A Young Daughter Asks Her Mother to See Her Doctor About Her Drinking

Charlotte started to worry about her mother.  Her mother seemed to be in low spirits much of the time and she started getting up later each morning.  Frequently when Charlotte got home from school, her mother was asleep on the couch and Charlotte noted a strong smell of alcohol in the room.  Charlotte got curious and found ten empty wine bottles in the trash.  Since the trash is picked up once per week, this means that her mother drank at least ten bottles of wine in the past week.  Charlotte’s greatest fear was that her mother was an alcoholic.  “Were Mom’s drinking and other strange behaviors signs of alcoholism?” she asked herself.  One Sunday afternoon, Charlotte sat down next to her Mom in the living room.  Charlotte told her mother how much she cared about her and told her about the wine bottles she found in the trash.  She asked her Mom to please call her doctor and talk to him about her drinking.  Charlotte’s mother was so moved by her daughter’s compassion that she called her doctor the very next morning and made an appointment.