This is the third in a series of blog entries designed to examine how parents can stop prescription medication abuse by their progeny before it gets too bad. In previous entries we examined how clueless most parents are to see the problem before their child has a prescription-medication-related incident.
This blog will examine one easy way to minimize the chances that your child will abuse prescription medications or any other drug. As reported in www.philly.com.
First, and most important – communicate. Talk with your kids about the dangers of prescription drug abuse, as well as alcohol and marijuana use. Come up with a plan your teen can use if she or he is offered alcohol or drugs at a party, a football game or other get-together. Practice it together.
It is very important to stay connected with your child. Just talk every day about how his or her day was, what they’re thinking about, what’s going on with their friends, school, sports, activities.
Be involved.
Keeping an open and daily flow of communication with your child will make them much more comfortable talking with you about important issues they feel pressured by. We all have been there and we all know how nice it would be to have a parent you could talk through the issues of adolescence with.
I cannot stress the importance of communicating and being an involved parent. Again as a counselor of both in-class and online drug classes I see frist-hand how a lack of parental involvement can influence a kid to experiment with dangerous substances like narcotics and opiates.