| It's sometimes a tough thing for you as a parent to | | | | know and understand the subject of drugs, the |
| confront, not being in control of what happens to | | | | easier it gets to deal with it. |
| your child. | | | | Ask any person in his twenties who got into |
| But there are things you can do to have more | | | | problems with drugs and he will go back to the first |
| influence. The basic fact is that the more a person | | | | experience in his teenage years and tell you that |
| knows about something, the more responsibility he | | | | things would have been different if he'd had some |
| can take for it and the more he can control it. | | | | real knowledge about them. |
| I want to emphasize straightaway here that the | | | | Education does start in the home and if a young |
| philosophy behind this article is all about applying | | | | person is not getting the right knowledge at school |
| simplicity to the subject. It's about basics. The world | | | | or from his friends, then he definitely needs to get it |
| can be such a complex place but the truth is simple - | | | | at home. In a world full of misleading and false |
| and the truth about drugs is simple. So it is possible | | | | information about drugs and alcohol, a young person |
| to get it across to someone easily. | | | | needs stable data to dispel the confusion that |
| It may be a cliché but knowledge IS power and | | | | inevitably can occur. Just one stable datum can bring |
| the knowledge which you have and then share with | | | | certainty where uncertainty existed before - and this |
| your young person can give you that control which | | | | reduces the vulnerability of young people in the face |
| you desire. | | | | of peer pressure. |
| Now this is not control in a bad way. Let's face it, a | | | | So help your young person to be more in control. |
| lot of us don't like to be controlled and most certainly | | | | Educate them on what drugs are and how they |
| teenagers don't generally like to be controlled. But | | | | affect the body and the mind. With more certainty |
| being in control so that your teenager does not get | | | | on a subject, young people will be more confident in |
| into trouble is positive control and it just has to be | | | | their decisions. But give them the power of choice. |
| exerted in such a way that it is not forceful, not | | | | Give them the responsibility. Of course there can be |
| make-wrong and hopefully not even obvious. | | | | a lot of peer pressure to use alcohol and drugs, but |
| A survey done by the BBC in Britain a few years ago | | | | ultimately it is their decision. Rarely is a person pinned |
| highlighted the fact that parents are still largely the | | | | down and forced to drink alcohol or take a puff of a |
| number one role models in young people's lives, not | | | | joint. |
| some pop singer or sports star. So here's another | | | | Don't preach and don't force your opinions on them. |
| thing for you to confront as a parent - your own | | | | Be honest in answering their questions. Treat them |
| behaviour, habits and attitudes concerning drugs and | | | | as intelligent, responsible individuals and you can get |
| alcohol - because they are noticed. | | | | intelligent, responsible behaviour in return. That might |
| This whole experience of ensuring a safe and happy | | | | sound like a leap into the unknown for you but just |
| start in life for your young person starts therefore | | | | think back to when you were their age - how would |
| with you. Just let me reassure you - the more you | | | | you have wanted to be treated? |