More and more mothers are starting to drink wine after doing their daily school run to help deal with the stress of being a parent, according to a report by medical experts in the United Kingdom.
A recent study backed by the national charity Alcohol Concern has discovered that parents with children who still lives with them were twice as much more likely to become dependent drinkers compared to those who do not have children.
Researchers warned that a "drinking culture" is starting to emerge among mothers who now prefer having a glass of wine after school instead of the usual cup of tea.
This development is causing significant concern among medical experts who believe that this bad habit could potentially be passed on to young children. They fear that kids might think that it is only normal to get drunk or to "collapse" in front of the television with an alcoholic drink in order to relax.
The Alcohol Concern study surveyed 1,250 adults and classed them according to four different categories based on their drinking habits.
The findings showed that adults who lived with their children were more susceptible to drinking heavily.
Among the participants who were identified to have the most worrying drinking patterns, referred to as "possible dependent," around 54 percent of them were parents with kids living at home.
Only 26 percent of participants included in the lowest risk group were found to have children living with them at home.
Medical experts said that this "Bridget Jones generation," which is named after the lead character in the Bridget Jones films, affects middle aged individuals who are not capable of reining in their dangerous habits.
Alcohol Concern's chief executive Jackie Ballard said that "wine o'clock," which typically starts once the kids were in bed, has become a common topic of conversation on the parents website Mumsnet. Ballard, however, stressed that concerns about drinking levels were also often discussed among visitors of the website.
She said that many people talk about their worries concerning drinking. Some admit that they do it too often, and that they look forward to wine o-clock too much.
Ballard added that the main concern is young children mimicking the behavior of their parents, thinking that drinking alcohol to relax is only normal.
Alcohol addiction expert Dr. Niall Campbell at London's Priory Hospital said that they are seeing more and more young mothers engaging in heavy drinking.
He expressed concern about the women's alcohol levels in the morning, especially if they have already drank the evening before and plan on drinking some more in the after following their school run.
Campbell pointed out that while alcoholic beverages may seem like a harmless remedy to anxiety, drinking alcohol after a school run could become problematic if it increases to three to four more glasses each night.
Photo: Max Braun | Flickr
