

It must be a slow news day...the OP is right, if this were Europe, that wouldn't even be a blip on the radar.

[DixieBlue]

35. Wow, people better stay out of my house if that's bad.

I enjoy an adult beverage when my child's home and she's still alive. Getting blitzed probably wouldn't be a good idea (all though it feels necessary at times) but a beverage or two? Pffft. People are just looking for things to create a firestorm, aren't they?

[LynzM]

39. Yeah, I'm thinking this is news "creation", not news "reporting"

I definitely hear ya on that one. Plus the guilt-trip stuff, as discussed above.

[AlCzervik]

36. i cannot even believe the media made a story out of this.

now get a mother a beer Dear.

[redqueen]

37. That's absolutely ridiculous.

They aren't making the kids drink, or getting loaded, so wtf?

[deadparrot]

40. Well, I'm glad my parents were never subjected to that much scrutiny...

Because any gathering of friends (after school sports events, get-togethers with friends of my parents and their kids, etc.) always included alcohol. And you know what? We all survived. Hell, I barely ever drink.

[HuffleClaw]

41. not remotely newsworthy imo

[1gobluedem]

42. Good God

That is beyond ridiculous. A slowly sipped glass of wine never hurt anyone or impaired them either. When each mommy is drinking a whole bottle, then you have a story. Maybe.

I used to boat with a group of friends and their kids and each kid knew exactly what brand of beer each of us drank when we'd ask them to get us one. Never hurt them and we never did either through overindulging.

[deutsey]

43. That insane Victorian Cult of the Child just needs to die

If the moms aren't negligent and abusive to the kids, and if they are just having a social glass or two of wine, what is the big deal?

When I was a kid we had an adult in the family who was addicted to heroin (seriously). Now THAT isn't advisable.

[Oeditpus Rex]

44. This would warrant media attention if

two mommies accidentally drank from the same glass, freaked out and shredded each other's boobs with their $85 fingernails.




:hide:

[Auggie]

45. February is a sweeps month. Anything for ratings.

[GenDem]

46. Sounds like a fun way to spend the afternoon to me

We had a Friday "Happy Hour" group that met at 4pm for a couple glasses of wine. It was our same gang from our "mother's group". Sometimes we brought the kids, sometimes the Daddy's watched them -- if they happened to be home. We drank, laughed, and looked at catalogs. Know big whoop.