|
|
"The Right Stuff" For Parents And Other Caring Adults
|
Giving Children "The Right Stuff" To
Be Drug-Free
- Building A Foundation of "The
Right Stuff" Children who decide not to use alcohol or other
drugs often make this decision because they have strong convictions
against the use of these substances — convictions based on a value
system. You can make your family's values clear by explaining why you
choose a particular course of action and how that choice reflects your
values.
- Talking With Your Children Effectively
If you show your child that you're ready to give answers at any time,
even if the topics make you uncomfortable, you'll forge a trusting relationship,
and your child will feel comfortable coming to you with concerns because
she knows you take her seriously.
- Parenting For "The Right
Stuff" What's the biggest deterrent to your kids' using drugs
and alcohol? It's you. Look at the facts: Kids who learn from their
parents or caregivers about the risks of drugs are 36% less likely to
smoke marijuana than kids who don't. 50% less likely to use inhalants.
56% less likely to use cocaine. 65% less likely to use LSD.
- Tips For Adults to Keep It Going
Ways to encourage The Right Stuff in your children, grandchildren, students,
siblings, and any other young adolescents in your life.
- The Right Stuff for Dads with Daughters
10 Tips for dads to give their daughters "The Right Stuff."
- The Importance of Father Figures in
a Teen’s Life Fathers and father figures are an important part
of young people’s lives, so much so that not having one can make teens
more vulnerable to mental or emotional problems, teen pregnancy, criminal
behavior, and drug abuse.
- How Grandparents Can Help Raise
Children With "The Right Stuff" Grandparents can use their
positions of trust and intimacy to reinforce the same lessons in self-respect
and healthy living that children are learning from their parents.
- Getting Involved And Staying Involved
Parents do not need to feel they are alone in helping their children
stay drug-free. For the first time ever, there are preventative intervention
programs that have been proven to be effective and are available to
schools, families and communities.
- The Right Stuff for Getting Involved
in Your Child's Education You can initiate or participate in activities
that help your children succeed academically. Helping your children
learn can increase their success in school.
- Being A Mentor Mentors provide
support and encouragement, serve as positive role models, and help those
they choose to mentor recognize their own potential and set positive
goals.
- The Role of Parents in Preventing
and Addressing Underage Drinking During adolescence, young people
begin to take risks and test limits. They do so because they are moving
from a family-centered world to the larger community, within which they
will begin to define their own identity. It is also during this time
that parents have an especially important role in preventing and addressing
underage drinking.
- Underage Drinking: Myth
and Fact There are many misconceptions concerning adolescents and
alcohol use. These issues confuse not only young people, but their parents
and other responsible adults. Following are some common myths and realities
about teenage drinking.
- Talking To Your Children About
A Family History Of Alcoholism Or Drug Abuse If substance abuse
is a persistent problem in your family, you might tell your children
that being aware of the challenge that the future holds better equips
them to plan ahead and avoid potentially unhealthy situations.
- Supporting Your Adolescent
Helping your child move to independence requires that you understand
healthy adolescent development and how to find the resources that can
help you when your child gets off track.
- What are the signs of drug use in an
adolescent? In the normal course of adolescence, kids often exhibit
signs that would give any rational adult pause. However, the presence
and intensity of a cluster of disturbing signs should be followed up
with.
- What To Do If You Think Your Child
Might Be Using Drugs Signs that your child might be using drugs.
Acting on your suspicions. Addiction. Finding the right treatment.
- Teen Substance Abuse—Is
Treatment an Option? Sometimes students who are caught with drugs
have to go into treatment before they can come back to school. If youth
are arrested for drugs, the court might send them to treatment instead
of juvenile detention. Others are put into treatment by their parents.
Most of the youth who receive treatment for addiction are boys.
-
Talking About Your Use of Alcohol, Tobacco, or
Illicit Drugs
- What To Say When Your Child Asks, "Did
You Ever Use Drugs?" Among the most common drug-related questions
asked of parents is "Did you ever use drugs?" Unless the answer
is "no," it's difficult to know what to say because nearly
all parents who used drugs don't want their children to do the same
thing.
- What If You Use Alcohol, Tobacco,
or Illicit Drugs? The fact is, if you use alcohol, tobacco products,
or illicit drugs, your children are more likely to use them too. However,
even if you use these substances, you can do a lot to make sure that
your children don't.
Teaching Your Child About Drugs
- Your Child's Perspective
Understandably, some parents of drug users think that their child might
have been pressured into taking drugs by peers or drug dealers. Rather
than being influenced by new friends whose habits they adopt, children
and teens often switch peer groups so they can hang around with others
who have made the same lifestyle choices.
- Questions Children Have About Drugs
The top four questions children ask about drugs.
- Helping Your Child Say "NO"
To Drugs With the right words at the tip of their tongue, children
can assert their independence while making it clear that they're rejecting
their friends' choices and not the friends themselves.
- Preschoolers It may seem
premature to talk about drugs with preschoolers, but the attitudes and
habits that they form at this age have an important bearing on the decisions
they will make when they're older. At this early age, they are eager
to know and memorize rules, and they want your opinion on what's "bad"
and what's "good."
- Kindergarten through third grade
(5 — 8 years old) Now is the time to begin to explain what alcohol,
tobacco, and drugs are, that some people use them even though they are
harmful, and the consequences of using them.
- Grades four through six (9 —
11 years old) At this age, children can handle more sophisticated discussion
about why people are attracted to drugs. You can use their curiosity
about major traumatic events in people's lives (like a car accident
or divorce) to discuss how drugs can cause these events.
- Grades seven through nine
(12 — 14 years old) Although teens do often seem unreceptive to
their parents as they struggle to become independent, teens need parental
support, involvement, and guidance more than ever.
- Grades ten through twelve
(15 — 17 years old) To resist peer pressure, teens need more than
a general message not to use drugs. It's now also appropriate to mention
how alcohol, tobacco, and other drug consumption during pregnancy has
been linked with birth defects in newborns. Teens need to be warned
of the potentially deadly effects of combining drugs. They need to hear
a parent's assertion that anyone can become a chronic user or an addict
and that even non-addicted use can have serious permanent consequences.
- Getting Ready For Graduation
As your teen prepares for graduation, he or she will still need some
support to help make the right choices along the way and to ready him
or her for the world that awaits after graduation.
- Is Your Teen College Bound? The
college admission process seems to be getting more complex every year,
and there is tons of misinformation around. The following ideas can
help families pick the right college by focusing on the individual teen.
The Truth About Drugs
- Drug Myth vs. Reality Addressing
the half-truths and misinformation that children hear and believe.
- Tobacco and Teens If you
discover your son or daughter smoking, experts say you should tell him
or her to quit immediately and that smoking is not tolerated.
- The Drugs In Your Kitchen Cabinet-
Inhalants Inhalants pose a difficult challenge to parents because
they can't be banished from the household.
- Why You Shouldn't Allow Your Children
To Smoke Marijuana Some parents who saw marijuana being widely used
in their youth have wondered, "Is marijuana really so bad for my
child?" The answer is an emphatic "yes," and parents
should familiarize themselves with the reasons.
- Marijuana: Facts Parents Need
To Know What is marijuana? What are the current slang terms for
marijuana? How is marijuana used? How can I tell if my child has been
using marijuana? Does using marijuana lead to other drugs? What are
the effects of marijuana? What happens after a person smokes marijuana?
Can a user have a bad reaction? How is marijuana harmful? What are the
long-term effects of marijuana? Can a person become addicted to marijuana?
Are there treatments to help marijuana users? How can I prevent my child
from getting involved with marijuana?
- Medical Marijuana Update
If your teen is interested in the debate about whether or not marijuana
should be legal in certain circumstances, you can state the facts.
Building The Right Stuff In Your Child
- Building Social Skills
Help your child act appropriately in social situations.
- Building Relationships
Help your child build solid relationships!
- Decision Making and Problem
Solving Children need to be taught how to make decisions. You can
guide them through an example with this exercise.
- Dealing With Messages That Promote
The Use Of Alcohol, Tobacco, Or Illicit Drugs Children see many
images on television, in the media, and elsewhere that give them misleading
ideas of what it means to be a grownup. This exercise can help children
correctly interpret these messages.
- Healthy Risk Taking And as
children approach puberty, virtually everything holds a small amount
of risk because everything feels so new and unexplored. As greater levels
of risks are achieved, most young people will continue to look for opportunities
to expand their horizons and grow. This is why drugs and alcohol hold
such allure for some young people.
- Media Tips for the Home By following
the simple steps included, your family can practice thinking about and
questioning the media messages you receive.
- Resisting Peer Pressure
Help your child deal with peer pressure. Even though young people often
report that they learn more from friends when they reach adolescence,
studies have found that these same adolescents would PREFER to learn
about a variety of important topics from their parents or other caring
adults. Peer influence does increase during the teen years, but the
influence of caring adults can remain strong if you've established a
strong relationship during the earlier years.
- Role Playing A Conflict The
main point of this exercise is to have some fun with the child in your
care and allow him or her the opportunity to play an unfamiliar role.
Role playing involves performing, which is a risk-taking experience
for many of us uncomfortable with that notion!
Working With Stress
- Are You Under Stress? A list
of symptoms that may indicate that you are an adult under stress.
- Relaxation Ideas For Adults
We all need some relaxation and calm in our lives to stay healthy and
feel good. People relax in a variety of ways. Included are a number
of activities that may help you to relax.
- Is Your Child Under Stress?
A list of symptoms that may indicate your child is under stress.
- Divorce Divorce or separation
can be a devastating experience for all parties involved—including
the kids. The stress levels and tension among family members reach their
peaks, and everyone has his or her own way of dealing with it. Kids,
however, might deal with their problems in some unhealthy ways: by adapting
risky behavior, closing off emotionally, or sinking into depression.
As the parent, it is important not to forget your responsibilities to
your child regardless of your problems with your ex-spouse.
- Reducing Your Child's Stress
There are many ways to help reduce stress in your child's life. Included
are a number of way that may help you to reduce their stress.
Fun Activities to Do Together
Fun Stuff for Adults!
|
|
|
