The effects of alcoholism on children
You are probably well aware of the effects of your drinking on your life - hangovers, inability to concentrate, relationship problems, poor health, weight gain etc. However, if you are a parent, have you given enough consideration to the effects of alcoholism on your children?
Primarily of course, when you’ve had a drink you’re not interacting with them in a rational, responsible way, you may be inconsistent with how you were acting towards them earlier in the day, which can be very confusing.
You may be exposing them to arguments with your partner which they might otherwise not have to see. This is really just the tip of the iceberg of the variety of alcoholic behaviour your children might have witnessed on occasion.
One of the recognised effects of alcoholism on children is that they tend to find it difficult to trust others. They also often learn to suppress their feelings, because any expression of them can cause angry outbursts from the drunken parent.
Beyond that though, they’re learning that drinking alcohol is a normal, regular thing to do. They’re learning that it’s something you do to relax if you’re upset, or tired. Eventually the most likely effect is that your children repeat your pattern of alcohol use themselves.
Before that though, your own health might deteriorate sufficiently that you’re admitted to hospital, or you end up there due to an accident. And nobody wants to think about how horrific it would be to injure your children (or worse) from driving whilst drunk. Have you ever done it?
Alcoholism doesn’t just affect you, it’s affecting those around you too, your children probably more than any other.
July 18th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Could you please signpost me to information on alcohol use in children and young people. I deliver parenting courses to the parents of young offenders and am having great difficulty in accessing information I can pass onto them regarding the effects of alcohol on their child or young person which I could then incorporate in our programme together with signposting to organisations who could help
Thank you
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:11 am
Jacquie,
There is an organisation called alateen which is a group for teenagers that have been effected by alcoholism! My father is an alcoholic and i attended alateen meetings for many years and found it of great help. In alateen though, you are with people your own age whom you can relate to! I always felt like the odd one out, but when I started in alateen i realised there are so many people in the same situation and that I have nothing to be ashamed of. There is also an organisation called alanon which is for people over the age of 20!
I hope this has helped a little bit
Thanks
Amelia
January 9th, 2008 at 4:01 am
Do you think that alanon is appropreate for children of the ages 5 and 7