How kids can get help when alcohol is a family problem
Haylee
Haylee's eyes fill with tears and her voice begins to waver when she talks about her puppy, Cissy, a border collie her father gave her for her birthday when she was in the fourth grade. Three months later, when Haylee did poorly on a test at school, her father gave Cissy away. Haylee never saw her again.
"My grades were pretty good, but the fights between my dad and my mom would get intense and it would keep me up all night and I couldn't study, then he'd start yelling at me and I'd start crying," says Haylee, whose dad is an alcoholic. "I got a D on a test because I was so tired."
Haylee is 15 years old, in the ninth grade, and living near St. Louis. She is still mad at her father for giving away her dog, for abusing her mother, and for creating chaos in her life.
Unfortunately, Haylee's story is not unusual. Dealing with strange behavior, suffering weird punishments, and living with painful memories is common for kids who have an alcoholic in the family.
"I would cry because I thought, oh, if I was just obedient and if I liked him more than my mom and supported him, maybe he would stop drinking," says Haylee. "It took me two or three years to realize that it wasn't my fault."
Jordan
When his mom starts drinking, Jordan, a 14-year-old ninth grader, hides out in his "man cave" with his brother. It's more than their basement where the TV and video games are kept. It's a safe place for them to hide from their mom's troubling behavior.
"She goes on these rampages," says Jordan. "She does things like accuse us of stealing her stuff, and she'll call the police and say that my dad is hitting her when it's the other way around."