Moms Who Bake

You thought this was going to be a post about the stay-at-home mom who likes cakes and cookies didn’t you?  Surprise!  We are talking about weed today.

A recent article on TODAY Moms by MSNBC titled “Pot-smoking moms tired of being judged by wine drinkers” piqued my curiosity.

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for 8 years now and through this exhausting period I’ve learned that moms have multitudes of ways to calm their frazzled nerves.  Some of them healthy.  Some of them not so much.

In this past near decade I’ve learned that I can’t really judge how a mom chooses to maintain her sanity as long as her children are safely cared for.  Motherhood doesn’t have a one size fits all recipe for peace.

I’ve met moms who I’ve secretly wondered how many 40s they’re downing during their day and moms who openly speak about sipping wine just to manage another day of screaming babies, defiant toddlers, and the horrendous witching hour that all moms dread.  I’ve met the moms addicted to exercise, spending hours at the gym using the services of gym babysitters.  I’ve met, and admittedly been, the mom who attends the church service on Sunday just for the hour of free childcare.  That one hour when I could sit by myself with no pint-sized humans nagging me.  I’ve chatted with moms who praise the wonderous benefits of drugs like Prozac.  There’s the moms who talk on the phone all day, zone in to the television, get lost in the fantasy of a good book, lock the bathroom door in hopes of a quiet bath, develop bad habits like the soothing puffs of a cigarette.  There are the moms who haven’t found an outlet and spend their days stressed out and screaming. And then there are the moms that I’ve never understood. The ones who seem to have it all together all the damn time.  Who on all surfaces appear to enjoy every moment of mommyhood.  Her 5-year-old son is violently punching her jiggly ass, while her 2 month old just sent the most foul smelling liquid down the front of her shirt, and her 3-year-old is running around throwing toys while singing the same high pitched song over and over and over again.  And yet she smiles and says the most dishonest words uttered, “I love every minute of being a mom!”

The only mom I’m yet to meet is the one who proudly speaks about toking up as an effective means to sanity while raising little minions.

This article argues that moms should have one more legal choice in their quest for relieving stress.

Cannabis takes the edge off your day, in the same way wine does. But it’s not addictive, it is habitual. It doesn’t ruin your body like alcohol. I would much rather see parents using cannabis than alcohol — hands down. 

The problem is Cannabis is an illegal substance and what mom is going to admit to using a substance that could land her time in jail or cause a CPS intervention?  The government has managed to strike fear in moms who bake and it makes no logical sense.

If I wanted to, I could sit with a glass of wine in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other, with a cigarette pressed between my lips, under the influence of prescription narcotics — all the while holding my child in my lap…

And that is legal.   See the controversy yet?  Just because something is legal does not make it good and just because something is illegal does not make it bad.

I am by no means a perfect parent.  I fail multiple times in any given day.  I’ve had my fair share of healthy and unhealthy ways of managing four young boys.  Some days exercise is all I need.  Some days I grab a beer at 10am.  Most days I look forward to the moment the boys are in bed and I can have a nice glass of red, with a great read, a warm bath, and a good laugh with my man, Jon Stewart .  Anything just to take the edge off from what never fails to be an exhausting and challenging day.

I believe that pot can really help people remain centered when nothing around them exudes any sort of calmness.  I know that pot can help us laugh, connect, and even see beauty in the ugly.  But I also believe that a mom who chooses any substance as her outlet of choice should do so responsibly. Therefore we should not be dictating which substance she uses but rather dictate that her child is safe.

That can be achieved by a baking mom.  So put down your glass of wine, close up that bag of doritos, snuff out your flaming cig, switch off your Real Housewives of Orange County, log off of Facebook and quit judging!

Picture Credits:
Mommy Juice by My Life Comics
Marijuana and Legal/Illegal by THC Finder