No mother or father ever wants to see their child addicted to any type of substance. I know that if I had a problem abusing alcohol or drugs my mother would do anything in her power to help me. She would send me to rehab and then afterwards she would have me see a therapist so that I could understand myself why I resorted to drugs or alcohol. I also believe that parents who are involved in their child’s life they can identify whether their child was in trouble. My mother could be able to notice if there was any change in my attitude and or my personality. I remember one time my mother called me and I was wasted and she asked me whether I was drunk. I told her “no” I was not drunk, but she knew that I was lying and came and got me. My mom could tell from my voice when I am drunk and she can also tell from my body language whether I had a hung over. From my personal experiences my do not believe that believe that Koren’s parents could tell when she was drunk. In the book she talks about how her parents went to parties and there would have to be someone at the party who was drunk. Both of her parents should have been able to tell if she was drunk or hung over.

On the other side of the coin I would never want to think of either of my parents having a drug or alcohol problem. In that situation, the roles have changed were the children are the parents and the parents are the children. It is up to the children to take care of the parents when they are too intoxicated to take care of themselves. I could never image what it would be like for my mother or father to choose drugs or alcohol over me. I know that my childhood would have been darker because I would have my parents teaching me everything about drugs. But not in a good way. They could teach me how to make whatever drug they were using and make me sell that drug on the streets so that we would have money to survive. Even though I was not in class on Monday when we watched the movie about Tupac I still look at the discussion questions on Carmen and internet. I did not know that his mother was addicted to crack and that at the age of seventeen he dropped out of school.

Binge drinking is something that college students deal with on a daily basis. It was impressing that a mother was willing to binge drink a substantial amount of alcohol for “30 Days“. I found it interesting that after the mother started drinking she could perform many of the tasks she needed to do. Her youngest child noticed a change in her personality; she was constantly tried, and was not happy. After seeing his mother drunk all the time he says that he is never going to drink. He got to see his mother stumble home, from one of her drunken nights, slam into the front door and start crying because she could not get her key in the door. Unfortunately, her daughter, Jennifer, did not have the same reaction. I remember her laughing at her mother because she could not “hold her liquor”. After a month the mother did not develop any internal damage but if she was drinking for years she would have serious problems with her liver. It was sad that at the end of the episode there was not enough of an impact for Jennifer to stop binge drinking.