Last updated: January 17, 2025

The Rethink Your Drinking campaign has me thinking. Thinking about standard drink sizes, the long and short term health effects of alcohol use and when zero alcohol is the limit. It also has me thinking about my kids.

When I reflect on alcohol use and parenting; I like to think I have it covered. I’ve had the talk; no drinking and driving, no drinking until legal age, I have a “call us, no questions asked” policy. Check, check, check.

But wait, there is so much more to consider.

My husband arrived home from a weekend across the border with candy for the kids and a bottle of rye for me. A bottle big enough to carry me and 20 friends through until his next year’s weekend away. I jokingly hugged it; which is what I generally do when I am given a gift (okay I will also rub it on my cheek, but I’m sure I didn’t do that this time).  Now, fast forward one month. We are at a shopping mall and there is a giant billboard with said bottle clearly displayed… cue my 5 year old (hollering from several feet away) “Hey, Mommy, look! It’s your favourite present!” Gulp. Floor. Swallow. Me. Up. NOW.

How many times have I joked with little ones nearby “Mama needs a drink”? How about the cooler for a day at a backyard picnic; filled to the brim with juice boxes nestled in next to “mommy’s cider” and ‘daddy’s beer”?

Have I made it seem like I use alcohol to manage my stress? Have I romanticized alcohol for my children? Does fun need to be equated with a stocked cooler?

I see it on TV, read it in the media and hear it in my social circles.  Alcohol is the reward for getting through another day as a parent.

I try my best to role model healthy eating, an active lifestyle, kindness to others…I think it’s time for me to be more aware about demonstrating a healthy relationship with alcohol.

Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health provides evidence-based advice on alcohol to support people in making informed decisions about their health. Drinking alcohol comes with risk (including increasing your risk of seven types of cancer). But it’s helpful to know that any reduction in your alcohol use lowers these risks! Our kids benefit too. They need us and we have the choice. Ask yourself; what am I teaching the kids in my life? Take some time to check out the Rethink Your Drinking website. You may find some useful tips to help with cutting back. What have you got to lose? 

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