Canterbury mother-of-five Terri would drink all night, then, after a short doze, pile her five children in the family car and drive them to school.

Canterbury mother-of-five Terri would drink all night, then, after a short doze, pile her five children in the family car and drive them to school.Eventually, she allowed her 13-year-old daughter to take the wheel for the school run.Terri spoke of her own experiences yesterday after reading about a Christchurch mother who was stopped by police and charged with drink-driving on two consecutive mornings last week as she took her children to school.Terri is urging the woman to get help, as she did after her battle with alcoholism put her children in danger.
The 66-year-old, who did not want to give her full name because she belongs to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), has been sober for five years and five months.Terri said she was married at 22 and had five children by the time she was 29.When the children were younger, the family would often spend afternoons at barbecues and backyard cricket matches with friends."Then we'd bring the party back home. It never occurred to me that one of us should stay sober for the children," Terri said."I was putting my children in danger all the time and not realising the sort of people we were allowing into our house around four vulnerable daughters and our son."Terri said she was not a morning drinker but would drink through the night, believing two hours of sleep would drain her system of alcohol.Today, four of Terri's grown-up children are in AA and she said she "walks on eggshells" around her fifth child, who she believes also has addictions."I looked at that story (about the Christchurch mother) and thought, `what's the poor woman hiding?' and I prayed for her."If you get into the room (of an AA meeting) for long enough and hear the message, then, beyond your wildest dreams, you'll find happiness," Terri said."A different world opens up and there is peace in my house today."