It's day 7 of NaBloWriMo for me, but so far I only see up to prompt 5 on the official blog, so... Here goes!
What is your favourite way to spend time with your family?
I love going over to my mum's house and sitting out on her backyard deck with a beer. Or a gin and tonic. Or a glass of wine. Or some other kind of...alcoholic drink. Yes, fun times with the family tend to involve at least some kind of alcohol. No doubt that's a bad, unhealthy thing, but it's not like we get trashed. We just enjoy a nice drink to unwind.
Speaking of alcohol, I was reading an article in the newspaper this morning about how some doctor guy in Perth has recommended that Australia follow Norway's lead in locking up alcoholic pregnant women until they've given birth, to stop them drinking. I think this is a viable idea, but it also smacks of deprivation of liberty or something, right? And yet it isn't mostly about the mothers, it's about the unborn children who are being damaged because the mothers can't control their drinking. But maybe they should lock the drinking fathers up too?
I'll leave you with a picture taken in a place called Hamlin Bay, which until I went down south recently I'd never heard of. This, my friends, is a winter's day in Western Australia:
That is an interesting concept. Though, relating to the fathers comment, they can take the child away from the father when the child is being hurt (this assuming the mother is in confinement so the father can't get to her while she's pregnant), but they can't really take the child away from the mother when she's hurting it (through drinking while she's pregnant).
ReplyDeletegorgeous picture!
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea... I'd have to really give it some consideration and it would really depend on how it was implemented. The only reason I would agree is that it would keep them away from the booze while the baby was developing not in an attempt to break them off alcohol so that they can raise them. At least this may give them a shot at not having fetal alcohol syndrome. As for fathers... they don't get that from them so no point in locking them up.
ReplyDeleteDude.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome.
I want to live THERE :D
Re: the alcoholics, I dunno, just thought it was only fair that if one had to suffer, the other should too. I mean, it took two to get her in that position. ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd it was a very pretty beach!
I so want to visit Australia. I think I'd want to live there if I hadn't heard so many horror stories about gigantic killer spiders. :) I say lock up both parents. It's only fair, right?
ReplyDeleteMy family requires a little alcohol to take, too... erm... I don't think that's what you meant, but man, I used to love having a cocktail with my grandma--it was always just a relaxed, sit-down girl chat. I miss her.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting idea on the pregnant women--I totally agree that it is a really hazy line as to protecting the child versus the mother's rights... Does that medicine that causes alcohol to make somebody sick hurt a baby? That might be a compromise if it doesn't, but I don't know if they have the research. And I definitely know it's harder for mum to stop if dad still is... erm... and if they both can't quit, they probably have no business having a baby.
@Ciara - I think it's hilarious that people overseas worry about our dangerous animals, when none of us ever do :P
ReplyDelete@Hart - hehe, that's not what I meant but I do have SOME family members that would be far easier to tolerate if I was drunk - mostly 'cause they're a little tedious. they're not horrible though. Re: the medicine to make drinkers sick, I'm not sure...but it's one option I guess. the trick would be making them take it.
I love that picture. Nothing wrong with indulging a bit while visiting the family.
ReplyDeleteWow. I'm going to have to look that thing up about Norway. How are they getting the money for this? In the US it costs $35-$40k to keep one prisoner behind bars. With pregnant women, wouldn't the state be responsible for a lot of health care costs as well as extra nutrition, transition services and mental health services to target the alcoholism?
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