I've had a few people over the last few day's say to me what a fantastic thing Give It A Flick is for Auskick, a great way to raise money and help raise awareness of how much alcohol really does play a part in alot of people's lives. I've also had alot of people say, that sounds great but I couldn't do it - no one would sponsor me because I hardly drink. I've also had alot of people say - No way! I wouldn't even do it for 24hrs, nothing wrong with having a drink!
It's interesting the concept behind how much or how little we see ourselves as 'drinkers'. The National Health Medical Research Guidelines suggest that for both men and women, no more than 2 standard drinks per day will reduce chances of alcohol related illness over a lifetime. They also recommend no more than 4 standard drinks on a single occasion. Give It A Flick did a small survey on some of the parents participating this year on June 1 - day one. From the group surveyed the average number of drinks consumed over a week was 5. That comes well within the safe levels of drinking, but when you multiply that by 52 that equals 260 drinks per year. This might not seem like much at all, but when you start to do the maths and think about young children watching parents and siblings and family friends around them, and it's every night at dinner or every weekend....that number becomes quite big! From that perspective, taking 'time out' is not a bad thing at all.
Just something to think about as we're nearly at the end of the month. Will this make me change my habits? I don't think of myself as a big drinker,.....but when I do have a drink, it's mostly always at home around my kids...I think I'll be more aware.... and maybe wait until they go to bed!
4 more day's to go - I wonder what other GIAF parents are feeling?
I love this grass roots initiative, having grown up with alcohol present in the family home every night of the week it was very much a part of everyday life for my family.
ReplyDeleteI experienced the good and evil that came with alcohol in the family home. Growing up through adolescence and into adulthood my understanding and approach to alcohol was a direct result of the environment and behaviours I had been exposed to as a child and as such I was a binge drinker and alcohol abuser up until very recently.
This program has been a great way for me to re-frame my perception of the role alcohol plays in my life and by reading more and experimenting with different non-alcoholic drinks as substitutes I have changed my approach and improved my understanding.
An alcohol free month is a great way for Aussie's to test the waters of sobriety, learn more about the pros and cons of alcohol and set a really positive example at home.
Great work Give it a Flick!
If the team of parents at Auskick's club at Montrose hadn't have been the instigators, the Leaders, would we have given up alcohol for the month of June?, maybe not, but just by asking and sharing with us their reasoning, we have all played our part. I'm really happy to be doing this for the kids. Hope the party at the end of the year is a great one.
ReplyDeleteAnd... I've just been doing some adding up, if my husband and I had a drink with our evening meal or in a restaurant,say I had a glass of wine,and he had 1 beer,averaging out at $5/glass.per night that would be $10.Multiply that times 365 = $3650.00/year. but realistically, drinks are about $6.50 ea,so $13,times 365 =$4745. And that's only 1 drink ea. !!!Add a secong beer to that, and it goes up to $19.50/night OR $7117.50 a year. Now that takes some getting the head around.
A holiday, a downpayment,school fees, and a whole pile of shoes. Thanks GiveitaFlick.
ohhh for a holiday! Fantastic to hear and read some honest and great thinking on Give It A Flick. It's the last day, a whole month, 5 weekends and we finish up with a Sat - it's a big month, but we might aswell do it well. I'm about to head down for a great Auskick breakfast - a Bacon & egg roll off the BBQ! Maybe we can find out how much as been raised??
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