When is Enough, Enough?

When is enough, enough?

There is an old quote that says "Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others." -unknown. But is this always the best path to take? Consider all of the possible issues that the people of the world face: poverty, disease, rape, the list goes on and on, but when you focus on one small thing that affects people everywhere, young people, the future of our country; and our world, can you help but stop and wonder what kind of an impact that it has on the people affected? One problem in particular would be the issue of whether or not a parent should be permitted to an unlimited amount of alcohol, if the parent is in fact an alcoholic, or could easily become one.

            In order to understand both sides of tragic households with this issue, one must first understand why people become alcoholics. Some people become addicted to alcohol to cope with stress, or because the people around them influence them to drink, or they were raised in those situations without fully realizing the complexity of their issue. According to 'alcoholrehab.com', "The physical addiction and mental obsession is a powerful combination, and this is why alcoholics can remain trapped inside their hell." So instead of facing their issue, they deny their problem in order to cope with their life issues.

            But what do the problems of the parent alcoholic have to do with their children? According to 'rehabs.com', the chances of a teenage child with an alcoholic parent becoming alcohol-dependent are much greater than the peers without alcoholic parents. Approximately 25% of children of alcoholics also become dependent on alcohol in their lifetime. So the problem of alcohol is systematic like student councilor, Raychelle Lohmann points out when she says, "...alcoholism isn’t an individual problem, but rather a systematic one, and the one it hurts the most is the one who doesn’t even drink.” Which is a true statement, as it is shown previously.

            Although alcoholism is quite common, there are such things as binge drinkers that is the consumption of a lot of alcohol in a short amount of time. This is also not a safe replacement to drinking heavily all of the time. According to 'childtrends.org', “Children of alcoholics are more likely to have academic difficulty than are other students, often because alcoholic parents are less likely to provide the supervision, support. And intellectual engagement that their children need to succeed in school.” This is the same as with binge drinking because there are still all the same issues, just sporadically, and binge drinking can lead to addiction.

            So is it worth the problems that children acquire socially, and academically, if drinking is the freedom of the parent? I think not. Children have as much freedom to learn as anyone, and if the adult(s) in their life are blocking that by neglecting their duties as a parent in order to have a few more drinks then something needs to change. There are already enough humans in the world that are suffering due to the actions of another, and there are too many children that lose their childhood to raise their siblings because of a bad parent. So when is enough, enough?

 -B.D.
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