And I am far from a prude when it comes to alcohol consumption.  I want you to know this before I go any further.  I like bourbon, I make beer, mead, hard cider, and hope to learn how to distill.  I am one of the lucky ones.  I can drink without over doing it.

• Alcohol is the most commonly used addictive substance in the U.S.  17.6 million people, or one in every 12 adults, suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence along with several million more who engage in risky drinking patterns that could lead to alcohol problems.  More than half of all adults have a family history of alcoholism or problem drinking, and more than seven million children live in a household where at least one parent is dependent or has abused alcohol.

That quote is from the National Council on Alcoholism, and Drug Dependency.

Those are chilling words when you learn that each year the people in the US spend approximately $197.8 billion on alcohol.  Billion.

Our budget for defense is just over $600 billion.  Our budget for education is only $69 billion.  On average every household in the US spends $1 per $100 on alcohol.

Companies the produce alcohol, all inclusive of wine, beer, and liquor, spent $6 billion yearly to get their message to you.  And that doesn’t include sports, music, and other sponserships.

That is a whole lot of money being spent on both sides.  And if we as parents aren’t vigilant, it could come to roost in our house.  Like it did in mine.  My youngest daughter is an alcoholic.  She comes from intelligent parents, she had a decent life…not a privileged one.  She wasn’t spoiled, she was loved.   And she has a genetic propensity for alcoholism.

My daughter attended D.A.R.E. and she didn’t witness her mother or I drinking irresponsibly at home.  She didn’t see her Mother drink at all, as her Mother doesn’t drink.  But we neglected her when she started to spread her wings.  And the times when she crashed, we didn’t put our feet down.  She was talked to, and reasoned with.  And talking and reasoning with an intelligent young person is a recipe for disaster.  Because my daughter knew all the right things to say to us, and the right things not to say to us.  And her spiral into alcoholism accelerated.

My youngest daughter wrote about her struggle in a blog that I have linked here, and on my Facebook page.  I am not going to keep linking to it.  If you haven’t, and want to read it you know can find it in either place.  Yesterday I wrote a post where I said that we are killing our babies.  Actually, we are letting them die right in front of our eyes.  Emily said that I was being harsh on my generation, and the generations before mine.  I don’t believe so.  I think that every parent needs to get more involved with their kids.  It is a different world than what we grew up in.  The stressors are so much more.  School, friends, activities, needing to be accepted weighs heavily on our kids shoulders.  And all of that is killing them while we stand by thinking that everything is just fine and dandy.

Everything wasn’t fine and dandy for my daughter.  It was a nightmare that I can’t make all better.  Thankfully, she has had the strength of character, and will to take the first steps out of that nightmare.  Doesn’t mean that it is going to be easy.  She is going to stumble, and she is going to fall.  The one thing I do know is that I will be right there with her every step of the way.

As irritating as that can be for a young woman to have her Father constantly emailing and texting her.  Tough.  I love her too much to lose her.  And I know that every parent that reads this feels the same about their child.