AHS Views

For kids living at home and those who are out on their own and visiting the family for Christmas, the holiday season can be a bit of a nightmare if their parents and friends do a lot of drinking. In fact, that’s one of the reasons kids don’t come home more often. They know that drinking alcohol changes the personality and, once their parents start drinking, that’s exactly what will happen. The holiday becomes sad or confrontational instead of the happy family occasion it should be. 

The same is true for parents. They know their kids drink a lot or take drugs and, as much as they love them, conversations often wind up with the parent trying to get the kid to stop drinking or getting high and the kid being defensive about it, getting angry, etc., and sometimes leaving before they had intended. Or maybe they just have to leave because they need more drugs and can’t use them at their parents house.

I went through many years of both ends of that spectrum. For years I spent Christmas with a house full of heavy drinkers – an environment I wanted out of so badly I left home at 15. And, later, when I started taking drugs, it was just as unpleasant for them as their drinking was for me.

This year, make a difference. Get your parents, or your kids, the addiction help they need. You may not have been successful at doing that in the past – you may have tried everything you can think of – but at Addiction Help Services, we can help you. Give us a call and find out how. Come next year, your parents or kids could have completely changed, they’ll be themselves again.  Wouldn’t that be nice?