“Youth who learn the risks of drugs and alcohol from their parents are up to 50% less likely to use.”
– Partnership for Drug-Free Kids
Parents are the single most powerful influence in a child’s life. By starting the conversation early with your child, and continuing the conversation through the teen years, you can help prevent alcohol and drug use.
Casco Bay CAN provides parents with the latest data, talking points, tips, training, and other free resources to help prevent alcohol and drug use. We also facilitate group meetings, including Table Talks, so parents can share information and support one another in their efforts to raise healthy children, free of drugs and alcohol.
Remember, you are not alone. MOST parents don’t approve of underage drinking and drug use.
Learn more by visiting our website here
Listen to this podcast episode from Lynn Lyons, Psychotherapist, Anxiety and Children that answers two listeners questions:
A mom discovers her 15 year old has been thinking of drinking to manage her stress. What are the conversations parents should be having with their teens around stress, substance abuse and peer pressure?
And another mom raised by an anxious parent is trying to break the cycle with her daughters. She asks Lynn how to know when the voices inside her head are generational patterns of worry repeating or intuitive warnings. How does anxiety filter the decisions we make and the information we receive?
Listen here!
Today’s teens are growing up in an environment with pressures, stress and priorities vastly different from when we were their age. If you’re concerned that your son or daughter might be using drugs or alcohol — or if you know they are — it’s important that we, as parents, consider why. Some teens turn to drugs and alcohol for a variety of reasons, like fitting in, socializing, experiencing life transitions or dealing with emotional and psychological pain. Here’s why it’s important for you to recognize why kids might be drawn to substances and what you can do about it.
Read what parents can do and helpful conversation tips fro The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, here.
The Wall Street Journal says to be honest with your children without making past recklessness sound entertaining as it can help them make smarter choices.
Read the full article here
A parent has posed 50 questions that you can ask your child to get them engaged at the end of the day.
Questions include:
To read all of the questions please click here
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration offers a mobile application which helps parents talk to their kids about underage drinking. The app helps to:
Learn more about the application here
An excerpt from Constance Scharff, PhD, Director of Addiction Research Cliffside Malibu and a recognized speaker/book author on addiction recovery, women’s health, and overcoming trauma:
“Here are tips for parents to consider when talking to their kids about alcohol.
As legal marijuana has proliferated in Denver, city officials concerned about exposure to children long have tried to keep pot shops at least 1,000 feet from schools.
Yet more than two dozen schools in the city now are located closer than that to stores selling medical or recreational marijuana, according to a Denver Post analysis of city data. The Post identified 25 shops closer than 1,000 feet to at least one nearby school, out of 215 medical, recreational or dual shops. Reads the full article here.