Why You Should be Concerned
Statistics from a recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services survey report that:
- 41% of middle school students have consumed alcohol by 8th grade
- 20% of middle school students have been drunk by 8th grade.
- 45% of those who begin drinking before age 14 become alcohol dependent.
- Early drinking and drugs leads to unintentional injuries, unplanned sex, and academic underachievement in teens.
Gateway drugs are habit-forming substances that may lead to more harmful and life-threatening addictions. The gateway drugs are cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana. These substances are easily accessible to most students and are therefore a threat to your child’s health and safety.
Know Your Child
To protect your child you must know what your child is doing and who they associate with. Regularly ask your child questions such as:
- Who did you sit with at lunch today?
- Who do you like to hang out with?
- What do you like about them and what do you like to do with them?
- Are those kids good; do they make wise choices?
- Have any of your friends talked about smoking, drinking, drugs?
- Have any of your friends tried it yet, and what did they think?
- Have you tried smoking, drinking or drugs yet; and why or why not?
What You Can Do
- Monitor your child’s social time with peers.
- Restrict your child’s contact with children who make poor choices.
- Encourage your child’s relationships with children who make wise choices.
- Make sure your child knows your rules — and that you’ll enforce the consequences if rules are broken. Research shows that kids are less likely to use tobacco, alcohol and other drugs if their parents have established a pattern of setting clear rules, and consequences for breaking those rules.
- Act out scenes with your child in which someone offers her drugs. Kids who don’t know what to say or how to get away are more likely to give in to peer pressure. Let her know that she can use you as an excuse and say: “No, my mom would kill me if I smoked a cigarette.”
- Tell your child what makes him so special. Puberty can hard on a child’s self-esteem.
- Remind your child often of the dangers of using alcohol and drugs.
- Remind your child often that you love them and do not want them to be hurt by alcohol and drugs.
- Eat dinner together. The National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse’s (CASA) research has consistently shown that the more children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use illegal drugs.
- If you suspect your child is drinking or taking drugs, seek confirmation – snoop.
- Explore options for intervention if your child becomes involved with drinking and drugs.
Seek Professional Advice
If you suspect that your child is drinking or taking drugs, take action immediately. Do not assume that this is a phase that all kids go through and it will pass. Consult your pediatrician. Early intervention is the best preventative action against addiction.
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