The Glass Castle Essay

The Impact of Alcoholism on Children

Alcoholism is a chronic disease distinguished by the misuse of alcohol. People with alcoholism depend on alcohol mentally and physically and have issues controlling their alcohol intake. Due to this, people with the disease can not only suffer themselves but also impact their families. An exceptional example of a child suffering from an alcoholic parent is the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. The book is written about the life of Jeannette Walls and how she gets by, dealing with all that is going on in her life, especially with an alcoholic father. The inability of parents to control drinking negatively impacts children; alcoholism in parents creates negative environments for children such as

A parent suffering from alcoholism can have a lower likelihood to get and maintain a job because of the effects it has on them. “Alcohol makes it harder for the brain areas controlling balance, memory, speech, and judgment to do their jobs, resulting in a higher likelihood of injuries and other negative outcomes” (“Alcohol”). Without having a job parents are scarcely able to provide for their children in the way they need, starting with money for adequate living. "We wore our coats to bed, too. There was no stove in the bedroom, and no matter how many blankets I piled onto myself, I still felt cold” (Walls 176). In the memoir, Jeannette’s father suffered from alcoholism so he did not have a job. Because of this, the family did not have enough income for adequate living, so during the winter months, the children practically froze because of the hole in the roof of the house. People suffering from alcoholism, specifically parents, can harm their children by not providing an adequate living environment because of their inability to work because of the harmful effects alcoholism

Alcoholism involved in childhood can lead children most susceptible to have trauma later in life. “Children of alcoholics endure chronic and extreme levels of tension and stress as the result of growing up in the home with a parent struggling with alcohol abuse” (“What”). Children do not need the added stressors of having an alcoholic parent in their household when it can easily be prevented. “According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), one in every five adult Americans resided with a relative who misused alcohol during their adolescence.2 As a general rule, these people have a greater likelihood of having emotional troubles compared to children who grew up in homes without alcohol misuse” (“What”). With a greater likelihood of having emotional troubles and trauma, children could significantly struggle emotionally later in life. Alcoholism in parents can cause children to be more likely to struggle emotionally, physically, and mentally but this can all be prevented by parents not drinking unrestrained amounts of