agree with this but actively parent this way. i've never really heard any of them express that it "made them a better parent", but since their pot-smoking habit is so ingrained into their behavior, they don't know how to deal without it.
i'm no saint here. i've been known to smoke the herb from time to time (among other things *wink wink*...i went to COLLEGE, y'know?), but i've never actually brought a child into this world!
the mother who wrote the essay describes a morning where she finally broke down and started using pot to help her with dealing with her kid. she describes a situation where the kid won't take a bath, and then when she finally gets him to, he won't get out. then he pitches a fit and she decides to ignore it and sit down and read a book. the kid rips the book from her hands, tearing out some pages in the process. she decides she needs to get a change of scenery, and shoves the kid in the car and drives to the mall...
..."But when we arrived, I realized that it was my internal scenery that really needed changing. I walked to the rear of my car and stuck my head in the trunk, pretending to fumble for my diaper bag while I took a quick and furtive toke off my one-hitter"...okay, she's driving a car carrying drugs with her. good job, mom. and a kid. way to go.
"We'll see how this works, I thought to myself, feeling a bit guilty about breaking my rule against toasted childcare. But it turned out I could not only manage taking care of my son while I was high; I could excel. As I had nothing in particular I needed to accomplish at the shopping center (except saving my sanity), I decided to let my son lead the way. Rather than taking his hand and dragging him along behind me as I usually do on shopping trips, I let my son decide where we would go, what we would look at and how much time we would spend in each aisle. He delighted in calling my attention to each shiny object, and I delighted in listening to his descriptions. "Look, Mommy! This frog has spots!" "Mommy! Come here! It's a spinny top!" And when he said look, I really, really looked. Earlier, I'd wanted to kill this kid, and now I was hanging on his every word and absorbing his every observation. A few minutes earlier, I saw him as an irritant. Now he was an inspiration."yeah, kinda like a lava lamp...one with arms & legs, and with a brain that requires a parent to lead it around and teach it how to grow up to be a good person who is capable of taking care of himself and hopefully to take care of any kids he may decide to head. this woman thinks raising a kid is like watching "pink floyd's the wall" or something...that one makes you think and watch, too, but in the end it really doesn't teach you anything that's useful at all.
in my experience, smoking pot does nothing for "expanding your mind" or anything like that. it causes your senses to myopically focus on certain things, and shuts down or deadens the other senses in order to not break the concentration on the "wonders" you're experiencing. the mom who wrote the essay agrees with this:
.."In an ideal world, I'd be able to do all of these things without the help of an herb. But the world isn't ideal. It's full of overflowing laundry hampers, dirty dishes and unanswered email. Pot's much-maligned amotivational properties I would term an enticement to "single-tasking." Erecting a temporary smokescreen is a way to block out the demands that take my attention away from my child. Plus, it makes Teletubbies a whole lot more interesting."lady, it also cuts down on your awareness, which hopefully for you will not cause you someday to miss something which may protect your child from harm. and, if you'd just learn some way to discipline your child in whatever new-age way is in vogue now, you wouldn't need it.
i can't understand why parents would want to go through the child-rearing stage in a purple haze. your memories will be tainted, and you'll miss more than you'll ever realize.
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