I forwarded the method my friend uses with her stepson to The Partnership. I guess they thought it was a good idea too:
Share Your “Teachable Moments”
If you have innovative ways to work this issue with kids, LET'S HEAR THEM!
My point of view is the only way we break this scourge is education and get them young before they start.
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5 comments:
I agree that education is key. I try to educate parents and young women about sexual abuse and how to keep their children and themselves safe. Knowledge is power. But in the case of drugs, I talked to my son from the time he was little and it didn't do any good. It certainly doesn't hurt to talk to our kids about drugs, but unfortunately it doesn't always help. It can give parents a false sense of security thinking "my kid KNOWS better". But keep sharing because for every kid that chooses NOT to use its worth it!
I agree with Barbara and feel that talking about it can only help. That being said, can someone then please explain to me how the "disease" ideal fits into the picture. I mean, if a person is predisposed with a tendency toward chemical addictions through disease, then how does talking about it as a child help? This is always so tough for me to grasp. It just doesn't seem logical.
Barbara, Mariah's Mom,
There are no absolutes. We talk and educate but with some kids they just do STUPID things. Why, I have no idea. Talking may have no impact on any particular kid, I talked to mine too, when dealing with human beings there are no guarantees. There are only processes that have proven to be more effective than others and I believe education is one of those processes.
As far as the disease aspect. I believe some people are predisposed to contract certain diseases, that doesn't mean they are born with them it just means if they are exposed to the trigger the disease can become active. In the case of addiction I think if our kids never tried the drugs then the disease would not have become active. Others can use drugs as prescribed and never contract the disease some.
Sometimes it all comes down to the what I call the STUPID FACTOR. All of our kids heard not to use drugs when they were growing up. Why did they? They were stupid. Kids do stupid things. Think of the kid that drives too fast and crashes a car and is in a wheelchair the rest of their life. As far as I have seen speed limit signs are posted all over the place. Either they can't read or the stupid factor took over. Never underestimate the power of stupid as it relates to the human race.
Remember absolutes and guarantees do not apply as they relate to human behavior. There are a lot of people that say do this, do that and the outcome is this. I the scientific world that applies, in the case of human behavior I don't believe in absolutes and guarantees.
I think education can only help. But I don't think there is any magic bullet.
I never sat down and had the "drug talk" with my children. I just figured they were raised by decent parents etc. and they would never do something that would risk the respect of their parents etc. Now, i would give anything to go back and have "the talk," at least I would have done all I could.
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