415 Parenting After Sobriety: The Struggles No One Talks About
Quitting Drinking Was Easy. Learning How to Parent Angry Kids Was Not. One of the things I loved about my conversation with Zach Brittle is how honest he was about what recovery really looks like—especially for parents. Zach said something that stopped me in my tracks: “Quitting drinking was the easiest part.” For him, the real work began when alcohol was gone and anger, resentment, and emotional reactivity were suddenly front and center. And if you’re a parent in recovery, you probably know exactly what he means. When one person in a family system gets sober, everything shifts. Kids who adapted to chaos don’t always feel safer right away. Sometimes they act out more. Sometimes they get angrier. Sometimes they pull away. Zach shared how his daughter went through her own painful process after he and his wife got sober—and how his job wasn’t to fix her, control her, or defend himself. It was to stay regulated. Instead of escalating, he practiced pausing. Instead of taking the ba...