Abstract One of the more insidious aspects of alcoholism, or merely alcohol abuse, is that its effects are not restricted to adults. Parents who abuse alcohol in any way are likely to create frightening, and sometimes dangerous, situations for their children, who cannot understand the shifts in personality alcohol brings on, and who also suffer from residual neglect andfor maltreatment. Then, the child who consumes alcohol is inevitably on a treacherous path, as the addictive properties of the substance are powerful. Alcohol, meant only to be taken carefully by adults, poses many, and dramatically harmful, risks to children