I don't know many women, unless they don't drink at all, that would argue with the fact that at the end of the day a nice glass of wine is like a big hug. Some women stay at home all day, and there is not a break to be had. No matter the age of your children, there is always something: the changing of diapers, clothes, feeding - whether it be breast, solids, or regular meals - reading, entertaining, potty training, driving to school, day care, sports, music classes, homework....need I go on? Someone else relies on you to exist in their daily life. You are living for two, sometimes 3, 4 or 5. There are others, like me who work outside the home. I start my day early, work out before the sun comes up because that is the only time I can do it. I feed my kids, get them dressed, ready for school, transport to school, commute for too long, work all day, commute for too long again, feed kids dinner, bathe them, read to them, put them to bed, and COLLAPSE. I look forward to my wine after the night is winding down. Am I an alcoholic? No. I get up, I go to work, I am responsible, I take care of my family. I don't get obliterated in the presence of my children and if any emergency were to happen I am fully able to react.

There are some smart business women out there who have creatively marketed their wine brands to women, particularly frazzled mothers who, at the end of the day really look forward to that glass of wine. One is Mommy Juice. Adorable label with a typical mother juggling a million things at one time. The  wine is so aptly named because the owner's children would call their mother's wine "Mommy's juice." Is that so wrong? It's cute, and its true! Wines such as this are under fire for promoting alcoholism in stay-at-home-moms. Guess what, mothers who are going to drink wine are going to drink wine. I don't think its fair to fault brands such as Mommy Juice for marketing their wine to be a contender amongst the many wines moms could choose at the end of the day. That is called business. There are some people, men and women that have a propensity for alcoholism. You cannot blame the booze for that.

Take Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, for example, who blogged about her experiences with motherhood. She gained popularity for her posts about the not-so-glamorous side of it all. She got book deals, for titles such as "Sippy Cups are Not for Chardonnay" and "Naptime is the New Happy Hour." As the article in this months Parenting magazine details, it turns out Stefanie had a drinking problem. She would often drink several glasses of wine a night and wasn't always the best functioning parent. She had a problem - she was not like most women who could have a glass at the end of the night and stop. Fortunately, Stefanie recognized her problem and quit, before any major harm was done to her family. The moms who supported Mrs. Wilder-Taylor's blog and books in the beginning cannot be viewed as helpless victims who were lured into this booze-filled play-date lifestyle. I'm sure a lot of the mothers who read these books enjoyed Mrs. Wilder-Taylor's honesty, humor, and maybe didn't take every word all that seriously. Books are another form of entertainment, after all. I believe we should also have faith that these women were able to make their own decisions, and were responsible for their own actions and hopefully knew when to say when.

I was a Sociology major in college and I can go deep into the topic of how men and women in our society are viewed differently. Men's drinking is accepted, supported and lauded - this is evident in advertising, particularly for hard liquor. This goes way back...think of Mad Men and how it was fashionable in that era for powerful and successful men to drink at all hours of the day. I'm not going to bore you with all that. My point is, it just doesn't seem right to call out a particular brand of wine for pushing alcoholism in stay-at-home-moms or women in general. We are all adults here, which is why there is an age requirement to drink. Hopefully we have the sense not to get sloshed in front of our kids, and make sure we always have our faculties when they are in our care. If someone is not able to drink responsibly, don't blame the alcohol.

How do you relax at the end of a busy day, managing your house and children? How do you feel about "mommy marketed" wines? Do you think they promote alcoholism in women?