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As parents, we fear that once adolescence arrives, our children will be seduced into the world of drugs and risk-taking behaviours.
We hope that if we just learn enough about drugs, this knowledge will equip us to protect our children. The facts about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs are all provided in the Drug Facts section of this site, but the power parents have to be preventors is much simpler and more powerful than memorizing facts about illegal substances.
They say it is:
- curiosity
- to feel more mature
- to fit in and be accepted
- to dispel anxiety – make them more confident
- to escape problems
- to rebel
- to have fun
That is all probably true, but research also points to risk factors – conditions or circumstances that make it more likely a youth will engage in risky behaviour. We know that teens are more vulnerable to alcohol and other drugs when they:
- don’t feel connected to family and school
- hang out with friends who drink and use drugs
- start using alcohol and other drugs at a young age
When researchers looked for the factors that protect youth from problematic drug and alcohol use, they discovered that the most important and powerful factors are:
1. Connection to family.
2. Connection to school.
Those are two things that parents have enormous power to influence.
The information in related topics will help you understand how to make it less likely that your kids will become involved in alcohol and other drug use.
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