Substance abuse can be prevented and can also be treated. The role of the parents is highly important in preventing and treating drug abuse. As parents, they greatly influence their child’s behavior and actions. Thus, they should set a good example for their children by educating their children and letting them learn about the risk and effects of drugs in a human being’s mind and body. In addition, parents should always stay closer to their children and always try to be involved in their kid’s lives as they go through middle school and high school.
Open communication with parents is very important as well. Parents should always try to reach out with their children no matter how busy they are at work and other things that they do. It is essential for children to have a constant and regular communication with their parents so that the parents would know what is on their children’s mind, and they may be able to help them in case that their children encounter problem in their life, such as problems in school or with friends.
Parents should also always monitor their children by knowing their friends, the activities that their child is engaged into, and other activities that they know their child is involved so that they can see and check whether their child has good friends and is doing constructive activities that will surely help them mature. Moreover, drugs abuse is an adolescent health problem. There is always hope, help, and healing that must be present among family members. There are numerous objective ways to assess problems and several treatments or solutions as well.
If parents or other members of the family notice that there are warning signs and behaviors that are prevalent in an adolescent’s behavior, it is suggested that they should take necessary actions right away and do not wait until it becomes worse. Warning signs such as sudden change of personality, easily irritated, mood swings, change of habits and friend and looking for drug paraphernalia, one should seek help right away. Help does not necessarily mean putting a child in a rehabilitation center.
If the condition is not yet severe, parents can subject their child to self-help programs which give free meetings or counseling sessions which may help an adolescent child recover and quit the use of substance. Parents should always set rules to their children so that they will not be engaged into different kinds of activities that are not healthy for them. Giving rewards and punishment will also help discipline adolescents to act and behave in a prescribed manner that their parents want to impose on them (Gray, 2008).
Being aware and looking at the effects of drugs or substance on adolescents is a very important factor that parents and their children should know. Since adolescent stage is considered as one of the crucial stages in the development of an individual, parents should always watch and monitor their children during this crucial stage to avoid or stop their children from being caught up in a situation which will give them problem later in life and affect the life of the child himself.
Teenagers should also be well-informed and educated with the consequences of different actions and behavior that they make, such as being involved in drug abuse or use activities. Social and environmental factors should also be taken into consideration to help adolescents avoid such problems in life. Schools can help and educate adolescents regarding the various effects and consequences of drugs on their health and their body.
Government and the media should also promote programs that will help children divert their attention into learning and acquiring positive and new skills for the development of an individual such as sports programs and other leisurely activities that children will likely enjoy doing and order to divert their attention from wrong and negative activities (Gray, 2008). Substance abuse is becoming a very serious problem in the society today and all over the world.
Children, especially adolescents, play a very important role in the society. Therefore, they should function normally and healthily in the society. They can also serve as a good example or role model for those younger individuals and even to older people to be a good person and will be able to contribute good things in the society.
References
Chapman, C. & Rokutani, L. (2008). Adolescents and substance abuse: What works and why?. In Walz, G. R. , & Yep, R. K. (Eds. ). VISTAS: Compelling Perspectives on Counseling (pp. 51-54). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association. Chelsi. (2006). Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development. Associated Content. Retrieved October 28, 2008 from http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/49828/erik_eriksons_eight_stages_of_psyc hosocial. html? page=2&cat=4