Rochester, MN, December 31, 2014 (GMN) - It is hard to imagine how underage children are obsessed with alcohol and cannot control how much they consume, even if it causes a serious health problem.
It is also common for individuals who are addicted to alcohol and get fired from work, losing families, and became homeless due to uncontrolled drinking of alcohol.
I have great concern for young girls who suffer from the consequences of being raised in a family that constantly consumes alcohol as a result of starting drinking alcohol earlier age. Most girls who are obsessed with alcohol will end up having children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome which causes brain damage and growth problems. The story you are about to read can be anyone's daughter and family member but is everyone responsibility to build a community and take over the situation.
Excessive alcohol drinking over a period of time can affect almost every system in the body, especially the liver, kidney, brain, digestive track, and so on. Women are negatively affected even more than men and not only dangerous to themselves, but they can be a danger to their unborn babies. Maternal alcohol use is a leading preventable cause of birth defects, and neurobehavioral, and developmental abnormalities in children worldwide. Approximately 13% of U.S. women drink alcohol when they are pregnant. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is estimated to occur in the range of 1- 4.8 per 1,000 births. For every child born with FAS, it is also estimated that 10 more suffer from alcohol-related spectrum disorders.
In fact, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome has been public health concern in the western world. Health professionals are not sure how much alcohol a mother can drink to place her baby at risk but they do know that the more mother exposes to alcohol the greater the chance mother could put her baby at risk, even before she realized her pregnancy. The only way a mother can have a healthy baby and prevent Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is to simply avoid drinking alcohol during pregnancy. Drinking too much alcohol also might cause depression and slow down vital function as a result of slurred speech, unsteady movement, disturbed perceptions, and an inability to react quickly. As for how it can affect the mind, alcohol is known as a drug that reduces a person’s ability to think rationally and distort their judgment. Most people drink a glass of wine every day or a couple of beers for the stimulant effect, or taken “to loosen up”; in a reality, there can be a fine line from social drinking to having a problem and most often social drinking can lead people to become an alcoholic. If a person consumes more than the body can handle, they then experience alcohol’s depressant effect and can start to feel ashamed or lose coordination and control. Alcohol overdose causes even more severe depressant effect inability to feel pain, toxicity where the body vomits the poison, and finally unconsciousness, worse, coma, organs failure, and death from a severe toxic overdose.
Anonymous confession
According to research, young people who start drinking earlier age or before age 18 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who start drinking at age 18. For some teenagers, drinking seems to be a solution to problems they don’t want to face. I started drinking at an earlier age of 13; my friend and I would steal our parent’s beer left on the table and in the freezer after they drank, and somehow we got used to it. A year later we begin skipping classes and lied to our parents, at one point we were caught drinking in school and suspend for three days. Sometimes we make fun of our friends who refused to drink with us and thought that it was the coolest thing to get drunk. As we got in trouble more often I couldn’t get out of it, sometimes I felt really unhappy and just drank to escape my life. At age 15, I went out less and less so began losing friends and the lonelier I got; the more I drank, committed acts of violence, and was out of control. I never knew what I was doing ripping my parents apart. My parents kicked me out of their home at age 16, became homeless, and started begging for money to buy drinks. After years of abuse, I accidentally got pregnant with my beautiful son Elisha who was born and diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Today, Elisha is abnormal physical and behavioral problems with learning and remembering, understanding and following directions, controlling emotions, communicating and socializing, and being unable to bathe himself. Plus; a doctor told me there was irreparable harm to my health and I was only turned 25 years old, my liver was badly damaged, and I almost killed myself due to the fact that alcohol was controlling my life.
As you are reading this story, what comes to your mind that might lead this young girl to be an alcoholic? Could this be a lack of parenting or a lack of community involvement? For every young woman out there, please pay attention to what you put in your system; it might cause your life forever and you are what you put in your system. There is nothing better than bringing a healthy baby into this world. You don’t want to regret the girl’s story you just read. As a parent, we’re always wishing for our children to do better than us. There is no parent out there who can teach their child to act weird and be a bad person.
Suggestion:
· If parents fail to maintain a relationship with the child; whipping to discipline a child is not an option in the western world, it might jeopardize life.
· Don’t drink alcohol when children are around and leave behind alcohol inattention.
· Don’t keep alcohol at home period!
Finally, to my understanding, the above mention is what causes this young girl's life to begin with. Speaking of the truth; Children are not dumb, they imitate their parents and everything parents do are affecting them in the long run so seeking professional help when expecting misbehavior is the best.
This is an ambitious program and the participation of dedicated partners is appreciated. If anyone wishes to take part in this project by volunteering time or other resources he/she is most welcome. For further information, contact the following individuals: Omot Olok Dang at 507-322-8034 or
