Sure, parenting can make you want to drink sometimes, but it’s not exactly appropriate to be downing shots at the bar while your kids beg for more tokens or when you take them to shop for school wardrobes. While I can understand that some aspects of parenting drive you crazy, there are tons of good reasons why you shouldn’t get drunk around your kids.
Parents seem to love the idea that all kid venues need open bars, but if spending time with your kids makes you want to pick up the bottle, you may want to do a little soul searching about your choice to become a parent.
Let’s face it: Not all aspects of parenting are fun and fulfilling. But, when you choose to become a mom or a dad, you choose to do all of it; not just the fun stuff. Sometimes being around your kids is, dare I say it, annoying and boring. Do you think I rank Minecraft as the highlight of my day because I love Minecraft? No, but doing things you don’t want to do just to spend time with your kids comes with the territory. So when you’re rolling into Justice with your tween or you’re attending your fourth boys’ birthday party that month, numbing the “pain” of having to suffer through your child’s happiness is not only inappropriate, it’s kind of scary.
Kids fall. Kids get sick. Kids poop their pants when you don’t have a change of clothes on hand. These moments require you to be sharp as a tack, not blissfully buzzed while driving your kid around. Not to mention that the focus should be on your kids as they experience these precious moments that will fly by, which may be hard to notice when your judgment is impaired.
Oh, and one more thing you have to keep in mind: How does your choosing to drink every time you’re around your kids put them at risk for underage drinking? I think drinking in front of kids is okay so long as you’re staying sober and are at home or someone else is driving. However, after reading Edgar Snyder‘s reports that kids of parents who binge drink are twice as likely to binge drink and become dependent upon alcohol, I’ve had to take a good look at how much alcohol in front of my kids is okay to sip.
I’m sure that the post about kid venues that need open bars wasn’t advocating getting wasted, but I always thought it a little weird that Chuck E Cheese serves beer. I’m not about to alcohol shame anyone, I just don’t think that every parent moment needs a cocktail; at least not until your kid is of legal driving age and can tote your drunk ass home.
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