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Damien is 10 years old. He lives with his mom, dad, and little sister.
Dad has two jobs so he's not home much. Mom works all day at her job and isn't home much either. She says she's sick and tired of working so hard and spending so much time without Damien's dad.
After school, Damien and his sister go to the neighbor's house. She's nice but she has lots of her own kids to take care of.
For a long time, mom's been coming home late at night. When Damien asks where she's been, she says, "I was out with my friends. I deserve to have fun too!" Damien knows this means she's been at the bar, getting drunk. He has to find something for dinner and make sure his sister takes a bath and goes to bed on time.
Some nights his mom doesn't come home at all. This is when he worries the most. He wonders what to do. Did she have an accident in her car? Should he go look for her? Just the other day, she came home at 7 a.m. She said she drank too much the night before and stayed with a friend. She had a bad headache and couldn't eat anything all day.
Damien had to call her boss to say that she had the flu. That's what his mom told him to do. She said that if her boss knew that she was sick from drinking, he would fire her. (This wasn't the first time she had been sick like this.)
Damien has missed many days of school because of his mom's drinking. When he goes to school, all he thinks about is whether his mom will be home when he gets there. He wishes he could tell someone but he's afraid he'll get in trouble or get his mom in trouble.
a. Make a time to talk with his dad to tell him how worried he is, even though mom will get mad.
b. Talk to his mom when she's not drinking and tell her how worried he is.
c. Try to get help for himself by talking to an adult he trusts -- someone like a teacher, guidance counselor, or his family minister.
d. Try to get help for his mom and dad by talking to an adult he trusts, like a coach, the school nurse, or his best friend's mom.
ANSWER: Any one of these ideas is a good place to start.
Damien talked to the school nurse. He told her how worried he was about his mom and how he didn't want to get his mom in trouble. The school nurse helped him talk to the school psychologist, Mr. Snow. The school psychologist called his mom and dad and asked them to come to a meeting. At the meeting, Mr. Snow helped Damien talk to his mom and dad and tell them how he was feeling. Damien's mom got a little mad but she decided to go to the hospital so she could stop drinking. Damien signed up for a support group at the YMCA. When he went to the first meeting, he was surprised because some of his friends were in the group! They had problems at home too and they had been afraid to tell anyone.
Source: Mary Ann Amodeo/Join Together
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