"Beautiful Boy" Response 2: Parent-Child Relationships

Another issue that this book presented was that of parent child relationships as they are growing up. Throughout a child's life, their parents have a huge impact on their lives. Sheff struggles to come to terms with the fact that parents make mistakes and that it's not completely his fault for Nic becoming an addict. "'Families may well have caused pain for the addicts. They may well have failed the addicts in some significant way. (After all, what human relationship is perfect?) But addicts bring up these problems not to clear the air or with the hope of healing old wounds. They bring them up solely to induce guilt, a tool with which they manipulate others in pursuit of their continued addiction.'" (146) Upon reading this, which was written by Beverly Conyers, he is taught that although of course an addicts' family life had an impact on the person and addict they became in later life, they are not solely responsible. Blame is something that addicts and their families struggle with greatly. It's very difficult for their families to not place all the blame on themselves and for addicts to not place the blame on their family. Sheff and Nic's mother divorced when Nic was a very young age. This had a major impact on him, especially when his mom moved to New York and he had to spend his summers with her every year. "I know that the divorce and custody arrangement were the most difficult aspects of his childhood. Children of divorce use drugs and alcohol before the age of fourteen ore often than the children of intact families. In one study, 85 percent of children of divorce were heavy drug users in high school compared to 24 percent of those from intact families." (177) Divorce therefore has a major impact on children. Being from a divorced family, it is easy for me to relate to this. Divorce is really difficult for kids and though I was 12 when my parents divorced, it had a major impact on me and the person I am now. For me, I believe the struggles associated with this made me a stronger person, but for Nic that was not the case.