Link – What It’s Like To Be The Child Of An Alcoholic

As the daughter of an alcoholic, I have never felt the security and comforts of a sober father. I often spent days at a time on my holiday visits in a state of hyper vigilance, because it’s never safe to predict your alcoholic parent’s behaviour on any given day.

Yes, as the son of an alcoholic, some things may have affected me differently, but the one constant is the state of hyper vigilance, and the unpredictability of home life. That’s not something that is going to lead to well-adjusted adults without some work. Much like child abuse, it short circuits the normal development of a child, and taught us how to survive in that situation, not how to be an adult.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/kate-shelby/what-its-like-to-be-the-child-of-an-alcoholic/