I`m newly married to a wonder woman and we just won custody of my 7 yr old son.He loves his step mom.His mother is an alcoholic,was in an abusive relationship for 6 yrs and struggles to keep a job.Part of the agreement in mediation was she was not to drink and to keep a job.She was doing great and was about to start getting unsupervised weekends with him.She called and cancelled on her first full weekend with him alone like she has many times before.She now no longer has a job and has started drinking again.She now can`t see him but still can call until futher notice.(another mediation,which will be at least til she can prove job stability and pass UA test.He was getting use to seeing her more and more and now he doesn`t get to see her again.He is smart and knows something more than use she is out of town is going on,but he has yet to ask any questions.

Here`s my question: What do you tell a 7 yr old when he starts asking for more detail questions,without lying to him?

Thanks in advance,

HWJ

After reading the Connecting with Kids article about smoking addiction, I had to throw in my two cents worth.  For those of you who haven't read it yet, it stated that some parents don't worry about their kids experimenting with cigarettes as much as they do about them experimenting with meth, etc.

Having spent the past year watching my mom battle lung cancer, I can honestly say that I'm just as terrified of my son smoking cigarettes as I am of him becoming addicted to any other drug or alcohol.  After undergoing major surgery to remove two wedge sections from her lung, six months of chemo, 33 radiation treatments to her chest and 13 radiation treatments to her brain, this woman STILL smokes!  The addiction is overwhelming.

At a follow up visit this week with the doctor who was responsible for her radiation treatments, he told her that he has seen patients come in who are addicted to heroin and also smoke.  They were able to quit heroin, but were unable to quit smoking.  He said the same thing about some alcoholics he has treated. 

I realize that people quit smoking every day so it can be done.  But I wanted to stress to parents not to take lightly any experimentation their kids do with nicotine.  My mom started smoking at age 12 and has been addicted ever since.  Sad.