Alcoholism and the Effect It Has On Children

A detailed Summary of Alcoholism and the Effect It Has On Children

Alcoholism and the Effect It Has On Children

When you see a drunken parent with a small child, you can't help but to feel sympathy for the child. What will become of the child? The topic of 'Alcoholism and the Effects It Has On Children,' had a great appeal to me because of the personal experiences that I have been through. Not only being a child of an alcoholic, but also allowing alcoholism to play a leading role in my life as well. Alcoholism has had a great effect on my sisters and I growing up, and alcoholism may also have an effect on my children and grandchildren.

Growing up, my most common memory of my father, was the sight of him struggling to keep his balance because he was too drunk to stand up. Both of my parents drank a lot. My father was the heavier drinker between the both of them. My mother would join my father in his drinking, but she would not get as drunk as he did or drink all weekend long. The drinking would usually start early Friday afternoon, after my father was off for the weekend, and lasted until he had to work again on Monday morning. Most of my weekends were spent, trying to stay out of my father's way. My sisters and I would try to do everything in our will to do all of the things tha

Sunday afternoon. We had to stay there, because my parents were too drunk and tired to drive us home. This was a common memory, up until I turned fourteen years old. Around that time, my father had been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and became very ill. I thought that his illness would be indeed a miracle, and it would make him realize that alcohol was not only ruining his life, but it was destroying him physically. But, I was wrong, the drinking didn't stop, it just stayed home. My sisters finally became so disturbed by our household problems that they moved out. They moved in with my maternal grandmother. After my father became even weaker, my mother drank less and less. She was given the position of being the breadwinner for the family and she had to take care of my father, she had no time for alcohol. My father came to the point where he would skip eating to drink. His alcoholism had major effects on our family.

develop mentally into a full functioning adult. These problems do not end with the childhood. The childhood is just the beginning. These problems are also carried over into their adult life. Children that are raised with one or two alcoholic parents are more likely prone to becoming an alcoholic themselves.

Fetal alcohol syndrome is the result of alcoholic mothers that are impregnated and still continue to drink. Mental handicaps and hyperactivity are probably the most common outcomes of fetal alcohol syndrome. The alcohol in the blood of the mother also has a great affect on the central nervous system involvement. This could cause neurological abnormalities, developmental delays, behavioral dysfunction, intellectual impairment, and skull or brain malformations. The ethnical break up of fetal alcohol syndrome is in groups as followed: Asians 0.3, Hispanics 0.8, whites 0.9, blacks 6.0, and Native Americans 29.9. This ethnical break up raises the question of whether or not some kinds of genetics are more susceptible to the syndrome. So, even as an undeveloped fetus, alcohol has already had an impact on the unb

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Approximate Word count = 1394
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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