Joseph Fuerst

Terrific idea, Sandra.......I hadn't thought about that.....it could've
saved me plenty of anguish if someone had done that for me as a young teen.
By the time I tried Al-Anon, in colloge, I was at sn sge wher I was
establishing myself as ayoung adult independent from my family of
origin.....and it didn't do much for me. (Plus by the my father had been
diagnosed as manic depressive, not alcoholic...).

the parallels between my neighbors and my own childhood are almost
spooky....The mom works as a RN at the same hospital my mom worked at, 2nd
shift, when I was a kid. My dad was laid off from a long term job, then
drifted around in low paying jobs, sometimes working, sometimes not.
Though, I was never locked out of the house by my dad!



When the kids a bit older, if you're still neighbors, you might want to
consider hooking him up with AlaTeen (he doesn't need to be a teen), which
is
an AlAnon group for kids. It gives them a head start on realizing this
drinking is not their doing, that they're not the only one in that
situation,
and ways to feel better (and not to waste their time and energy trying to
"fix" the drunk).

Sandra