Originally Posted by AnvilheadII

as long as the addict is in active addiction all bets are off. there IS NO NORMAL. its great to talk about how it should be and in a perfect world we ask them to please stop and they say oh yes i will and go get clean and live happily ever after.

when children are involved the rules HAVE to change. to protect them. cuz the addict can't and won't. the focus has to be on what's in the child's best interest and a bit less on how to HELP the addict. in 2014 recovery is hardly a secret....there are more detoxes, addiction specialists, treatment centers and of course those silly FREE programs like AA and NA.....it's harder to sign up for spin class for pete's sake. addicts are resourceful...they can figure their way to clean as easy as they found their way to loaded. but for some reason we think WE have to show them the way. and that they can't get clean without us...or if we say the wrong thing they'll get high.

they're gonna get high anyways! we aren't that powerful!