What Factors influence our Children to try drugs or avoid drugs?
Factors that can make our children to want to try drugs and alcohol can be:
- Attractiveness of drugs. Drugs and Alcohol are usually “advertised” by those using them in an adolescent’s peer group.
- The high induced by drugs. Is shown as pleasurable. Reality is that many kids enjoy the way they feel on drugs — at least for a while.
- Attitudes of parents toward tobacco, alcohol and other substances. Children learn what they live.
- Availability of drugs. Finding drugs easily within the community can play into the influences of whether your child will try them.
- Peer pressure. Peers plays a huge role at each stage of a child’s or adolescent’s drug and alcohol experience. “Just say no” may not mean a whole lot when smoking, drinking or taking drugs determines who is included among the highly esteemed ranks of the inner circle.
It is important that kids find their way in the right peer group, be around friends who are not only committed to positive values but also involved in worthwhile and enjoyable dreams. As parents you may have to intervene if your adolescent is choosing to hang out with the wrong crowd. Finally, its important to have a healthy, stable identity and an appropriate sense of independence this will help to be more resistant to peer pressure.
Reasons your child might experiment or not experiment.
- Curiosity can be a reason for any child to think about experimenting. Unless your family lives in total isolation, your child will be aware of smoking, alcohol and drug use well before adolescence from discussions at school, watching TV and movies, or direct observation. Some curiosity is inevitable: What do these things feel like?
- Thrill-seeking. This desire for excitement is in all of us to some degree and is what propels us toward certain activities: skydiving, roller coasters, firework displays, sporting events and so on. Some of these are more risky than others, but none require chemical alteration of the senses to be satisfying.
- Rebellion. Children may engage in smoking, alcohol and drug use as a show of independence from family norms and values.
- Escape from life/relief from pain. Life can be just plain tough, and normal waking consciousness brings a constant stream of unpleasant sights, smells, sounds and sensations. Even when a person has plenty of creature comforts, the prevailing emotional weather can still be turbulent: kids and teens often feel anxious, angry, depressed, oppressed, stressed, bored, unfulfilled.
- A conviction that “it can’t happen to me” or that the consequences don’t matter. We can be prone to assume our own invulnerability or immortality, make shortsighted decisions, or shrug off the most warnings and say “I don’t care.” Having this perspective, learning to weigh consequences and adopting a long-range view of life are normal parts of maturing into adulthood. Unfortunately, some who become deeply involved in drug use remain stuck in this immature, self-destructive mind-set.
We have to not overlook any of the factors listed, some of the these are everyday concerns that we may overlook as parents without taking concern of the effects it may reflect on our children. We need to allow ourselves the information to not over see obvious things that we may protect our children in each conversation and interaction from things in life we can not subtract but hopefully build our children to know what their decisions and experimenting can cause to them in the long run. This is never a good conversation if we wait too long to talk to our children.
This awareness campaign is brought to you in partnership with Tuscarawas County Anti-Drug Coalition.