Parenting a teenager is not easy. There are so many things we as parents need to figure out and navigate and monitor and discuss. Are they having sex? Are they doing drugs? Are they skipping school? Are they making good choices? Somehow, we have to figure out how to help guide them and keep them safe as they make their way through these formative years.
Teens are curious. They are impulsive, have lower self-control, self-awareness and self-restraint than adults do. They don’t know as much as they think they do, especially when it comes to drugs. They often think if it’s in a bottle with a label or sold in a store, it’s safe.
They need to know the risks so that they can make informed choices, and we know that teens don’t always love parents telling them what they should and should not do.
When it comes time to talk hard facts about drugs (the facts that will make them listen, the ones they will actually hear and that they need to know) there are definitely things you can do to make the message sink in without losing your audience.
One of the most important things you can do is to make sure you know what you’re talking about. So many kids will tune out hearing the words “opioid crisis” but the crisis is real and so are the risks. You may know that illegal drugs can be tainted with other dangerous substances, such as fentanyl, but did you know that you can’t see, smell or taste fentanyl? Does your teen know that?
Be confident you can answer their questions because, quite frankly, they’ll know if you have no clue. Visit web resources, like Canada.ca/Opioids to know and understand the dangers so you are empowered to relay that information to your teen. Don’t sugar coat it. Be honest and direct.
Try to find a time when you think your teen might actually listen. Don’t tell them to put down their smart phone and listen to whatever speech you’re about to give. Maybe try when you’re in the car going somewhere, so it’s not a speech but a conversation with your child. And keep an open mind. Your teen may have already experimented. They may have questions. They might be confused or unsure. Be there to listen. If you tense up, they will notice and they will shut down.
Knowing what to say, much less about a serious topic like drug use, is not easy with a teen. In this case, the K.I.S.S. method is best. Keep. It. Simple. Facts are key. Let them know the difference between prescription and illegal substances, and how their health and well-being can be affected by them. Legal doesn’t mean harmless, especially in young, growing minds and bodies. Most importantly, explain the dangers of street drugs and the risk of them being laced with substances that will kill them. Heck, go to the internet and show them all of the recent cases of trace amounts killing people. Tom Petty had fentanyl in his system. The tiniest amount can kill and there is no way for them to know if it’s in there.
Street drugs, though, are not the biggest risk factor when it comes to teens getting access to opioids. The reality is, three-quarters of teens who get their hands on opioids get them from their parents’ medicine cabinets. Make sure you know and understand, and accurately relay, potential drug-related harms to your teen, and explain why it’s risky to take controlled, legal substances that weren’t prescribed for them. It’s also really good practice for you to know how many pills are in your bottles so that you’ll know if some are missing.
Most importantly, don’t bury your head in the sand and avoid the conversation because you have a “good kid”, or you think that it’s encouraging negative behaviour. It’s not. Ignoring the reality that your teen might experiment with drugs and alcohol (if they haven’t already) will do more harm than having an open and honest conversation that will educate them (and you!) on the risks. Good kids try drugs too.
When speaking with your kids about experimentation, recommend harm-reduction strategies, such as limiting how much they consume, not to use alone, and not mix drugs with alcohol, to name a few.
Avoiding the conversation will not avoid the risk. Be open and honest with your teens. The risk is far too great if you pretend it doesn’t exist.
For more information on how to talk to your teen about drugs, visit Get help with problematic substance use and Kids Help Phone, or talk to your medical professional.
This post is brought to you by Health Canada but the opinions are our own.
I strongly advise using this very reputable Zatt Recovery for anyone looking to recover any type of crypto currencies assets from online frauds, Wallet hackers, or BTC transferred to the wrong address. After I lost a lot of money to those terrible con artists posing as recovery specialists, this recovery specialist was great in aiding me in getting my Bitcoin back. After I gave Mr Zatt the relevant details and prerequisites, a total of 1.4170 BTC was eventually recovered. I was overjoyed that I had been able to recover this much after having lost even more to the problems I had dealt with before discovering Zatt Recovery. So don’t hesitate to get in touch with zattrecoverypro1 @gmail com. if you find yourself in this scenario and need help recovering from an online bitcoin scam
No matter how good you are to them it doesn’t mean that they will treat you the same way. I have been married to my husband for years with no idea he was cheating. Suddenly I started noticing changes in behavior, I suspected something was wrong. So I confided in a friend who convinced and introduced me to SPY-LORD . He was able to hack into my husband’s mobile phone, Text messages, Call logs, IG, browser history, deleted messages, Emails and WhatsApp . It seemed as though my life was spinning out of control getting to find out he has someone else. I filed for a divorce just could not continue with lies. If you feel you are been exploited in your marriage and you need proof. I suggest you contact INVISIBLESPYLOOP@GMAIL.COM , for your proof and be free, just like me today. you can also reach him if your funds in hang in online trading platform like expert-option ,cal financial, Analyst , coinspot, Ctxprime and many more
Teens must be taught with care about bad habits such as drugs so that they will hear us and learn good things
Informative Article
thanks, very interesting article