JMO...I cannot agree with you more. I grew up with alcoholic parents. I used to always compare the households of the other children with whom I played. I used to think..."What's wrong with our family"? "Why Do the other kids treat me differently"? "Why are my parents more focused on drinking than on taking me out to ballgames...etc?" "Why can't I bring my friends into the house?" "Why can't my friend spend the night at my house?"

"Why do my cousins and Aunts & Uncles look down on me....and give me THAT LOOK!!!!!

"And what about the risk of driving with them in our car?"Kids are not stupid!! What about a drunk friend of theirs' coming over and then refusing to leave after "hitting" on my mother!!? (I stood ustairs with a baseball bat. If he did not leave ..I was going to come down the stairs-swingin'!!)

There is NO innocence in alcoholism!! IMHO!!