Having an open caring relationship with an adult role model is a critical piece of preventing drug abuse in children.
By Bill Urell
Parents and primary care givers have a critical role in preventing child
ren’s in involvement with drugs and alcohol. It is a virtual dead certainty that your child will come in contact with drugs and alcohol sooner rather than later. How they handle it can be largely determined by parental involvement and preparation. Please do not ignore this problem and hope it will simply go away. Why?
Some facts on child drug use. (Office of National Drug Control Policy)
• The single leading cause of death among youth is driving under the influence.
• The second leading cause is suicide. Drugs are present 60% of the time.
• The average age of first use of alcohol is 11 years old.
• Of children who use alcohol or drugs before age 15, 40% are later classified with an addiction.
No parent wants to see their child involved with drugs. The likelihood of a child’s associating with drug-using friends is reduced by a close relationship with their parents There are some specific steps you can take to help your child be properly prepared to meet the challenge of drugs and alcohol.
Here they are:
1. Give clear messages and expectations that using drugs is not OK.
Don’t assume your child knows your views, state them and make them clear as a bell.
2. Be a good, active listener.
Be alert to both spoken and implied messages when you or your child is speaking about drugs. Have discussions not arguments.
3. Help with your child deal with peer pressure to use drugs.
Review possible scenarios or listen to what has happened. Work out the possibilities both the pros and the cons of the situation as well as expected or potential outcomes. Help to plan appropriate actions and empower your child to act.
4. Get familiar with your child’s friends and parents.
Meeting your child’s friends will give you a sense of their personalities, what they are “into,” and their family situations. Don’t be too quick to judge a child’s friends, though. Radical styles and unconventional appearances may be nothing more than a badge of identity.
5. Know your child’s whereabouts.
Children who had the least amount of monitoring or ‘latchkey’ kids are at greater risk of drug use and at earlier ages. Check up on your child’s whereabouts.
6. Supervise activities.
Unsupervised parties or activities are an open invitation to drug use.
7. Have open, honest and sincere conversations with your child about using drugs and alcohol and the consequences.
These tips are just the tip of the iceberg on proactive steps you can take as parents in protecting and preparing your child for exposure to drugs and alcohol use. More information and resources are freely available.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a very informative article. as parents, we should always be the ones to guide our children. it is very important for us to lead them to right way. Protecting them from bad influences is not that easy, but we can always give them advices.
I really enjoyed this one and have to agree 100 percent with the steps and actions that need to be taken. Being a part of your child’s life not only helps in this area but many other aspects of their lives as well. It will help them to grow up to be much better people and teach them how to have relationships with their children.
I feel that the best method to keep your child away from drugs would be that a close healthy relationship between parents and kids. I have seen that if there is communication gap between the two, child is surely going to go astray. The fellow kids who are into drug abuse and all hunt for kids who are dissatisfied from their parents. Best would be, be your kid’ friend.
This is a great article and all the tips given are extremely important. Many parents put off discussing the affects of drugs for the fear that they will be encouraged to give it a go, I know my parents never discussed it with me. No 7 – is extremely important, I will do my best with my children to make them feel they can talk to me about anything and everything even when it comes down to drugs, many parents try to avoid it and this is when it can spiral out of control. Great article
Very informative.. Im sure this is effective, as a parent it is very important to know what your kids are up to. Spend time with them, talk and have fun activities with them. No. 7 is very effective since kids listen to their parents than anybody else. Great article! Thanks for the tips…
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Always protecting our loved ones is not an easy task. But as said, we can always guide them. Let the parents be good friends in helping to distinguish good and bad. Do not scold or punish them but rather make them to understand the consequences. Everyone must have the ability to learn from others mistakes. Else it may prove very costly.
Maylin is correct. Because children grow up watching their parents. For every child their dad would be the first hero. So he will influence them while growing. They should tell them what to do and what not to do. Their children must be treated well as friends rather than dominating and ordering them. Teach them what is spirituality.
I agree with this article completely….It is very important for parents to minimalize the chance of their child getting into drugs. But at the same time, you can’t be buddy buddy with your kids…my friend’s parents did that with her and she had almost no discipline and she ended up using drugs heavily throughout college and she is currently in a rehab. You need to still be an authority…and my parents went to the extreme opposite where I felt like I couldn’t talk to them and I had a lot of freedom in high school and did what I wanted and I never got into the whole drug scene. I think those are great guidelines to follow though. hypnosis for weight loss
Great article. #5 is very important. Too many parents don’t care where there children hang out, which leads them to getting into the wrong crowd and taking drugs or drinking excessively.