If you have answered yes to any of these questions, your child may have a
problem with drugs. If you have not seen any indication that your child is using
drugs, it is so important that you become proactive in teaching your teen to
stay away from them. There are several steps you can take to become more
involved in keeping your child off of drugs.
Communication
Communication is the single most important step that you can take to
keep your teen off drugs. The statistics are real, and they continue to show the
importance of talking to your child. How can you do this, and what should you
say?
While it can be difficult to talk to your teen, you must find a way to.
Adolescents typically don't respond well to lectures, so you need to find a way
to talk with your teen instead of to your teen. Let your teen know how
important he is to you. You can point out the statistics all day long, but most
teenagers will simply tune those numbers out. Instead, try to tell your teen how
important it is that he live a safe life and let him know that safety and drugs
cannot coexist. Do some role playing with your child to help him decide how he
will deal with peer pressure.
You need to know your child's friends. The more you know about the
people your child hangs out with, the better sense you will have about what your
child is doing. You should also try to become better acquainted with the parents
of your teen's friends. If you ever have concerns about what your child and his
friends are doing, it will help if you can also talk to other parents.