Pre-Teens and Drugs

Is it possible to protect your pre-teens from drug and alcohol use?

According to the Chicago Tribune this morning, parents are clueless about drugs and their children. The head of CASA (The National Center of Alcohol and Substance Abuse) goes so far as to call parents "palookas" and a 15-year-old honor student who lives near the Wisconsin border, states that "most parents have no idea what goes on at parties - or that drugs and alcohol are everywhere." She goes on to say that, "...kids are going to do what they want to do."

In a number of cases, there statements may be true, but for those of us who are vigilant, who know where are children are and who they are with, who control the time they are to come home and are alert to the particular odors of drugs or alcohol, I protest!

Our children are not goody-two-shoes. We raised them with the knowledge that they had a right to their opinion. Giving them this right makes them unafraid to speak out and this sometimes leads to excessive smart-mouth, if I do say so myself. Against my wishes, our older children have a drink every once in a while with friends now that they have come of age. That being said, I also know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we did not have any problems with drugs or alcohol while they were younger. None.

I truly resent friends and family and sometimes, mere acquaintances who, with a knowing smirk, shake their heads as if we are too "clueless" to know what activities our children engaged in while at home. I have no doubt parents exist who turn a blind eye to the smell of pot or alcohol, late nights, unaccounted for time away from home and more - but we were not those parents.

Vigilant parenting will not always keep your children safe from harm. As parents, we must remember that children even in the younger grades are now exposed to great temptation and peer pressure to blend in and belong. The drugs are there. The temptation to believe that "everyone else" is engaging in physical intimacies is there, to be sure.

What is our only recourse? To keep communication open, to remain vigilant and open-minded about the possibility of our children falling into temptation and then dealing with the possibility head-on. Ours is not a perfect world, but with prayer and love, parents can be a source of strength and light for their children.