The Benefits of Pot for Parenting - Does Cannabis Make You A Better Parent?
Raising children is no joke.
The extreme pressure parents face to put food on the table, raise socially and morally responsible citizens, making ends meet, having to take care of your career only names a few of the struggles parents actually experience. It can be so hard at times that parents get so lost in the roles, often forgetting to take care of themselves and their relationships with their spouses, and this can cause desperation – leading to substance abuse and other bad habits.
Using cannabis regularly has become the secret of successful parents. They have found that it’s a safe and healthy way to cope with the demands of parenting, which can easily take 18 years of your life until one child is off to college. While there are still many people that are against parents using cannabis, one cannot deny its multitude of benefits for parents.
What The Studies Say
In fact, a recent study out of Oxford has revealed, the presence of adult-use cannabis laws have been linked with a decrease in foster care admissions. The study, conducted by economists at the University of Mississippi, analyzed patterns in foster care admission among states before and after adult-use cannabis was legalized.
Their findings?
“Our most conservative estimates imply that legalization causes at least a 10 percent decrease in total admissions into foster care due to specific child-welfare concerns,” reads the study.
“Legalization may impact foster-care admissions directly by changing the welfare of children or indirectly by changing policies and attitudes towards marijuana use in the home. Direct effects may arise because marijuana use itself causes behaviors that affect child welfare, or because it changes the likelihood of using other drugs,” said the authors.
“We also find that placements due to physical abuse, parental neglect, and parental incarceration decrease after legalization, providing evidence that legalization reduces substantive threats to child welfare, although the precise mechanism behind these effects is unclear,” they add.
Another study from 2019 involving 32 adult medical marijuana patients who participated in a focus group discussion shed some insights as to why parents medicate. The study’s authors sought to better understand how the use of marijuana impacts parenting.
Six out of 11 parent participants said that cannabis use helped them to be calmer, making it easier to manage difficult emotions that arise with parenting. However, it was also interesting that some noted they didn’t want their kids to use cannabis. But more importantly, the study’s findings revealed that MMJ patients who are parents can indeed benefit from alternative ways to cope with stress caused by parenting.
There is also adequate anecdotal evidence from parents that it does indeed calm them down, and helps them become a better parent without the harmful and potentially dangerous side effects of other coping mechanisms, such as alcohol and hard drugs, which can increase the chances of domestic violence.
How Cannabis Helps Parents
Stress: From sleepless nights caring for infants and toddlers, to the general frustration of raising young ones and all the endless list of daily tasks in between makes parenting perhaps the most stressful job in the world.
Parenting is extremely overwhelming, and the longer parents cope with stress alone, the more this can lead to depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, and physical ailments rooted in inflammation and muscle tension. Cannabis has been proven in numerous studies time and again as an effective treatment for stress and anxiety. It also should be said that chronic exposure to stress can change a person, and when you want to be the best for your kid, cannabis can help you get yourself back and be at your best.
Anger management: Any parent can tell you that raising children can often come with numerous infuriating episodes. Explosive outbursts can easily ruin the trust you have with your kid, and it can also deteriorate the relationship you have with your spouse.
Research shows that cannabis can be a good antidote to anger. It’s also a much better way to cope with anger than alcohol, which can only make it worse. Cannabis contains vital cannabinoids that can help stabilize mood disorders and for parents, this can help spell the difference between a good and a bad day – for you and your family.
Sleep: From the moment you become a parent, you can say goodbye to peaceful hours of sleep. When your child grows up, there will also be inevitable periods driving you to sleeplessness because of certain issues. It could be your kid’s health, school, making ends meet, difficult in-laws, and so much more.
No matter what’s driving you to lose sleep, cannabis is there for you. A few puffs or a quality indica product does a better job of ensuring you get good shut-eye, making you more restful the next day. The lack of sleep can also cause mood disorders, so getting 8 hours of restful sleep can make a big difference in ensuring that you get rest and are prepared to tackle the challenges ahead.
Conclusion
These days, parents have so many more options when it comes to medicating discreetly.
There’s the use of vapes, gels, capsules, tinctures, beverages, and edibles which make calming down after a stressful day effective but also easier than ever. If you’re the type of person who doesn’t want to get high, that’s fine: you can microdose by taking tiny puffs of your vape or consuming edibles that have been infused with low doses of THC, which has been shown in studies to be beneficial for treating stress whereas a high THC strain may make stress worse.
Cannabidiol (CBD), the non-psychoactive compound in the cannabis plant, is also very powerful in inducing calmness and relaxation. CBD products are widely available in legal states, and for parents struggling with anger, frustration, and high levels of stress, CBD may be the best route for you.
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