My wife and I had children less than 2 years after we were married. We knew each other but we hadn't really taken the time to really 'know' each other. I think it's great for a couple to take the time to find out about one another and learn to enjoy common interests before having children. Having kids added a lot of years to that process of 'getting to know one another' phase because, once children come, there is nothing else in your world. For a few years at least.
slow to crawl, walk and didn't really look at us and non verbal. My suggestion to any parent is go check it out if any concerns Nothing to be embarrassed about and getting kids help early is key. I've known some parents and I knew their kid was on the spectrum, but they didn't investigate and the battle is harder. My son wouldn't be where he's at without the help he received beginning with early intervention with motor skills, occ therapy, speech therapy, etc.
I've known many pretty solid alcoholics that were fathers, few who were pretty solid fathers. But maybe my threshold for what constitutes an alcoholic is high.
The wealthiest people I know might actually be the crappiest parents I know. The kind of parents where even though they’ve got enough money (inherited) to never have to work or worry about at least through their grandkids ever working are still doing such a bad job you know their kids will be unhappy even with a life of luxury.
I mean, these guys weren’t Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas, but if you took alcohol away for a couple of days, they’d be really hurting.
No. Functional alcoholics are adept at appearing to be "functional" - to friends, husbands, co-workers and fathers. But not to kids. Kids know. It'd be more accurate to say that functionally alcoholic fathers are less obvious but still terrible fathers.
My oldest, he's six, threw up in the middle of the night and decided to clean up. He's extremely independent, not necessarily a bad thing. Well, he takes the vomit covered sheets off his bed to the laundry room. There is puke from his bed, across the house all the way to the laundry room. He brushed his teeth and laid down on the couch. I got up because I heard him, he told me what he did and I just couldn't stop laughing. It was a terrible mess, but hey, he tried.
Yeah, my dad never missed anything important in my life, he just had a beer either in a cooler or in his hand.