Research shows that around 2.6 million children in the UK are living with parents who are drinking hazardously and 705,000 are living with dependent drinkers. (1)
The Children’s Commissioner for England and The Children’s Society have today published the first booklet of its kind for use by children affected by a parent or carer drinking too much alcohol. It will help them to have frank discussions with teachers, professionals or an adult who they trust when they are worried about a parent or carer and the problems caused by their alcohol consumption.
Read it all and follow the links from The Children’s Society.
Um, just as serious a problem is the need to have resources to help parents deal with their children’s drinking, and drug-taking. It is all very sad and a consequence of the promotion of a booze-culture.
# 1, yes, but the difference is that society empowers parents to speak and think about their children having a problem. Society does not expect children to notice, let alone be frightened of, drinking by parents. It was always unmentionable.
A good resource for children concerned about a family member’s use of alcohol is Alateen and for parents Al-Anon. A world-wide office is in Virginia Beach. State and local websites give days, times, and locations of meetings. For western NC go to wnc-alanon.org.
Tom in #3 I sometimes think that if I ever had a chance to teach pastoral theology it would include simply listening to three Al-anon meetings and then discussing what was heard and learned together.
The implication in #4 is that the problem is rampant and yes, it is. I’m convinced that when the adversary really decided to a do a number on the human race, the thing created was addiction.
Bear in mind that the associated codependency is just as destructive. I’ve seen the family members, also with their gifts for self-service, “survival-at-cost-to-everyone-else”, manipulation, denial, lying, and bait-and-switch do just as much damage, if not more, than the addicts themselves.