Gal220

I thought about putting this in the "Parenting and Relationships in Sobriety" section, but since it's so AA specific I thought I'd put it here.

My husband (also in recovery) and I have a one year old daughter. A few months ago she was ok at meetings because she was pretty quiet and stayed in her car seat. But now it's really difficult to keep her quiet and contained. So I've stopped taking her. I know I COULD take her, and I would if I really needed a meeting. But it's actually more of a distraction for me having to watch her. So I don't. But my sponsor is always telling me I need to bring her.

(By the way, I'm redoing 90 in 90, so have been making a meeting a day for a couple of months now, just at night after the baby's in bed and hubby's at home with her. This has been really difficult on our relationship as it's the only time we have together, but I know it's only temporary.)

So I guess I have two questions. First, is it really bothersome for people when very small kids are there; is it appropriate to have a toddler at a meeting?

And second, what has your experience been in raising kids in AA (assuming of course you've done so)? I just don't know if it's good for her to hear all the war-stories. If you did take your kids to meetings with you, did you share in front of them? Did you talk about the meetings afterwards with them?

I know it's not something I can control, but I'm pretty terrified of my daughter becoming an alcoholic or drug addict, especially with two alcoholic/addict parents. I just want to give her a shot at a normal life, whatever that is.