The Truth About Cannabis For Parenting
There’s no doubt in anyone's mind that parenting is hard work. Younger or older, children are busy creatures with a lot of energy and creativity. They can also be rambunctious balls of chaotic energy throwing tantrums, or terrorizing their siblings.
So, is taking the edge off with a little bedtime toke really such a bad thing for parents? Maybe stoned parenting has its perks!
Let’s discuss why we should drop the stigma that parents who smoke weed are bad, and see how and why there is room for cannabis in a healthy family environment.
Parents Who Smoke Weed: Why the Stigma Must Go
The stigma that pot-smoking parents are automatically irresponsible and negligent is a dangerous one. There are many reasons why any adult would smoke weed other than mere recreational use. Plus, if parents can comfortably drink a beer, or glass of wine around their kids, is a recreational hit of weed really such a big deal?
Moms who smoke pot may come off short in court when battling for custody after a divorce. Or, parents that smoke weed may not be respected socially despite their medical reasons for cannabis use. It’s a view that is based on stereotypes and is very much worth shifting away from.
Perks of Being Parents Who Smoke Weed
Despite the potential social backlash, there are many perks for parents who smoke weed. Let’s take a look at some of the most reported benefits that may come with the occasional behind-the-scenes hit.
Quality Playtime With Your Kids
One of the greatest, most exciting reasons to be a little high around your kids is the epic playtime adventures to be had.
Smoking weed can spark creativity and make being in the moment much easier for parents. All the worries from work or relationship tensions dissolve into the background and you can truly be in the now with your kids. Joy comes easier, and laughter is noticeably more prevalent. You will love it, but so will your children.
Finding Support with Like-Minded Parents
Smoking weed socially with other parents can deepen your connection and relatability. Instead of just discussing mundane parent stuff, you can have a good laugh at your kid's silly antics and take the edge off together.
Being open about your weed smoking with other parents who like to blaze it up can also help you feel more validated in your parenting skills. You will have more common ground and naturally, be more honest about your struggles.
Coping with Stress and Burnout
As a parent, the responsibilities are high. You not only have to balance your life as it was before but now you have other lives to be accountable for. Being a bit stressed out, or experiencing burnout is to be expected.
That’s where stoner parents have the upper hand! Weed is one of the best natural stress reducers. Even if you don’t want to be high around your children, having a few hits before bed can help you unwind and get a better night's sleep.
Improves Your Level of Patience
No matter how well behaved your child is, parenting takes a lot of patience. From waiting for your child to choose an outfit for school, or dealing with the millions of questions you are asked per day, being a little buzzed can help you be calmer and more patient.
They always say patience is a virtue, and it is one that children greatly benefit from as they grow up. Being able to offer this carefulness and patience with your kids can help them feel more heard and allow them to be themselves without your added tension.
Bonding Time with Your Partner
Having children running around the house, needing your attention 24/7 doesn’t leave much room for romance. You and your partner deserve to take time out together here and there. Smoking weed as a couple can make that a best of both worlds situation.
A secret smoke on the balcony together can spark up the flame between you and your partner again, leaving you giggling like teenagers at the dinner table. Getting high together can also be a bonding experience as it's something you do without your kids around and can leave you feeling pretty frisky!
Opens Up a Healthy Discussion about Weed
When your children are old enough for your stoned parenting choices to be revealed, you will be in a pretty knowledgeable position to have an open discussion about weed with them.
Once they know that you smoke, your children will be more likely to open up to you in the future if or when they try weed for the first time. And, better yet, if they are of age you can safely facilitate healthy weed smoking or set a good example for how weed-smoking should be handled.
Weed is still a potentially habit-forming drug, so a well-handled weed discussion can make a world of difference for your older kids.
Where Parenting and Weed Don’t Mix
Laying out the benefits of parents smoking weed isn’t meant to put weed use on a pedestal. There are always risks with any drug use and safety precautions that need to be in place when it comes to children.
Don’t Smoke during Pregnancy
Although it might sound tempting to smoke weed during pregnancy to cope with discomfort or anxiety, the risks are not worth the relief. There are still further studies needed to determine the extent of the risks associated, but smoking while pregnant is never a good idea.
Not only can smoking weed affect birth weight and infant health, but being high can make pregnant moms who smoke pot dizzy or more prone to falling. Not to mention inhaling smoke is bad for lung health.
Don’t Let Your Kids Smoke
Of course, this should be obvious, but allowing your kids to smoke weed is a serious legal offense and will affect your child's health and development. Although that is a no-brainer, some parents who smoke weed may not realize that this includes inhaling second-hand smoke.
Studies have shown that children who inhaled their stoned parent's second-hand weed smoke showed signs of cannabis biomarkers in their urine. So, while we don’t understand the true effects of weed on children, keep smoke and edibles far away from your kids. Of course, with the exception of children benefiting from prescribed cannabis products for specific medical reasons.
Keep Weed and Paraphernalia out of Sight
The responsible thing to do to avoid negatively influencing your child is to keep your stash and any weed paraphernalia out of sight. This includes ashtrays and bongs!
Growing up with parents who smoke pot openly with paraphernalia around the house can induce a comfort level with weed that sparks an interest in smoking habits or drug use at a young age. Parents are often their kid's first role models and to avoid a “Monkey see, monkey do” situation, your adult habits are best kept under wraps.
Choose When and Where to Smoke Wisely
The trick to healthy cannabis use around children is knowing how to successfully keep your habits private and safe. There is a time and place for everything and that includes marijuana use.
Firstly, when parents smoke weed, it is safe to apply the same rules as you would with drinking:
- Don’t smoke before driving.
- Preferably keep smoking a lot for the evenings.
- Don’t smoke too much.
As for keeping it hidden and safe:
- Don’t smoke around your children.
- Preferably smoke outside only.
- Smoke once the kids are in bed.
Of course, there are exceptions, like daytime use for anxiety, energy or illness. The bottom line is to keep it responsible and be a safe parent for your kids to be around.
Perfect Strains for Parents
Now for the best part: Choosing the good stuff that will make tackling the bedtime, bath, and storybook rush feel like a walk in the park. So, without further adieu, here are our most recommended strains for the dads and moms who smoke pot.
Wedding Glue Auto (FastBuds)
Wedding Glue Auto (Fast Buds) - Autoflowering
- Well-balanced and pleasant
- 450 - 550 g/m² indoors
60 - 160 g/plant outdoors - 26 %
Let’s be real, us parents aren’t getting any younger and aches and pains come with the territory. Wedding Glue Auto takes the edge off in the fuzzy warmth of Indica euphoria and offers the creative, focused cerebral high of Sativa with its comfortable 40/60 Sativa, Indica ratio. This strain is the definition of the best of both worlds for parents and is enjoyable both day and night.
Bruce Banner #3 (Blimburn Seeds)
Bruce Banner #3 (BlimBurn Seeds) - Photoperiod
- Total cerebral relaxation
- 400 - 500 g/m² indoors
700 - 800 g/plant outdoors - 25 %
The perfect playtime strain, Bruce Banner #3 hits you with an uplifting cerebral high that will bring out your inner sugar-rushed child. With a 20-25% THC content and the influence of both Sativa and Indica, you’ll be giggling with your kids until the cows come home after a delicious explosion of spicy, fruity, and earthy flavors.
Gelato Auto (Herbies Seeds)
One that you’ll have to smoke far away from your kids thanks to the creamy dessert flavored plumes of smoke you will emit, Gelato Auto is the ultimate parent pick-me-up! Offering an instant mood enhancement, this is another fun-loving strain inducing deep belly laughs with its healthy THC percentage of 24-26%.
G13 Haze (Barney’s Farm)
If you’re running low on energy but still need the vroom to go-go-go, then G13 Haze is going to be your best friend. With its 80% Sativa dominance and satisfying 22% THC content, a quick daytime toke will re-energize you for that moment your kids run through the door! As you inhale the soothing spicy-pine aroma, you can relax into this strain's euphorically creative buzz.
Blueberry Hill (Herbies Seeds)
For those highly-strung stoner parents out there, a smooth hit of Blueberry Hill at the end of the day will melt away all your tension and worries in minutes. Offering a classic Indica experience and a 26% THC content, this strain works wonders for depression and insomnia too! As for flavor, you guessed it, this yummy number is all blueberry, baby!
Lemon Pie Auto (FastBuds)
A yummy, zesty citrus pastry, Lemon Pie Auto is a perfectly balanced Sativa and Indica hybrid for a pleasant but potent any-time-of-day refreshment. Like sipping on lemonade while the kiddos play peacefully in the sunshine, this strain offers a blissful relaxing high with the right amount of mental clarity for stoned parenting.
Stoner Parents are Good Parents!
A final note to pot-smoking parents: don’t let the stigma convince you that you aren’t a good parent just because you smoke weed. If you are doing the best you can for your kids and use weed to help you be a better parent, then embrace it!
You aren’t alone and you aren’t weak for needing something to take the edge off. So, tuck your tots in bed and go outside for a well-deserved toke-up!
Herbies Head Shop expressly refuses to support the use, production, or supply of illegal substances. For more details read our Legal Disclaimer.
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