The Partnership for a Drug-Free
America provides good suggestions for parents to help their children stay off
drugs.
Their ideas deserve parents’
consideration.
For example, parents are urged
to make sure the information they offer fits their children’s age and cognitive
level.
When a six or seven-year-old is
brushing his teeth, parents can say, “There are good things we need to do to
keep our bodies strong and healthy, like brushing our teeth. But there are also
some things we shouldn’t do because they can hurt our bodies, like smoking or
taking medicine when we are not sick.”
An eight-year-old can
understand a simple lesson about specific drugs, like marijuana or alcohol.
If marijuana is mentioned on
TV, take advantage of the chance to ask your child if he knows what it is. Say
it’s a bad drug that can hurt your body.
Don’t be afraid to talk about
these issues. Cocaine, crack, heroin, and meth are very dangerous and illegal
drugs that can kill a user, sometimes even if they are taken only once. It is
important to be honest about these types of dangers.
