by Karen Lawson

Created on: February 13, 2009   Last Updated: March 10, 2009

An old Rolling Stones song, "Mother's Little Helper," tells the story of a young mother who turns to pills, presumably tranquilizers, to get through each day. She takes just one, but soon begs, "Doctor, please, some more of these..."

Although a fictional account, the subject of the song along with recent concerns about moms drinking during play dates (and for that matter, maybe drinking alone) highlight the underlying feelings of isolation and depression that can encourage mothers of young children to drink as a palliative measure. Women who give up their careers to stay home with their kids are considered to be heros, but these moms can suffer emotionlly from their decision. Of course, parenting is the number one priority for these women, who don't want to entrust their kids to the care of strangers. Although their motivations are admirable, the situation can quickly deteriorate when moms experience the culture shock of giving up careers for becoming "desperate housewives."

Unlike the lavishly dressed women depicted in the TV show, today's desperate housewives find themselves ministering to demanding kids and out of control domestic chores, while they try to maintain some sense of themselves. Giving up a high powered career to be at the beck and call of kids too young to talk brings a new kind of stress to young moms. Once connected to networks of professional associates, colleagues and business contacts, they're home (usually alone) minding their kids. As anyone who's raised a child knows, small children don't allow their mothers a moment to contruct a complete thought, let alone have a chat with a girlfriend. Play dates are the only availbable social life for many stay at home moms, so they take an opportunity for some "adult time" and unwind with a cocktail. Or two. or...

Motherhood is held in highest esteem throughout the world; the downside to this is that when moms engage in less than pefect behavior, they are highly criticized; their very fitness for the title of "mom" is questioned. This has led to a free for all where social ridiule and criticism runs rampant. The problem is that people are quick to criticize a mom who has a cocktail with her friends before 5:00 PM, but society is not doing anything to help parents who feel isolated, frustrated, and yes, desperate.

Whether mom takess a sip of wine or has a double martini before the socially accepted cocktail hour is not the pressing issue. We (and she) need to understand why she's drinking and how to

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