Originally Posted by
MyBetterWorld 
As she grows her expectations of a father will change (and at this point he isn't going to meet them) and giving her some information now will hopefully help her understand that this is about him, not her.
wow, that got me. I hadn't quite thought about it that way.
This just plain sucks. These girls did nothing to deserve this!
That is so true, children often do not deserve a lot of the things their parents go through. I also think giving little bits of information over time, similar to what I have said in my other posts is a good way to address the situation. Young kids do not need to know all of the horrible things that go along with addiction or alcohol abuse. However, we can't keep them totally in the dark. We just need to help our children understand that 1) they did not cause this and it is not their fault. 2) their parent does not choose this life because he does not love them, they are just not capable of loving while active in their disease. 3)Like any decision in life there are consequences, both negative and positive. The alcoholic/addict will have to deal with the consequences of their actions