A father in county jail is ordered to take a parenting class, but isn’t too enthusiastic about it. As part of the class, he learns about the ACE Study, and does his own ACE score.
“Oh my god!” he announces to the class. “I have 7 ACEs.” His mother’s an alcoholic. His dad’s been in and out of jail. He himself started dealing drugs at age 11, and doing drugs at 14.
“I’ve got two kids at home experiencing the same things I did,” he says. The light bulb goes on.
A few days after a woman who’s ordered by the court to take parenting classes learns about her ACE score, she quits smoking.
“I’ve been smoking for years,” she tells the class. “My ACE score was one of the reasons.” She quit, she says, because she decided smoking wasn’t helping her children.
Another parent of three kids was saddened when he did his ACE score.
ACEs Too High 