How to Prevent Drug Abuse in Children

Posted by Tony Bylsma on September 13, 2011 under Drug Abuse Prevention Education | Be the First to Comment

I was speaking in a parent-teacher meeting and the questions that came up several times were basically this, “how can I tell if my kids is using drugs? And, “What should I look for to see if my son is on “marijuana”, “speed”, “cocaine”, “ecstasy”, on and on until I just said, “Wait a minute! How many people here suspect that their children are using illegal drugs?”

When I saw well over half of the hands go up, I changed the whole direction of the lecture.

I asked them to raise their hand if they knew with certainty that they had a kid on drugs.  About one fourth of the audience showed their hands on that.

I then asked them if they would rather learn how to spot drug abuse or how to prevent the problem in the first place.  Amazingly, more parents in the hall wanted to learn the signs and symptom of drug abuse than how to prevent it.

A few more questions showed that most of these people didn’t feel they COULD prevent drug abuse in all their children and that the problem of drugs was bigger than any one family. They were keen to know the symptoms so that if it came up, they would see it before it was too late.

We were in an area that was not affluent, not impoverished, basically what we used to call middle class. High percentages of these people were educated beyond secondary school and yet were really in the dark when it came to what could be done to stop drug abuse even in their own homes.

So we went over the most important actions they could take to prevent drug abuse in their children.

Disapprove

Step one has to be to disapprove. Studies have shown conclusively that the attitudes of parents DO make a difference in the behaviors of their children. If parents smoke tobacco, the chances their kids will also smoke increases.

When drugs like marijuana and cocaine are not obviously and firmly frowned upon by mom and dad, the likelihood of there being a weed or coke user among the kids also rises. The same is very famously true for alcohol. Children of heavy alcohol drinkers have much higher incidence of alcohol abuse than do those who are raised in abstinent or at least temperate families.

This phenomenon is even truer with illegal drugs. Children learn from very young ages what activities are acceptable and what aren’t. When the activity which is condoned is also illegal, it demonstrates, at least, a dismissive attitude toward the laws regarding drugs. But more than that, it can generate in the child, flagrant contempt for regulations concerning drugs and drug abuse which might lead to addiction or any of the other dangerous outcomes from abusing drugs.

Children must be made aware of the effects their abusing drugs would have on their parents

Years of helping drug addicted people and their families have demonstrated to me how devastating drug abuse can be to a family. I sometimes see more damage in the family members than in the actual drug addict! While the druggie is out getting high and partying all night or week-end, they don’t understand the worry and fear their parents go through. Most families have experienced the loss caused by drug addiction, and understand what can happen to the family as a result.  Make sure your children know of these examples. Make sure they know that this could happen to your family too.

Be Involved in Your Child’s Life

You should know every aspect of your son or daughter’s activities, where they are at any given time, who they’re with and what they are doing.

This might not be easy these days. Keeping up with the bills and work along with watching over your kids adds up to several full-time jobs. But it’s easier to keep tabs all the time than to be worrying and wondering about drugs and gangs and a thousand other things kids can get into.

I don’t mean become “helicopter parents”, There’s a big difference between being completely informed of your kids whereabouts and activities and being over-protective.

Family Dinners

We’ve spoken before about the importance of family dinners. This brings parents and siblings into close proximity for about 30 each day, really close proximity. It’s not easy to hide a forbidden activity for long when you spend at least half an hour every day looking your parents straight in the eyes and discussing the affairs of the day. They can, tell that something is wrong

The likelihood of something as blatant as experimenting with going undetected for any amount of time in poor; and when the truth is revealed it can be devastating to parents and other siblings.

Drug Education and Drug Abuse Education is the Key to Prevention.

This is the most important of all the actions a parent can take to keep drug abuse out of their family’s lives, Drug Abuse Awareness Education.

It isn’t necessary to have a PHD in pharmaceuticals or years of drug abuse experience to point out to your children the dangers of abusing drugs.

Simple and regular reminders of how drugs can ruin a life; seeing the effects of drug overdoses in celebrities or watching a favorite film star implode because of drug abuse can go a long way in showing your kids how one direction can lead to a longer life, more awareness and less pain, while another direction in life can lead to all this pain and misery.

They have to make up their own minds about their directions in life, they always will. But if they are armed with good enough and true enough information about drugs and their effects, they will be able to make the type of choice which CAN lead toward long and happy lives as well as parents who haven’t gotten ulcers or any of a number of other stress related diseases.

Given these few points, you are now able to avoid 90% of drug abuse problems in your children. Start on this when they are young and you’ll reap the benefits of clean, happy off-spring for the rest of your life!