Letter to a Child

I pulled this from a website a while back. It is a good letter in that it may provide an idea or two for parents.

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Are you a kid with a mom or dad that drinks too much? This is a letter that was written by a child of an alcoholic who is grown-up. No two familes are exactly alike, but maybe you have some similar feelings.

Hello:

I'll bet you feel all alone when your mom or dad drinks too much, because maybe you think that no one else's mom or dad drinks like yours. Or maybe you think that no one knows how you feel. Do you know that there are plenty of kids your age who feel exactly like you, because their parents drink too much? I know how you feel, because one of my parents is an alcoholic too.

It's not easy. When I was your age, I felt so alone. Every time my parent started drinking, I had that funny feeling in my stomach that something wasn't right. I was scared to tell anyone. I wondered why I had a parent who drank so much.

I always wondered if I did anything to make my parent drink. None of my friends could spend the night at my house because I never knew when it would start. I didn't want my friends to know what went on in my house; besides, when my parent started to drink I never knew what would happen. I didn't want anyone to know what a mess it was when the drinking started. I felt ashamed, and believed my house was REALLY different from everybody else's.

When I grew up I moved away from my confusing house, and I began to meet other people who had alcoholic parents. I talked a lot to these people about how it was in my house, and I didn't feel embarrassed because they talked about what went on in their houses when their parents started drinking. I realized that other people had the same kinds of confusing things happen to them. Some people came from homes that were more messed up than mine, and other people came from homes that didn't have as many problems as mine did. But I realized one thing: that all the time when I was a kid, when I thought I was alone and the only one with parents who drank too much, I WASN'T.

You aren't the only one with parents who drink too much. There are a lot of us here.

If you would like to learn more facts about alcoholism, click here. Maybe these things will help you understand a little bit better, and maybe you won't blame yourself the next time your parents drink too much.

Your friend,
An adult child of an alcoholic

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For more resources and fun stuff, check out the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information's (NCADI) Kids Only Area. Click on this to get to link