Communicating About Drugs With Your Kids
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by: BillHavens
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There is no training to be a great parent. The only way to learn is by trial and error which is the worst way to learn. I am talking about your children.
For the past 24 years I have been working as a professional speaker in the field of motivation and drug prevention and awareness. My whole life has been devoted to education.
Talking about effect of drugs is a lot harder than it used to be. The influence you have as a parent is important to your child's life. It takes constant involvement with your kids.
Research shows that many teens are more knowledgeable than their parents are about drugs; especially about the abuse of emerging drugs and over the counter medicines.
Talking to your kids about the dangers of drug use can keep them drug free. That is why I have added this short article series on drugs so you can talk intelligently about drugs with your kids..
Talking to your kids about drugs isn't a formal, one-time-only conversation. You can steer conversational topics to why drugs are harmful or use everyday events to start a conversation about them.
Getting started with these talks is very important:
Talk with your kids about the negatives of using drugs. By the way alcohol is a drug!
One of the best ways to keep your kids' drug free is to show them you care. Reinforce your love - say the words I love you.
Be careful not to criticize; describe a better way.
Asking questions of the things your kids like to do will give you an idea of what they have learned or haven't learned...
Teach the principles of "why," not just "what" to do or not to do.
Listen to them a lot. Avoid interrupting. Give them your undivided attention.
How to be a terrific parent:
Parents sometimes think peer pressure is the most important thing to resisting alcohol and drugs. But actually the behavior of the parents is more important.
This is very important. The behavior of the parents is what really counts when teaching your kids to resist the use of alcohol and other drugs.
It is very important also that the parents are good role models. It really starts when the mother and father decide to raise a family. It has been proven that alcohol and other drugs damage the unborn child.
If you are going to take medication, go to the bathroom and close the door. Just remember, what you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you say! There is nothing wrong with taking an aspirin for a head ache.
The attitudes we have are nothing more than habits of thought. If we want to change them we can. I am working with that all the time. I know it works because I've changed some of my own attitudes over the years as well the attitudes of others. We have been programmed either positively or negatively by others or by situations.
How are attitudes expressed? They are expressed by the way we act, or our behavior.. William James, that great Harvard psychologist said, you can alter or change your life by altering your attitudes of mind.
What he is really saying is, behavior is nothing more than an outer expression of an inner attitude, and to influence your kids, you need to go back and start putting the positives into your own mind as well as the mind of your kids.
Catch your kids doing something good and compliment them and do it right away.
About the Author
About the Author: Bill Havens suggests ways to help your kids avoid drugs. For keeping kids from abusing drugs advice get his detailed tip sheet on How Parents Can Keep Kids Off Drugs.
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