maw,

I am glad that my posts are helpful to you.

I am very pro-children. Children should ALWAYS come first when substance (be it drug or alcohol) abuse is running rampant in a household. Children are gifts that are entrusted to us. We are supposed to nurture and provide safety in addition to loving them. A home is the place where children KNOW they are safe.
The world is full of all kinds of dangers for children. Child care centers are becoming more and more dangerous. We all know how dangerous it is when they enter their school building. Their home is the place where they are supposed to be safe....the place they long to go to when they are frightened. It should never be the place where they are constantly frightened and emotionally and mentally abused.
IMO...children living in a home with an alcoholic are not safe. They are not emotionally, mentally, nor physically safe. We, as mothers, remove that danger. We do whatever is necessary to safeguard our children. (The alcoholic chooses the alcohol over the children. The mother that stays with the alcoholic also chooses the bottle over the children.) This does not necessarily mean DIVORCE. It means you remove and protect the children in whatever way is necessary. It could be separation or it could be divorce, whichever is up to the Mother.

Now, remember everyone....this is my own humble opinion. (So, I do not anticpate being flamed by anyone for MY opinion.)

One more thing, any Mother that would tell me that the children are NOT affected by having an alcoholic Father IN the house would be a LIAR (big time denial) in my Book...again....IMHO.

Maw, you are probably like myself. You would never want to be applauded for doing what was best for your children. Mothers are supposed to do what is best for their children without all the accolades. You are in every sense of the word a Mother.

Good Luck to you and again I am glad that you found some help in my posts to someone else.

Always,
committed

Please note, the only reason that I gender typed the alcoholic is because that is how it is in maw's case. The same thing would apply if it were the Mother who was the alcoholic. The Father would then be the one to safeguard the children. Alcoholism does not discriminate.

<small>[ November 02, 2002, 02:41 PM: Message edited by: committedandlovingit ]</small>