When Alcoholism Impacts the Children In Your Life

Care and Feeding | Slate's parenting show

Slate Podcasts

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, Parenting

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode: Lucy Lopez, Elizabeth Newcamp, and Zak Rosen have a tough listener question about what to do when a relative is an alcoholic and don’t think the environment is safe for the relative’s kid. To answer this question, they’re joined by Lisa Smith from Parallel Recovery. They unpack how to set real boundaries with family members without shaming them; acceptable ultimatums; how to “pre-game” for tough situations; and more. But first, they share their latest triumphs and fails. We’ve got two triumphs and a tribulation this episode. Lucy is triumphing over breakfast and Zac and his lovely wife had a Halloween-themed getaway. But Elizabeth is stressing over a big solo trip with the kids. Join us on Facebook and email us at [email protected] to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get to hang out with us on the Plus Playground every week for a whole additional grab-bag of content — and you’ll get an ad-free experience across the network. And you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus – or try it out on Apple Podcasts. production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode may contain explicit language.
0:06.6	Welcome to Karen Feeding.
0:08.4	We're here for the giggles, the eye rolls, and the late night.
0:11.3	Am I doing this right thoughts?
0:13.0	I'm Zach Rosen.
0:14.1	I make another podcast.
0:15.6	It's called Weirdly Helpful.
0:17.2	And I am dad to Noah, who is eight, and Ami, who's five. and Yuki. I got to say Yuki, my baby puppy, who's like a couple months. So cute. Hey, I'm Lucy Lopez. I host another podcast, the Mamasita Figa. I'm mother to Amelia, who's 14, Avery, who's 12, and we live in Miami. I'm Elizabeth New Camp. I write the homeschool and family travel blog, Dutch Dutch, Dutch goose. I'm the mom to Henry who's 12 and we live in Miami. I'm Elizabeth New Camp. I write the homeschool and family travel
0:39.0	blog, Dutch Dutch goose. I'm the mom to Henry who's 13, Oliver who's 11, and Teddy who's 9,
0:44.5	and we are in Atlanta, Georgia. So every week we answer your questions. We share our own parenting
0:50.7	triumphs and fails and try to make this feel kind of like the conversation you'd have with your parent friends. And today we have a tough listener question. What do you do
1:00.4	when you know your family members are alcoholics and don't think the environment is safe for their
1:05.3	kid? There's a lot to unpack there. So we're bringing in Lisa Smith from parallel recovery to talk it out. But first,
1:12.3	we share our triumphs and fails. We had a triple fail recently. I think, I think we need to bounce back
1:18.6	today. Welcome back. It's time for triumphs and fails. Lucy, tell us things.
1:29.5	You guys, I think this is a triumph. No, I know it's a triumph. This has to be a triumph.
1:34.4	Has to be because, I mean, am I being roasted on our Facebook page? Absolutely. Handling with much
1:41.9	patience and sweetness, may I add.
1:45.8	So here's the new triumph in my life.
1:49.4	This has only been happening for four days.
1:51.6	So I want you to know that so far, I'm like, I'm a new person now.
1:56.9	Because I am a mom with a breakfast schedule.
	...

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