Make mine a double

There's a fair bit of turmoil over at Suburban Turmoil. All over whether to drink or not to drink at a play date. Really, how are you going to get those kids to relax and nap unless you spike their bottles?

No apparently, the controversy is whether it's morally reprehensible or not for moms to have a wee glass of wine while they sit around shooting the breeze watching their kids play. This apparently all stems back to a piece on The Today Show featuring people I've never heard of (I've been away for a while.)

That's why I was pretty damned irritated to watch Meredith Vieira attempt to rip Melissa Summers of Suburban Bliss a new one in a Today show segment on cocktail playdates.

All, I can say about this is...is well, only in America. (Or maybe Saudi Arabia.) Good lord people, we're not talking about mother's ruin here. In England, this topic would be laughed right out of the road. And apparently a lot of American mommy bloggers are just as perplexed by the furore, via Blonde Mom Blog:

It’s tempting to criticize others for their parenting choices. Sometimes I drink a glass of wine or a beer in front of my girls. Does that make me a bad mother?
...
All kidding aside, when next year’s presidential candidates discuss the issues that are of utmost concern to the average parent, moms occasionally drinking a glass of wine in front of their kids will not be part of their talking points.

Now of course, in England, the middle classes generally are louches. It's quite common for parents to finish off a bottle of wine between themselves of an evening. And while I'm not sure about the concept of the cocktail playdate, families with small children getting together and serving food would almost certainly serve alcohol as well.

Playdate, London style (Thanks Northwestern Library)

To drink or not to drink

I was recently asked by colleagues if I had cut back on my alcohol consumption during pregnancy. (Note people said "cut back" not "quit".) I replied since I was always more a binge drinker than an every day drinker, the pregnancy thing had definitely but a dent in my lifestyle. What I meant by that is I do keep bad company and we did have a habit of knocking back a few of the weekend - but for most of the year I'm not in the habit of drinking every day. Clearly that style of drinking is not appropriate during pregnancy.

But I'll admit - I probably still drink a half-glass to a glass of wine each week - and no more than a half-glass at one sitting - and during a formal meal. You might as well start as you mean to go on...

I'm very much aware that my hard drinking days are probably over for quite some time, but I will continue to drink. And in England, at least, that will go completely unremarked upon.


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HT to NiT