Addiction is something that’s become all too common in society and it’s very likely you’ll know, or have known someone who has suffered. For many of us, that can often be parents.
Parents Have Suffered From Addiction
Childhood can be difficult to navigate with addicted parents. It can have an impact on families financially, damage relationships between parents and children, while also making it quite unstable if a parent is in and out of alcohol rehab, or worse still prison in some cases as a result of addiction.
They do say that such adversity can shape a person though. And that is true, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. What having a parent with addiction does do though, is help guide you in your own parenting and there are several things that you can learn from that…
The Importance of Boundaries
Firstly, you’ll get a firm understanding of the importance of boundaries. You may have found that during a parent’s suffering from addiction that clear boundaries were created in a family unit, or you may have found that not to be the case, potentially breaking apart families. Either way, what you can learn is that protecting personal boundaries and establishing them can help foster a sense of safety and stability with your own children.
The Impact of Trauma on Parenting
Addiction is one of the most traumatic experiences a child can go through. Seeing their parents struggling is never good, and can shape perceptions of parenting and family dynamics. Recognising that your life has perhaps been shaped by this can teach invaluable lessons about the importance of healing, self awareness and breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma. It’s also really important in understanding compassion and the importance of support.
The Power of Resilience and Adaptability
Navigating the challenges of growing up with parents who have struggled will require a lot of adaptability and resilience, but actually seeing them overcome such adversity can also be inspiring.
By drawing on these experiences, you can help nurture an environment that allows your children to be resilient in any challenges they may encounter, but also that they have a supportive environment in which they can do that.
The Importance of Open Communication
Ultimately, addiction often breeds secrecy which can really isolate families and create senses of guilt, loneliness and shame within children without even realising. Anyone who has felt this knows that in their own parenting it’s important to speak openly about difficult emotions and promote a two way street for communication with their children.
This can promote trust in the family dynamic as well as help form a deeper connection with our loved ones.
The Value of Empathy and Compassion
Finally, you’ll learn so much about empathy and compassion, forgiveness and even resentment if a parent has gone through addiction. Learning to empathise with parents struggling with addiction can be important, while it will make you a more nurturing and understanding parent too, which can form much more resilient bonds with children and relationships that are built on love and acceptance.