To be a parent...

Having to experience the anxiety and fear of your child becoming a substance abuser is naturally horrible. And so is the powerlessness over the youth as they may make decisions that lead to terrible consequences. It's a feeling of not knowing what to do because even the young ones are good at outsmarting and protecting the drugs if they want to.

Here are some pieces of advice that might help:

1) First of all, try to learn as much as possible about different drugs and how they affect someones behavior.

2) Talk to your child, let them know that you know. Express your worry, care and love for the child.

3) Try to remain calm and avoid blaming. Try to find out what the child is feeling and experiencing, and how they see the situation.

4) Make it clear that you love her/him, but not the drug and what the drug does to your child.

5) Explain the consequences of alcohol/drug addiction.

6) Tell them that you are there to help and support them. Try to find out what the young one is thinking in terms of quitting and what he/she needs to help with that.

7) Set limits on what is OK and what isn't and make the consequences of crossig those limits clear.

8) Try to engage your child in other activities and create new relations that provide a lesser risk of exposing your child to peer pressure regarding alcohol and drugs. Not so easy, I know. Be try...

9) Seek help from others that have experience, and that goes for the whole fmily. Is there any grown up that the child trusts and can confide in? Is professional help needed? Social services? Self-help groups?

10) Don't deny the problems. The longer you ignore them the longer the addiction can continue.

11) Encourage and reward positive behavior.

12) And last but not least, take care of yourself so that you can deal with what you need to deal with! Recovery and rest to get the energy you need to be the support you want ot be.