Customer Reviews

I Wish Daddy Didn't Drink So Much

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

(0 star review)

Happened across this book in the library, and I thought I'd put in a few words against it, since it's doubtless highly recommended among books to help kids "cope" with alcoholism in the family; that is, if your idea of teaching children to cope is training them to accept their fate, bury it in euphemism, and move on from one depressing day of abuse to another in the shadow of what this book seeks to excuse as a sickness.

The father in this book is typically horrendous, lying and near-abusing his daughter, yet the non-alcoholic mother insists on keeping her child in this situation, breaking down in tears rather than offering a beacon of safety in what must be the poor child's hopeless world.

True, this book is realistic. Yet I cannot imagine any parent or counsellor offering it to a child, since it doesn't offer any real advice besides
a) alcoholism is something to be ashamed of (the girl says she used to not have anyone she could talk to about her father, but now her mother has one friend she CAN confide in)
b) feel free to get out for an evening of fun before returning to the same bad situation.

Yuck, yuck and double-yuck. I'm all for building a body of fiction to help kids cope with issues, but this is a nasty addition to the bunch and could destroy more than a few already-fragile kids...

POSTSCRIPT, added June 16, 2010:
As adults, it's OUR job to protect kids. You wouldn't buy a book called "Pedophilia: my uncle has a disease and he can't help molesting me." Or would you?
If you're thinking of giving a child a book that encourages her to excuse a parent's inexcusable behaviour, please: skip the "understanding" literature and get the child out of the situation if you can.

A girl and her mother deal with the father's drinking during Christmas. The father builds his daughter a beautiful handmade sled, but is then too drunk to keep his promise to go sledding with her. Mother and daughter take theri Christmas turkey to the home of an older woman who is a recovering alcoholic. This woman provides them with a safe haven of understanding and acceptance. She acknowleges the hurt, but encourages the child to find ways to be happy even while her father continues to drink.

The story could help the child of an alcoholic understand that it is not the child's fault.

At the back of the book is information and a phone number for Alanon.

Carol E. Watkins, M.D.

Great read and very helpful. I recommend it if you live in a redneck area and your children's friends likely have alcoholic parents. My one caveat is that it needs a translation into Finnish.

this book would be appropropriate in a school or other therapetic counseling environment for ages 5-11. I found it a bit culturally (white, suburban or rural) biased, but any child with an alcoholic parent or family member would benefit. Hopeful story, but not unrealistic.

If there is a parent with small children and they are dealing with an alcohol problem this book is very well done.
Great book with excellent illustrations. This was read to a 4 year old who understood the pictures and the words. They paraphased some pages as we read relating to their situation. It helped the child realize this was a disease that they had no control over and they did not create the situation. Short read and to the point. Highly recommended.

I wish it was not so painfully obvious that Vigna is convinced that a few watercolour washes can make the world a better place. Frankly, as a non-alcoholic parent, I would find most of Vigna's books on my list of "most likely to traumatise children with stories of how horrible the world can be". Not sure about other parents, but story time for me is not the time to raise the dark issues of all humanity.

This book may be good in the context of a counselling centre or a school on "issues day", but I can't imagine the appeal for anyone else. Perhaps the politically correct activist parent feels the need for their kids to know all the issues by the age of three (at least on a watercolour superficial level), but that's not me.

Alcoholic parents are unlikely to buy this, one would think. Spouses are unlikely to buy this unless they want their children to think they are deliberately trying to recriminate their spouse. The main market seems to be the stereotypical spinster teetotaller aunt who always disapproved of everything. Not sure kids need a book from her, or from Vigna.

I bought this book for my daughter after she caught me passed out in the garage during my court-ordered visitation time. (I was as surprised as she was: I still had half a bottle of Jack left when she kicked me awake!)

I figured this story might help since she always has so many questions. Daddy, why are there so many cans in the crawl space? Daddy, why do you walk so funny? Daddy, why do you keep yelling at the chair? Daddy, why do you drink a whole can every time Barney says "I Love You"? (I guess I need to get her a book on how drinking games work next.)

I gave it to her and she liked it since her usual gift from me is a bunch of Busch Light cans taped together in the form of a heart. I couldn't read it to her, because the words looked blurry after a half-case of Pabst, but she did just fine on her own. The words and pictures really told a good story.

When her mom came to pick her up, she just rolled her eyes and said to leave the book with me. Oh well, her loss is my gain. I came to find out this book also makes an excellent coaster for my beers!

I'd recommend this book to anybody whose kid has a dad who likes to enjoy a few dozen "cold ones" here and there. I say "crack open" the book and enjoy the smooth, crisp words of this story!

I accidentally came across this book while searching for a joke gift for friends. I ended up buying a stack of copies to give to friends has they learn about being pregnant for the first time. The reactions are nothing by high comedy.