Brought up by alcohol
by annonymous.
Since about the age of 8 - possibly earlier but 8 is where I became more aware of it. I have watched my dad drink. He would drink while Mom cooked dinner, while playing games with us it was the norm. It never really bothered me to much when I was younger as alcohol has always been in the house and always will be. During the day he is 'sober' whilst holding down a 9-6 job in a busy office, he's not the stereotypical alcoholic but he's still an alcoholic.
I can remember when his drinking would get out of control and it still does. I have always felt different from my friends - In school on Monday mornings it would always start with sharing about what we did over the weekend. Many people would say that they spent time with their dad or that their dad took them somewhere. When it got to me what could I say? 'Dad just drank'? No. Talking about Dad and his drinking is not something we were allowed to, we still do not talk about dad and his drinking.
It wasn't until my bed times became later that I really began to notice how much my dad drinks. A can or two of beer per night was all I saw up to about the age of 10 maybe 11. It was about this age I began to notice my dad passing out on the sofa. Inviting friends round to my house became problematic because the later they stayed the more chance I had of them seeing dad drunk. To keep this from happening I would make sure my friends were gone by the early evening. I was going to school tired and exhausted from waiting for my dad to either pass out or to go to bed and from trying to wake him up if he did pass out on the sofa. I was starting to get angry in school, not just because of what was going on at home, but also because I was getting bullied at school.
(I'll add more over the weekend but I've been applying edits in micrsoft word while mum and dad are in australia.)