Parents! Adolescent substance abuse is a reality. Don't stick your head in the sand!
Adolescent Substance Abuse
Every parent with a teenager knows that they need to be vigilant in order to protect their kids from the ever-growing list of dangers in today's world. However, too many parents are stuck on thinking that their child would never engage in behavior that might lead to dire consequences. The world is just not the same as it was twenty or thirty years ago. Every day, we hear and read of violence in schools, child predators and the relatively easy availability of drugs. Yet we think that our own kids are far too sensible to fall prey to any of these dangers. Adolescent substance abuse is rampant and sticking your head in the sand is no solution.
Teenagers today are exposed to the most vile elements of society, often right at school, where you mistakenly think they are safe. If you query your teen on the availability of drugs, you'll learn that they are solicited every day and that just about every drug, from prescription drugs to crack, cocaine, meth and heroin are available from other teen drug dealers right on the school grounds. Teens are in perhaps, the most vulnerable and difficult period life has to offer. The problem is that they lack judgment and sufficient experience. Peer pressure is a heavy burden. Rare is the teen who won't succumb to their peer's urging to try a pill for the sheer pleasure of a high they might never recover from. The statistics on adolescent substance abuse are horrifying.
So how do you counter this reality of adolescent substance abuse? Many parents believe that acknowledging the problem will only make their kids aware of drug use and abuse, thus opening the kid's eyes to something that's best not mentioned. This has got to be the absolute worst strategy. What you, as a parent, need to understand, is that your kids are well aware of the drug scene. What you don't say may well end up ruining your child's life.
Kids today are, unfortunately, conversant in the shadier elements of society. Your best bet in protecting your kids is to get the issues out in the open. Discuss the problem of adolescent substance abuse in realistic terms. Let them know you understand how peer pressure is one of the many pitfalls of adolescent life. Just as surely, explain the effects of various drugs, what's in them and the reality of addiction. If you don't know about these drugs, go online and educate yourself. Whatever you do, don't come across as delivering a lecture. They'll tune you out. Make sure you have a two-way conversation. Let them have their say. You might learn something.
Adolescent substance abuse is largely a problem of peer pressure, availability and lack of experience. Don't worry about being too graphic when describing what happens to, for example, meth and cocaine addicts. Here's one case when, properly discussed, your kids just might listen to you.
