Conquering the Stigma of Being a Sober Mother

“I’ve always wanted to film the real ‘after party’ when the mom is passed out with her little kid in the background, or she gets into her car and drives drunk. It happens all the time.” When I made the decision to quit drinking, one morning in June 2017 when my relentless hangover was surpassed only by my anxiety and self-loathing, I didn’t think about how sobriety would affect my role as a parent beyond the obvious positives: less time nursing a glass of wine and more time to engage with my kids; a clearer morning mind during the pre-school madness; more patience, less irritability. More money. What I didn’t consider was my exclusion from the Mommy Needs Wine club. Although exclusion isn’t the right word — it was my choice to leave. I just hadn’t realized how significant a part of my life it was until I canceled my subscription. When I first became a mother in 2007, I quickly realized there was an unwritten rule, one that was never mentioned in the parenting manuals: being a mother is hard, and wine (or gin, or vodka, or whatever your particular poison is) makes it easier. At that point, I didn’t yet have a Facebook account, and Instagram wasn’t even a thing. Today’s pervasive social media culture gives the Mommy Needs Wine club even more power. It recruits mothers from their Facebook and Instagram feeds, via memes that declare: “The most expensive part of having kids is all the wine you have to drink” and “I can’t wait f...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Addiction Parenting Personal Publishers Recovery Substance Abuse The Fix Women's Issues Drunk Mothers sober Stigma Source Type: blogs