Busy Mom's Guide to Parenting Teens by Reisser Paul C.;

Author:Reisser, Paul C.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: RELIGION / Christian Life / Family, FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Teenagers
ISBN: 5396107
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Published: 2012-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drug Abuse: Curbing the Epidemic

A man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

2 Peter 2:19

Generations ago, our ancestors watched in horror as bubonic plague, diphtheria, smallpox, and other lethal epidemics swept through their towns and families, taking rich and poor alike to the grave. Today the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and a host of addicting drugs has become a modern-day plague ravaging many of our youngest citizens.

Like the scourges of old, the drug epidemic spreads without regard to economic, racial, geographic, educational, religious, or family boundaries. More recently, it has become particularly aggressive among preteen children, dipping freely into the primary grades for new consumers. While we all should work and pray toward ending this blight in our nation and our communities, we must ultimately be concerned about preventing it from moving across our own doorsteps.

No child will automatically be immune from the drug epidemic. You must work diligently over the years to “drug proof” your children. This project involves a number of tasks that cannot be tackled haphazardly. These encompass some basic knowledge about substance abuse, preventive messages, awareness of possible problems in your—yes, even your—kids, and, if needed, intervention.

Why do kids start and continue using drugs?

Four factors set the stage for adolescent drug use:

• Attitudes of parents toward tobacco, alcohol, and other substances. Children learn from what they experience. Smoking, drinking, and other drug-related behaviors among parents will usually be duplicated by their children.

• Attractiveness of drugs. Smoking and drinking are widely promoted as habits enjoyed by sophisticated, fun-loving, attractive, and sexy people—what most teens long to become. Illegal drugs are “advertised” by those using them in an adolescent’s peer group.

• The high induced by drugs. If drug use weren’t pleasurable, it would be relatively easy to keep your teenagers away from harmful substances. But the reality is that many adolescents enjoy the way they feel on drugs—at least for a while.

• Availability of drugs. Finding drugs is not difficult for teenagers in most communities, but tougher local standards can help keep drugs out of less-determined hands.

Once the stage is set, the following factors exert a more direct influence on who will and who won’t try drugs. The consequences of early experiences (whether pleasant or disagreeable), the drug used, and one’s genetic predisposition will determine whether a problem is nipped in the bud or blossoms into addiction.

Peer pressure. Peers play a huge role at each stage of an adolescent’s drug experience—whether resisting them, experimenting, becoming a user, or confronting withdrawal and recovery. The need for peer acceptance is especially strong during the early adolescent years and can override (or at least seriously challenge) the most earnest commitments. “Just say no” may not mean a whole lot when smoking, drinking, or taking drugs determines who is included in highly esteemed ranks of the social circle.

There are three important implications to the association between peers and drug use:

• It is important that kids find their niche in the right peer group, among friends who are

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