so.... do you think that you should be sober enough to drive somewhere in an emergency or at least one person be?

[sunnyshine]

thats it really. After discussions with friends last night, do you think one person should always be sober enough to drive somewhere in an emergency?

Yes, although that is easy to say as dp is tee total.

yes.if the kids are out then i cant relax with a drink untill they are home. even if they are being dropped off by other parents. not so if they are on sleepovers tho

am thinking about my older,teenage kids here as i'm a lone parent,so its just me around to pick up

would happily drink when they are home....

No. That would mean my DH could never drink as I can't drive.

We do live in London though where minicabs and neighbours are plentiful.

I live in the middle of nowhere, taxis are not always available and it would cost a bloody fortune to get anywhere.

Nope, because if it's that much of an emergency then you need the police or an ambulance.

Anything else will wait until the morning.

I used to think one of us should be sober-ish but after 3 dc's, one of them severely disabled I've become blase and reckon we need to have a life too.

No, emergencies are what taxis/neighbours/ambulances are for.

Nope. I agree with meltedmarsbars.

Of course DH and I rarely, if ever drink to excess and we don't have a car anyway. But even if we did, I wouldn't think it was necessary.

No, because i can't drive and don't have a car.

What emergency are you likely to have at night that you couldn't call an ambulance for?

maybe op was thinking along the lines of an elderly parent needing you over....

or a child collecting from a sleepover unexpectedly

a trip to late night chemist

running out of ideas.....am i the only lone parent that does this?

i was thinking of children. i was thinking if a child was ill or hurt in the night but not to the extent of requiring ambulance or needing to take a sibling elsewhere. but i love tiffany ideas are all possible too!

I never have more than one glass of wine in case "something happens" and I need to get DD somewhere in a hurry. I'm single parent. If "DP" (hah!) is here, I may have a couple of glasses as he will then be the sober one.

well there is only me - so no, taxi or ambulence in an emergency

I would hate for there not to be an adult around who could make a judgement call (do they need an ambulance? do they need a doctor? that sort of thing). It wouldn't necessarily have to be me (though because I don't really drink much it normally is!) but I would want someone around who could make a call iyswim.

But what if the emrgency is you and you are along with the children - does that mean you should always be in pairs?

DH or I stay "emergency competant" sober ie one of us stops at a drink or two.

However, neither of us would drive after one drink. The relationship between units consumed and blood alcohol levels is a bit too nebulous for us to take the risk given our particular jobs.

A very interesting question, and one that DH and I have been asking today. Last night DH had several glasses of wine/champagne to drink at home. I just had a small champagne as am pregnant. The phone rang when New Year was literally having the last 10 seconds counted down. It was DH's ex wife saying that their son had been in a car accident.

Poor DSS (19 yrs) was driving home from work, hit black ice and rolled his car over twice. Thank God he was ok, and walked away with a few scratches (and was very badly shaken) so didn't have to go to hospital.

But DH has today been saying that if DSS had gone to hospital (he lives about 40 miles away) how on earth could he have got himself there? We have a 2 yr old DD too, so it would be pretty tough to turf her out of bed at midnight.

So, this has really made us think, not just about DSS, but also about being responsible for (soon to be) two small children and while not in the back of beyond, taxis and other forms of transport are pretty hard to come by at midnight on NYE (or any other day).

Depends where you are I think. If n the middle of nowhere and no one nearby, then calling an ambulance might at least double the time taken to get someone to hospital. I once had to take a dc to hospital- he had been left in the care of neighbours who had then had a few drinks (they had something quite unusual to celebrate) in the middle of the afternoon. They were't exactly drunk, but not in a state to drive to hospital. I was a bit miffed, more because he wasn't their own child- they had had to pass on responsibility for someone elses child, that I hadn't volunteered for.
I agree with Rven really, you can't get totally drunk anymore when dcs are small. However there's a big difference between being possibly over the limit for driving and having to call neighbour and finding it hard to make sensible decision in an emergency.

I wasn't allowed to drive for 2 years for medical reasons, there must be lots of people who can't/won't drive - so no, it's not necessary, and a bit pessimistic to live in a state of such vigilance

unless of course someone in the family has a condition where there is often a life-threatening emergency why would you bother?

God poor DSS, Rindercella. Am STILL waiting to hear from DS1 (21) who is supposed;y being driven back from Edinburgh by a friend.

i would never be able to drink in that case! though have family nearby.

i'd call 999 in a real emergency though surely wouldn't everyone

never mind when they are small...i find the older they get and the further they go and later they stay out,all makes it very scary!!! teenagers!!

We would get a taxi if we needed to drive somewhere.

I think one of you should be sober enough to deal with home emergencies (eg child being sick, requiring first aid, fuse blowing), but not necessarily things that require a trip to A&E.

Usually for us it is a case of having three glasses of wine - too much to drive but still reasonably compos mentis, not staggering, falling down or throwing up.