Cheers

First thing to know about me is that I am not a big drinker. I don't have anything against it, and I'll partake from time to time, but I just don't love alcohol all that much. I can say that there are times when a glass of wine or a Guinness is needed. Since the little guy was born I've certainly had a drink while out to dinner with the family or at home while he is still awake. Nothing wrong in that, I thought.

So today the NY Times ran an article called Cosmopolitan Moms about women who will have a glass of wine, or whatever, at a play date. Yeah, okay. I would probably do that on occasion. The article starts off kind of nice and then begins to question the morality of drinking mothers. "Needing" a drink, to some, implies that one has alcohol dependancy issues. All I can think is that they have got to be kidding! This isn't even newsworthy. Well, I guess I am wrong, based on all of the online debate that it provoked.

My friends, it looks like the American Taliban* are at it again. Clearly we need to be told what to do.

Good lord - think of the children for a moment! Should they really see their moms having fun, socializing with their peers - if only for a few hours a week? A drink in hand can only lead to an alcoholic future for the poor lamb - to be raised by such a harlot. And what if there is an emergency? Those drunk women will get in their cars and kill themselves, their children, and everyone on the road. We know that any mother who would have the gall to drink an alcoholic beverage in front of their child does not have the sense to stop at just one. Women can not be trusted to drink. In fact, this trend is so worrisome that we are going to need to outlaw women from driving all together, just to keep the public safe.

A little sarcastic? Yes, but I'm really annoyed here. I thought that perhaps the fear of losing my identity once I became a mother was unfounded. Now I am coming to know that this is what is expected of me. Pregnancy is a sacred cocoon for metamorphosing a formerly fun-loving, independent, sexual woman into a blushing, sober, virgin, caretaker.

It seems to me that once your baby is born there is an expectation that you must become "respectable." Life as you knew it is gone forever. Suddenly, you must lose your sense of humor. There will not be time for sex, but that's okay because you are not going to like it anymore anyway. No travel, no social life, no restaurants. Dinner is at 5 and bedtime 9. In fact, you better move from the city - Los Angeles is no place to raise a kid. This is the stuff that really scared me. One of my biggest obstacles to getting to where I am now - happily married with a fantastic one year old boy.

The American Taliban think that one drink makes a drunk. I grew up in this kind of atmosphere and let me be the first to tell you that it's no way to raise a responsible child. Everything was off limits - drinking is bad, sex is bad, talking about anything of substance is out of the question. If you keep a child sheltered from the world, that kid is going to go looking for it with zeal a lot sooner than any parent would hope for.

So tonight, raise your glass with pride and tell the American Taliban to fuck off.

*Thanks to Dan Savage for coining the term.

Here's a link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/fashion/09drink.html?em&ex=1163307600&en=fa1601efc3e5997f&ei=5087%0A