Keeping Your Teen Off Drugs - 2 EASY Tips
As a parent you obviously want to keep your teen off drugs. It seems these days kids younger and younger are starting to experiment with drugs so it's important you get on top of these things early.
In the past, it seems most kids didn't get involved in drugs, alcohol, and sex until High School. These days were seeing it more and more often in middle school and sometimes even as young as 5th grade or elementary school.
In today's post we have two simple tips to keep your kids off drugs. Now I don't mean to say easy as in this isn't going to require effort because it is. One of the biggest problems I see today is non-parenting. Non-parenting being just letting your kids do whatever they want without much accountability. Sure it's easier, your kids won't talk back to you if you're not putting any limitations on them, but that is not a good strategy as a parent.
When I say these methods are easy, I mean it's not a complicated thing to implement. I would recommend implementing these two steps when your child is in middle school, don't wait for them to get into high school where it's going to be harder to implement this stuff.
So what are these two simple steps to keep your teen off drugs...
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| Teen Drug Use |
Family Dinners
Now I understand it can be difficult to get the whole family together for dinner. Sometimes one or both parents work late, fixing a dinner isn't easy, and with kids being involved in sports and activities sometimes it can be tough to make time for a family to sit down to dinner together.
A family dinner every night, or at the very least on a regular greatly lessens the chances your teen will use drugs. This is backed up by studies and stats. Not only does having a dinner make your family closer and more connected which in itself is a way to keep kids off drugs, but furthermore, it's not fun going to a family dinner stoned.
As a former teen who would smoke weed after school, I can attest that there is nothing worse than getting stoned with your friends only to lose track of time and realize you have to rush home and sit down for dinner with your family. It's probably one of the most awkward and uncomfortable experiences a teen can have.
As a teen who's stoned sitting down to dinner with mom and dad your trying to act normal. Hoping nobody notices your high and acting wierd. Hoping nobody notices you smell like pot. Trying not to make eye contact with your parents. As a teen this is enough of a deterant in itself to keep a teenager off drugs.
Essentially what this boils down to is accountability. Think about your workplace. If you had no accountability for deadlines, sales numbers, or standards, what would happen? Chances are you, or at least some people in the office would slack off a bit. It's not because they have a poor work ethic, it's just human nature without accountability your not at your best. Even holding yourself accountable. Successful people and high performance people regularly do self assessment and hold themselves accountable.
We can carry this same logic over to parenting. If your child can just run the streets and has no accountability they are going to do what they want, and it's easier for them to find their way into situations they maybe shouldn't be a part of. On the otherhand, if your child knows everyday at 5:30PM they are responsible to be home for dinner with the family it's not quite as tempting to go smoke a blunt after school when they know in just an hour or two after that are going to have to be home sitting at the dinner table with their parents and siblings.
As a teenager, my family had a nightly family dinner, and I was responsible for being home for dinner every night. Though I still did get into trouble and while I still did occasionally smoke a little weed after school, it definately kept me in check to some extent and it allowed my parents to catch wind when I was up to something.
Curfews & Seeing Your Child When They Get Home At The End Of The Night
Another important element of keeping your child off drugs is having a curfew as well as making them check in with you when they get home at the end of the night. This again goes to accountability. If your child is able to come home after a night of drinking and go straight to their bedroom there is really no accountability.
On the other hand, if your child is expected when they get home to come check in with you, let you know they are home and give you a hug or kiss goodnight. Well now if they smell like booze or smoke, or pot, it's going to be pretty easy for you to tell.
I remember back as a teenager going to bowling alleys on purpose to hangout so when you got home you had an excuse as to why you smelled like smoke. Now days however with bowling alleys being smoke free that trick is done. I also remember guys dousing themselves with cologne and girls dousing themselves with fruity bath and body sprays to try to cover up the smell of pot or smoke on them.
When your child gets home and has to check in with you, it gives you a chance to smell them, to look into their eyes, to see how they are walking and talking, etc.
Again, this is a way for you to put some accountability on your teen, and despite this if your teen is still going to smoke, or drink, or use drugs, at least you'll catch onto it early and can take some action to curb this behavior, as opposed to you not being involved and holding your teen accountable to the point where this can go on for years and grow to be an addition before you finally take action.
Wrap Up
Though this post is titled "Keeping Your Teen Off drugs - 2 Easy Tips", I do realize that having a family dinner and actually parenting your teen isn't easy. Sure it's easier to practice non parenting and let your child go about their business doing what they want. That said that's not what's best for your teen and your job as a parent is to hold your teen accountable and make sure they grow up healthy and happy.
Hopefully you enjoyed this post and will put these things into practice. If you're already practicing these things and fine them beneficial please leave a comment below and let us know how it's going for you.
