Tips for Parenting in Addiction Recovery

If you’re a mother or father, part of addiction recovery is establishing or rebuilding a relationship with your children. While parenting in recovery can be a challenge, I'm sharing some tips that can guide you in this stage of your journey.

Guide on Parenting While in Recovery

Parenting in recovery from addiction can be overwhelming. In addition to providing for your child, you’re worried about their physical and mental development, making friends, succeeding in school, and building the skills they’ll need to be independent adults. Below are some tips that could help you in your sober parenting journey.

Forgive Yourself

It’s normal to harbor feelings of shame and guilt in recovery, especially as a parent. Your addiction might have left some holes in your relationships, but it is possible to work these out. However, to get to the place and mindset of being an active parent in recovery and allowing yourself to not only rebuild but enjoy these relationships, you have to forgive yourself. Additionally, you want to be the healthiest version of yourself to parent your children, not just physically but mentally, as well. A common coping mechanism that sober parents turn to as a way to make up for lost time with their kids is to be overbearing or take on the role of a friend rather than a parent. However, setting the proper boundaries in place ensures that you’re respecting their space, giving them time to rebuild their relationship with you, and also that they’re respecting you as their parent. Additionally, nothing that you’ve done in the past can be reversed or changed, but the future is limitless. You’re sober, and you’re actively changing your life to reflect that decision. Enjoy it!

Trust Your Children

Considering that children who grow up in homes where substance abuse occurs are more likely to develop addictions themselves, it’s understandable why a parent in recovery might worry about their kids following in the same footsteps. However, while this is a risk, it isn’t set in stone, and being overly protective of your child concerning this matter can strain your relationship. Instead, be honest with your child about the dangers of drug addiction and use yourself as an example. While you shouldn’t share more than what’s appropriate for their age, help them understand why experimenting with or turning to drugs or alcohol isn’t safe.

Work on Regaining Their Trust

Moms and dads in recovery often lose the trust of their children as a result of their drug use. They may have been absentee parents or not have kept their word. They might have lied frequently, not doing what they said they’d do, and may not have even shown up for their children. Rebuilding your child’s trust is important for your relationship, but it will take time. It’s often helpful for sober parents and their children to receive group or individual addiction counseling so they can work towards a common goal. Our rehab offers individual Christian addiction counseling for clients as well as family support for loved ones to help rebuild relationships that have been broken by addiction. We can help you reestablish these connections and provide more guidance on how to parent in addiction recovery.

Create Memories

Overcoming addiction and getting sober as a parent means reclaiming a significant amount of time that may have otherwise been spent thinking about or doing drugs or drinking. As a sober parent, you can now work on making new memories with your children and enjoying the time you have with them.