When children get a little older and start going to school, they start being buried in half-truths and myths dressed up like fact. Those fictional truths can cover anything from the best Pop-Tart to eat for breakfast to how to get high by putting an aspirin in a coke. Remember that one?
During their early, development years, you can be sure that on some busy schoolyard or in a school bathroom, they will run into another student who will offer them a way to get high. Don’t make the mistake of believing that your youngsters are safe from drug offers until they are in high school and will know better than to accept the offer of drugs.
Your children need to know about the dangers of experimenting with drugs before they go to school and they need to get that information from you, their parents. It is important that you do not downplay the dangers of using drugs, but give the straight facts to your children.
It is a fact that the younger a child starts using drugs, the more vulnerable they will be to true addiction later in life. As an adult, there is so much misinformation about drug use in the media and from other misinformed adults that you will have to be really clear about what you tell your children.
They will learn the difference between fact or fiction from you. In order for that to happen, you will have to learn the same differences before your child needs to know it.
A common fictional “fact” that circulates among children of all ages is that just trying a drug to see how it affects them or to relieve stress or to be part of the “in group” will not harm anyone. You need to know that trying drugs only once can cause damage to your child’s mind and body…sometimes permanently.
Children under the age of 14 who drink alcohol are five times more likely to be alcohol dependent as adults than those who waited until they were 21 before having a drink. Another fact for your arsenal: Children who first tried marijuana before they were 14 years old had more than a 13% chance of suffering abusive drug dependence compared to a little over 2% of adults who first used the drug when they were 18 or older.
Don’t make the mistake of believing that trying drugs at a young age is a natural process that all children go through and will cause no real damage. Be aware of what your children are doing right now. Save them while you can!
How many times have we heard about a child trying a ‘drug’, legal or otherwise, and dying or being permanently disabled as a result? Any parent would benefit from more knowledge and awareness.
Thank you for your comment, Helen. I think child drug addiction is one of the most horrible things that could happen to young children. It perverts their childhood and destroys most chances for living a life that is good for them…no family, kids, education…nothing but despair and futility. Saddens me.
Pat
I am old enough to remember the beginnings of many of the “popular” drugs. As the popularity reached my high school students, we talked about them often. I may have been teaching journalism, business or offset pressing, I felt that it was my responsibility to be their “teacher”. The problem is much more serious today.
Carol Smith
Thank you for your comment, Carol. I’m old enough, too, but while I was in school I didn’t know anyone who used drugs. That changed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Now it is a worldwide epidemic.
Pat
Hi Pat…
Wow, it’s great to see your excellent writing voice so active!
Your article hit home with me as I have three grandchildren now…one that is off to elementary school and believe me I’ve thought about it.
Young children need to be educated for sure…they are so prone to peer pressure.
Thanks for the reminder…you can bet I’ll be on top of this as my grandchildren grow…and I am sure their mom and dad will be too!
This is a problem that will not go away and we need to learn to deal with it intelligently…rather than ignoring it thinking if it does not happen in our family it is not our concern.
Somewhere along the way we will be affected…
Kathy
You are Right, Kathy. Drug addiction is killing our children’s future and, in a lot of cases, their lives. When children start experimenting with drugs at a very young age, their future starts collapsing before they even get started with their lives.
I spent 3 years in California parole office classrooms and in a few prisons teaching young adults how to start a new life without drugs. Some made it, most didn’t. I’ve lost several friends to their addiction…they might still be alive, but the person I knew is gone. It saddens me and keeps me writing.
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Thank you for a great comment…Pat