STILL SOBER AND STILL TOGETHER

Hello from Hunter.
Brief post because it is late.
In a recovery program it was once said "when i got busy I got better"...Well I am sooooo busy it is nuts...There is still a lot of things unsettled in our life but things are way better than ever. now that two years has passed we are becoming a family again. Our child is doing better in school and was chosen to read a most amazing essay for D.A.R.E. class (school program about drugs and alcohol). I am going to share it here in the hopes that anyone with kids who are struggling with parents who are alcohlics can derive expereince strength and hope from this...Before i share it i will give you another quick updates...I am back in school and am becoming a holistic heatlh counsellor..I am really excited about this journey and i will be helping people in recovery with sugar cravings as well as helping people avoid illness via food and nutrition...stay tuned...it is the first time I have ever done something for myself in 10 years...ok her is our kids essay hope you enjoy it.

CHOOSE THE HARDER RIGHT OVER THE EASIER WRONG..LESSONS FROM A FIFTH GRADER

I thought that the most important Dare lesson was alcohol because someone I know is an alcoholic and it affected my family a lot. It was very important to know the other consequences that could have happened to them such as being really drowsy weak and a lot of other things. I remember the person I care about sleeping and falling down a lot. I really care about this person and am glad they do not do this anymore.

I also know a few facts about alcohol like AA meetings that help the alcoholic and when an alcoholic decides to stop drinking its called sobriety. The chemical in the drink makes an addiction that is very hard to break and that addiction can tear families apart. In fact a person can actually die from alcohol poisoning and if they are addicted can die from this if they stop without medical help.

Drinking and driving don’t mix because when you drink you feel relaxed but what’s really happening is that a chemical is going to your brain that makes you drowsy and your vision isn’t as strong so when you drive you have a really big risk of getting in a car accident and injuring or killing others who are passengers or in another car. Many times people who drink and drive get their license suspended.

People with alcoholism sometimes affect their kids so they have to be extra careful and make smart choices. When I was learning about alcohol I was thinking about the person that I care about. After my DARE class when I saw them I was crying because now that person is sober and I love them and am so grateful for their sobriety.

Alcoholism can tear a family apart because the alcoholic when active is obsessed and forgets about the family. The alcoholic spends more time with the bottle and the parents fight and sometimes divorce. It affects the kid or kids just as the parents, and often the child of an alcoholic has trouble learning at school and making friends.

If an alcoholic decides to get sober and not drink they will go to AA meetings, which stands for Alcoholics Anonymous. At these meetings they discuss their experiences with other alcoholics. The person I care about went there and made friends with everybody.

If an alcoholic has children, the kids have a danger of drinking alcoholically. If the kid or kids take the D.A.R.E. program it will teach them how to make smart choices so they don’t drink... And even if you don’t take the program be sure to make smart choices anyway!

If you have a family member that is drunk it’s okay to still love them, you just have to know that they can get dangerous, especially if they are an alcoholic. Not everyone who drinks is an alcoholic, but according to a group called NACOA 1 in 4 children under the age of 18 lives with someone who is. If you live with an alcoholic and they are in sobriety and go to AA meetings they won’t be dangerous but they will still have a little bit of the disease in them.

However, their meetings are their medicine and because of this the alcoholic won’t let the disease consume them as it did when they were an active drunk.

People who drink under the age of 21 tend to get arrested because it is against the law for them to drink. Also they tend to have bigger problems because for the chemical in the alcohol doesn’t process as well in people under the age of 21 and it more deeply affects the younger person’s brain.

I think we all have tendencies to become alcoholic. Also no matter how old you are don’t drink too much or you might find yourself with an addiction!

The best thing to do if you don’t want the disease is to not drink at all. And for a kid like me, the best thing to do growing up is not to give in to peer pressure not to hang around with kids who drink and drug, and to always choose the harder right.

Well this concludes my essay of what I thought was the most important lesson in D.A.R.E. hope you enjoyed it. BYE.