Drugs and adolescents: avoiding the bad influence of peers & bull; hello healthy

Even if your teen doesn't use drugs or drink alcohol, dealing with bad influence and peer pressure to use drugs can be difficult. Especially if a close friend himself exerts the pressure.

Rejection words such as, "no thanks" may be sufficient. However, often what happens is the opposite, the pressure keeps coming back and forth. Reporting fromDrug Abuse, adolescence is the most vulnerable period and has the highest risk of drug abuse.

As your children enter their teens, they will face new social challenges and academic situations. Often this time they want to experiment, like trying to smoke and drink alcohol for the first time. When entering high school, teenagers have a greater curiosity. One of them is the curiosity to try drugs, which are circulating among teenagers and quite easy to get when they hang out with the wrong people.

What are the reasons for teenagers to use drugs?

The reasons for teenagers to use drugs can vary. Some use it to experience the same experience as their friends, some use steroids to improve their athletic appearance or strength, some use ecstasy to relieve anxiety in certain social situations. There are also teenagers who abuse prescription drugs for ADHD sufferers, such as Adderall, to help them learn or lose weight.

Drug use in adolescence can interfere with brain function. As a result, a person will lose motivation, experience memory problems, difficulty learning, making decisions, and controlling habits.

Naturally, we see teenagers who use drugs and alcohol have poor grades in school, have health problems (including mental disorders), and are even involved in criminal activity.

Signs that your teen is starting to use drugs

Quoted from Mayo ClinicThere are several signs that teenagers are starting to use and abuse drugs, namely:

• Sudden or extreme changes in friends, diet, irregular sleep, physical appearance, coordination, or performance at school.
• Becomes irresponsible, has poor judgment, and generally loses interest.
• Going against rules or staying away from family.
• Your teen's room has a medicine box or medicine kit, even though your teen is not sick.

How can you overcome the bad influence of your friends to use drugs?

There are several ways that your teen can stay away from drugs despite pressure from close friends, as reported WebMD, that is:

1. Make your teenager not want to disappoint you

Tom Hedrick, co-founder of The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, says parental influence is stronger than most of you realize. Prohibitions and punishments are often used as weapons to eat, but what is more effective is to make teenagers respect and care for you, so they don't have the heart to try drugs because they don't want to disappoint their parents. Not for fear of being scolded.

"Making teens not want to disappoint their parents is an important protection for teens from drug use," said Hedrick.

2. Spend time together

At the same time, teenagers want to be independent but also want to be accompanied by their parents. Benjamin Siegel, M.D., pediatrician and committee member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, says that even if your child wants to show independence, you are still needed as a parent.

Take your time to hear stories from your child. Maybe it will need effort which is great, but you have to do. "The more you understand what they want to do, the easier it will be for parents to be trusted people to shed their grudges," said Siegel.

3. Enforce the rules

You can create household rules to give your teenager, even if he or she won't like it. There are some rules you can make to avoid drugs for your child:

• Take time to talk to you. Teens admit that they want to know what their parents think and how they can help make decisions.

• Give punishment. Teens who break the rules want to know what will happen. If there are no consequences, then your rules mean nothing.

• Limit late night visits. Too often being excused from returning home can make your child feel too free to control.

• Wait for them to come home when they come home late. Realizing they are waiting for them by their father or mother, or both, for several hours when they come home late, makes many youths think twice about what they will face when they return home.

4. Encourage your child to have an opinion

Rachel Fleissner, M.D. from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry says that parents can raise children to have the courage to argue, even if their opinions conflict with those of parents. The child who is able to argue has practiced speaking with his own mind.

5. Practice relationship skills

Siegel said that children need friends. Making a relationship is very important to their development, and parents have a role to play in this process. Siegel suggested that children always be invited to talk, so that it can help develop their ability to make friends.

6. Find out and pay attention to peer pressure

Some children can be influenced by close friends who act out of bounds. If your child is affected, your challenge is to state your point of view without criticizing the friend. Some situations can be dramatic, because according to Fleissner, it is possible that the child's family completely forbids the child from befriending a destructive friend. At first the child may not like it, but then the child will thank the parents for avoiding bad things.

7. Imagine that you are in the child's position

To help your child get out of the pressure and bad influence of his peers, you can visualize what if you were in that position. You can help him break free by offering, "How about this?" Suggestions regarding peer pressure.

8. Help your teen learn from mistakes

No matter what you do or say, your child may still feel like a failure. You and your child may feel sad together. Fleissner says parents must be ready to help their children when they make mistakes and help them get up. This is a great time to help your child see how he makes decisions.

Siegel agreed with what Fleissner said. "Parents should ask their children what will encourage them to become and feel better," said Siegel.

Parents cannot participate in every social challenge their child will face. Children who know they are loved by their parents, who value their opinions, and who have been trained to think critically, have a greater chance of saying "No thanks" to their peers who are applying pressure to use drugs.