Reply to Should I reveal Aunt's drug addiction to my kids?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wow!  Am blown away by all the people who think it's okay to talk about someone's personal medical problems, life struggles, no doubt revealed in confidence, to their kids.  This is justified by an object lesson, right to know genetics background rationale.  i agree with the PP who felt that the sister need to be treated with the respect and dignity we would all appreciate others would treat us with.  Addiction does not strip people of their rights to such treatment.

OP should not tell her children unless her sister, the addict, expressly endorses it.  If i were the addict who had confided in her sister, I would feel hugely betrayed by revelation of that confidence.  What if her sister had confided she'd had an abortion, had a serious mental health issue, other fill in the blank personal medical issue?  Would that be okay to tell her kids without the sister's consent?

It would be an entirely different matter if the sister had exhibited active addictive behavior in front of the kids that would need explaining.  But that is not what happened here.  The sister worked hard to get ten years of clean time and had a sad, quiet relapse.  She told her sister of her struggle.  She has every right to expect her confidence will be honored.

Bravo to the sister if she were to talk to OP's kids about her challenges with addiction.  But that should be her choice. [/quote]

To the PP who said this was fine because the sister had to be honest to conquer addiction, you may not understand the common understanding of honesty in an addict context.  It first means honesty to yourself (admit you have a problem) and then honesty with a sponsor if you have one.  As they work through the program, they will begin admitting more honestly about their problem to other people.  It does not mean the addict should be forced into immediate honesty with everyone they know.  That could be very damaging to a recovering addict, particularly a newly recovering one.[/quote]

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