Mum drinking at pick up

[Cybertron]

After school pick up at 3.15pm a lot of us take our kids to the local park. The kids play on the playground and we sit under benches by the trees. I chat to the mums that are there and have done for a couple of years but I am not close to any of them. Today one mum was chatting to me and she reeked of booze. She told me that she had filled her water bottle with white wine and laughed saying it was the only way to get through the day. She then continued to drink the wine. Her kids are under 10. Should I say or do something or is this ok?
AIBU: leave it she deserves to unwind
YABU: drinking like that with kids is not ok

Because I’m not hiding it. It’s in a glass, it’s clear what it is. It’s not in a mug, or a tea cup, or a flask or a waterbottle. It’s wine I’m not hiding it, there’s not a problem with it.

Not sure I'd report this time but would definitely keep an eye and see if it happens again?

Having said that, it's bizarre to take wine with you to drink in the park with the kids, or on the walk home (TG she's not driving, would report that straight away!)

Our PTA didn't have alcohol at school events. We made up for that on our nights out!! 😂

Me, but my kids are in their 20s...!

Hiding wine in your water bottle for school pick up is hardly entry level alcoholism is it? Very unlikely to be the first time.

You drank and then went home to your kids well il let it goes this time but il be keeping a close eye on your posts to see if it happens again 🙄

Not really hiding it if she's announcing to it anyone who doesn't ask.

I see Dad’s taking their kids to the park with a four pack, don’t see why a water bottle is so heinous tbh.

I'd imagine it's part of a pattern tbh, but the OP doesn't know that yet.

@Tricho

I'm sorry to say that needing to put alcohol into a Stanley cup and drinking it whilst shopping with a baby is very much the EPITOME of a problem,

Jeez.

Can’t see the issue as long as she wasn’t driving. We go to a playground next to a cafe / bar and most parents are having a drink on Friday after school.

😂

DH was at home with them, and they're in their 20s now 😂

I even drank in the house sometimes!!!

Work colleague used to hide her wine in a mug so her kids didn't realise it was alcohol! Same one used to open a bottle of wine to do her ironing, and when the bottle was empty, the ironing was done! 😂

If it wasn’t a problem she’d not have it in a water bottle, she’d either wait til she got home, or take a bottle and glad to the park.

admitting when you’re caught is not the opposite of hiding.

This reminds me of a post from the daily mash mocking middle class mums. "Pork pie and tartan blanket turns binge drinking into lovely picnic"

I enjoy a drink as much as the next person, but OMG, it never, ever occurred to me to do that!

But this is mumsnet you birthed children over 20 years ago so that means you can no longer enjoy life ever didn't you get the memo

Have done rhis many times, much cheaper than a cafe with DCs right next to the park and nicer also. Lots of parents I know do it.

The water bottle is just practical.

That's a great life hack thanks i never thought of using a stanley cup before 😁

Until now 😂

I'm imaging an insulated bottle to keep the crisp white cold. It's likely to be the last sunny week of the year, why not take it to the park? Why would taking the whole glass bottle to a children's park (broken glass is fantastic for children to play in!)better?
And she wasn't caught, she announced it and made a joke about it.

Some people are minimising this. I guess these people haven’t had an alcoholic in their lives and for that I envy them.

This screams that she has an issue.

Might be able to brush it off now ‘oh she wasn’t harming anyone, she was pleasant, it was just the one.’

Yeah probably the first of many. Might be pleasant the time you saw her but not when she’s craving a drink the next day and having mood swings. Not when she’s acting an arse at 7 PM after her 8th drink of the day.

An alcoholic home is not a good home for a child despite whether the kids ‘seem’ happy.

Kids hide trauma and swigging wine from a water bottle and trying to make light of it as it it’s normal at 3 PM when picking your kids up is ALCOHOLIC BEHAVIOUR.

I’m finding all the negativity about day drinking super refreshing to be honest as when my eldest DC was born (almost a decade ago) I really didn’t want to drink at all, or for some years after, but this was peak Hurrah for Gin / prosecco-as-personality and it felt like being teetotal was a gigantic barrier to making mum friends.

i do drink again now but usually in minuscule quantities as I just don’t want to be drunk and I really don’t ever want to be hungover.

To be honest, the fact you said she "reeked of booze" suggests to me she had been drinking earlier in the day because the alcohol has gone through first pass (stomach) and second pass (liver) metabolism and is now being secreted on her skin through her sebum. Unless you could smell the wine in the bottle but that seems unlikely because you were outside and the opening of a water bottle is narrow. I would report to the school, as a PP has said, factually and without judgement, to let the school build up a picture.

The sale of Stanley cups are gonna triple overnight and become a main feature of the school run 😁

Nah, I think I missed that one lol! 😂

I'm here to tell you though, PTA mums can partaaay!! 😃

We took cocktails in flasks (yes, multiple) to a family picnic in the summer 😱 are we alcoholics, or it's OK because we shared?