WHAT’S A WINE MOM?

There’s a new slang term going around calling mothers who fit the bill a “wine mom”. The term came to be recently as mothers have been posting more openly about their struggles with parenthood and being overworked in their every day lives.

Some see her as a good time, even the life of the party. She’s a great mother, she works hard, and is classy.

Others see her as a result of tireless modern parenting styles that leave women exhausted, or troubled even.

This term has come to represent so much more than being a mom or enjoying a glass of wine, it describes a group of women who feel a certain way about the world and are labeled as such. But there is something important to consider: Not every mom can be a wine mom because not every mom drinks or copes with alcohol. Wine is inherently upper-middle class, with expensive prices and the symbolic meaning of wealth. The term wine mom belongs to women who have money and time.

I work at a winery and have gotten well-acquainted with the self-identifying wine moms. We have a row of magnets targeted just for them: “drinker bell”, “will work for wine and shoes” and “my doctor says we need glasses” in the shape of a wine glass, of course. We also sell stylish purses that have secret compartments for hiding wine bottles, aprons, cutting boards, and kitchen tools, all targeted (consciously or subconsciously) for these wine moms. My personal favorite is it pink hat that says wine diva in rhinestones.

Lisa Jacobson says in this article, “The memes, with their candid expressions of frustration at the somehow simultaneous monotony and chaos of modern mothering, struck her as “a vaguely feminist rejection of the vision of the traditional self-sacrificing ‘homemaker’ mom that’s been memorialized in the 1950s sitcoms.”

We have to decide what perspective to believe… is being a wine mom empowering or is it derogatory? Does drinking wine or associating with this term make you a good mother or a bad one?

Wine humor can be concerning, bringing to light the negative coping mechanisms parents have when trying to deal with their children. There isn’t a lot of talk happening about this narrative. What does the rise of this new term say about parenting styles today? What about mothers in general?

I urge you all not to judge wine moms. I drink a glass of red wine every night and plan to throughout motherhood if it comes to it and I will certainly call myself a wine mom one day.