Alcohol in the US

Here's an alarming statistic I read in this month's Parents magazine. 24% of US children live in a household where a parent or other adult is a binge or heavy drinker. The US dietary guideline defines heavy drinking as consuming more than one drink per day for women and more than two drinks per day for men. Binge drinking is defined as drinking five or more drinks on one occasion. I can't believe one in four children live in this type of situation. I'm sure all this alcohol use interferes with the quality of care the children receive and that is scary. Sometimes I grow complacent about alcohol and it's effects, but this is a good reminder of what a dangerous and addictive substance it can be. Anything that can become more important to a person than their own children is something to be careful about.