Is It OK To Drink At Your Kid's Sporting Events?
I mean, it’s one way to get through Little League games, but should you?
If you’re a parent with children of a certain age, there’s a very good chance that youth sports has absolutely conquered your evenings and weekends. From practices to games to meets to exhibition matches, there’s no dearth of obligations that comes along with signing up for a “casual extracurricular activity” to say nothing of when they get older and things get more serious. Some parents get really into their child’s sport while others suffer on through to the end of the season. Recently, Reddit user u/14sil (we’ll call him Sil for short), asked fellow Redditors to weigh in on how one parent chose to spend game days, writing “My wife and I disagree if drinking alcohol at your kids sporting event is appropriate.” He continued...
My SIL [sister-in-law] is one of a few parents bringing cranberry juice and vodka in a thermos to her son’s (10) and my son’s (12) afternoon soccer games. I think it’s weird and inappropriate as hell but my wife says alcohol and sporting events are a normal thing and that as long as people aren’t overdoing it then what’s the big deal.
Opinions in the comments section were split and generally pretty strong.
“Not appropriate,” declared one redditor. “If I see someone doing this, they are immediately less worthy of my respect. You can’t drink your beer at home?”
“Look, I'm from a heavily drinking/party town, and I live in a country where all the beer gardens have areas for kids to play, and you can get a beer/wine at the amusement part and zoo and museum cafeterias- I'm not exactly a prude about alcohol,” another begins. “But if your wife can't see the difference between adults opening having social drinks at an adult sporting event and a mom sneaking hard alcohol to sit through a kid's afternoon game I'm going to immediately think there is a history of alcohol abuse/dependency in their family.”
“I dealt with this at baseball games with a couple and don’t agree that alcohol belongs at sporting events for kids,” offers a third. “Parents get hot headed and mouthy and it leads to situations kids shouldn’t be present for, no matter the age.”
Another put things even more bluntly: “At a child’s sporting event it’s trashy as hell.”
But others took a more laissez-faire or nuanced approach.
“My kids were in little league and plenty of parents drank,” shares one redditor. “Their annual Friday night game under the lights was a full on party. Small town, weather is finally nice and everyone is happy to be outside. So I’m not against drinking at an outdoor kids sporting event. But I agree it can be a slippery slope.”
“Wouldn't do it myself, but as long as she's not driving or getting sloppy, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal,” a second shrugs.
“What if--and this is for pure speculation, not because I drink at kid's sports games or even have a kid that does sports yet--you don't feel the need but just want to?” asks another. “Like I assume there are acceptable parameters ... [and] I can't help but think I probably wouldn't give a f*ck if someone grabbed a beer or two from concession.”
“I’m reading these answers and I’m shocked by how many people are saying this is ‘alcoholic behavior,’” said another. “That’s a pretty heavy label to put on someone, and not one to take lightly.”
“It’s a drink,” another summed up. “She’s not going to the club mid day.”
Personally, I’m not inclined to drink at my kids’ various activities, but when it comes to booze in places where you don’t typically expect booze, I go by the philosophy I had as an RA in college: “If I can’t guess what’s in your cup it’s none of my business, but if it’s easy to figure out then unfortunately you’ve just made it my business.”
In other words, if you aren’t getting tipsy and you aren’t doing anything dangerous, carry on. But please have a little decorum and don’t get tipsy at a little league game, for your sake and everyone else’s as well.
