What are the effects on children of alcoholics?
Statistically, the effect on children of alcoholics is heart-breaking. In an average-size classroom, six students have at least one parent who is an alcoholic. Children of alcoholics carry a very large burdendealing with a parent who is unpredictable, unstable, and seemingly unconcerned about their childs welfare. Is it surprising that 50-60 percent of the children of alcoholics become alcoholics themselves? Eighty percent of teenage suicides come from alcoholic homes. When children have a parent who is an alcoholic, that condition becomes the predominant fact in their lives. Often, children are unaware of how seriously their personalities are altered. The damaging effect on the children of alcoholics is seen in their coping mechanisms. Children spend a great deal of time trying to determine what is normal and then attempting to make their family appear normal. Role-playing is a way in which the child of an alcoholic parent attempts to cope with this frightening environment.
