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Miracles In Progress 12 Step Recovery Forums -> Alcoholics Anonymous -> Alcoholics Anonymous -> Books for Teenage Children of Alcoholics?
Post Info TOPIC: Books for Teenage Children of Alcoholics?
FlyingSquirrel


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Books for Teenage Children of Alcoholics?
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I did a google search and saw some out there, but none that seemed suitable for my daughter.  She tried Ala-Teen and didn't like it.  She didn't even think I was an alcoholic, so she initially resisted all of this and I think right now she still doesn't really know what to think (I'm 17 months sober).  I really just want to try and find some way to reverse some of the damage done to her, while she is still young and has not yet tried alcohol herself.  (She's 15). 

What I'm looking for, I think, is something that would sort of parallel the twelve steps somewhat (but not quite so completely - something she would be willing to at least look at, that wasn't necessarily focused so much on alcohol as LIFE.)  I think she has many of the same problems I had before I started drinking, and I'd like to give her some solutions to these problems before she decides to use alcohol as her solution.

This might take the form of a book she could read, or of a book I could read and then use to help her with.

Anyone know of any such thing?

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gonee


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Both my children came into Alateen very early. My son was just 2 and my daughter 5. They are 24 and 27 now and both adults and they started serving in church. My wife runs an Alateen meeting on Saturday nights for teenagers and she has had great success. I am so happy that you are seeking something for your daughter so early in your recovery. If you need any help at all please PM me.
The section in the AA book on the family afterwards is very important for her to read.

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Lexie


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I dunno, Glenn,

To her, that might come off as another homework assignment.  You don't want her resenting your recovery, do you?  I think the Big Book cautions against dragging family members into recovery if they don't want to be there. 

My gut feeling is the best thing you can do is just to have lots of conversations with her to keep the lines of communication open.  You can relate to some of the stuff she might be struggling with by talking about your own experiences and how you wound up drinking to deal with it, and how that kept you from growing up and learning to deal successfully with life on life's terms. 

My ex-husband has twelfth-stepped some of our sons' friends who got into trouble with alcohol.  I think if your daughter sees that you are having a good and happy life in recovery she will learn that this program has value if she ever chooses it or if she sees friends who are in trouble.

Just my thoughts, for what they're worth.

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StPeteDean


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Glenn what helped me a lot with my son (who was 2 when I got sober and 23 now) was me reading several John Bradshaw books (on Adult children of Alcoholics) which fully describes the damage done to the child of an alcoholic, and how it is done, so that I could stop (or not start these behaviors). Just because we are sober doesn't mean that we're not still demonstrating alcoholic behavior, typically it's quite the opposite (dry drunks) especially in early recovery.

Here's a list of JB books at amazon. http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=john+bradshaw+on+the+family&tag=googhydr-20&index=stripbooks&hvadid=3486336611&ref=pd_sl_90evk19ihf_b

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pinkchip


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Alateen...my cousins grew up in it..(the younger ones) while my uncle was very active in AA.

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Avril G


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Maybe you oughta checkout the ACOA sites?: (Adult Children Of Alcoholics) Also the hazelden site has lota of self-help books.

-- Edited by Avril G on Tuesday 20th of July 2010 08:51:41 AM

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