|
Health Topics
Preventing Teen Drug Abuse
Talk to Your Kids
Begin
talking early about smoking, alcohol and drugs.
Because experimentation with drugs and alcohol commonly begins during the grade-school years, start
appropriate countermeasures in very young children.
Make an effort
to stay one step ahead of your kids.
|
A five year
old may not be ready for a lecture about the physiology of cocaine addiction,
but you should be ready to offer commentary when you and your child see
someone smoking or drinking, whether in real life or in a movie or TV program.
-
If intoxication is portrayed as humorous (as in the pink elephant sequence in the movie
Dumbo, for example), don't be shy about setting the record straight.
Keep
talking about smoking, alcohol and drugs as opportunities arise.
-
Make an effort to stay one step ahead of your child's or adolescent's knowledge of the
drug scene.
-
If you hear about an athlete, rock star, or celebrity who uses drugs, be certain that
everyone in the family understands that no amount of fame or fortune excuses
this behavior.
-
If a famous person is dealing with the consequences of drug use (such as being dropped
from a team or suffering medical or legal consequences), make sure your kids hear the cautionary tale.
-
Be aware of current trends in your community and look for local meetings or lectures
where abuse problems are being discussed.
-
Find out what's
going on, not only from the experts, but from your kids and their friends.
If you hear that someone is smoking, drinking, inhaling, or injecting drugs,
talk about it. What are they using? What consequences are likely? Why is
it wrong? What help do they need?
Be available.
All this assumes that you are available to have these conversations. Be careful, because the
time when you may be the busiest with career or other responsibilities may also be the time one or more adolescents at home most need your input. If you're too overworked, overcommitted, and overtired to keep tabs on the home front, you may wake up one day to find a major drug problem on your doorstep.
The Focus on the Family Physicians Resource Council, U.S.A.
Adapted from Parents' Guide to Teen Health,
a Focus on the Family publication.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Last updated: May 2005
Do you have thoughts, questions, advice on this topic? Post your stories and comments in the forum for other parents to respond to. Enter the forum now.
|
 |
Parents' Guide to Teen Health
You'll get the information you need to help your teen be healthy physically, emotionally and spiritually!
Packed with solid answers and practical advice.
|
Postings |
"I am so excited about this ministry. As a young family, just starting to raise children, it is so important for us to have resources like this to come to with questions, and then receive answers from people who love the Lord. Thank you!"
Deerfield, WI
|
Other parents need you! Meet them in the forum. |
|
|
