7-9 Grade

For parents, this is a pivotal time in helping kids make positive choices when faced with drugs and alcohol.  The average age kids try drugs for the first time in Arizona is 13.  “If your child is 13,” says Amelia Arria, senior scientist with Treatment Research Institute, “you should assume that he or she has been offered drugs or alcohol.”   But you can help your teen stay healthy and drug-free — and beat the negative statistics.  Kids who learn about the risks of drugs from their parents are up to 50 percent less likely to use.  So, most importantly, stay involved.  Young teens may say they don't need your guidance, but they're much more open to it than they'll ever let on. Make sure you talk to them about their choices of friends — drug use in teens starts as a social behavior.

Here are 5 tips to help you help your teen live a healthy, drug-free life:

1. Make sure your teen knows your rules and the consequences for breaking those rules -- and, most importantly, that you really will enforce those consequences if the rules are broken.  This applies to no-use rules about tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, as well as curfews and homework.  Research shows that kids are less likely to use tobacco, alcohol and other drugs if their parents have established a pattern of setting clear rules and consequences for breaking those rules.  [Guo, Hawkins, Hill, and Abbott (2001)] And kids who are not regularly monitored by their parents are four times more likely to use drugs (Metzler, Rusby & Biglan, 1999).
2. Let your teen in on all the things you find wonderful about him. He needs to hear a lot of positive comments about his life and who he is as an individual — and not just when he makes the basketball team.  Positive reinforcement can go a long way in preventing drug use among teens.
3. Show interest — and discuss — your child's daily ups and downs.  You'll earn your child's trust, learn how to talk to each other, and won't take your child by surprise when you voice a strong point of view about drugs.
4. Tell your teen about the negative effect alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs have on physical appearance. Teens are extremely concerned with their physical appearance.  Tell them about a time you saw a friend or acquaintance get sick from alcohol — reinforce how completely disgusting it was.
5. Don't just leave your child's anti-drug education up to her school. Ask your teen what she's learned about drugs in school and then continue with that topic or introduce new topics.  A few to consider: the long-term effects that tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs have on the body; how and why addiction occurs — including the unpredictable nature of dependency and how it varies from person to person.  Talk about maintaining a healthy lifestyle; making positive approaches to stress reduction; or setting realistic short- and long-term goals.

Substances in your seventh to ninth grader's world can include:

Tobacco, Alcohol, prescription drugs such as Ritalin or Adderall, painkillers, sleeping pills, Inhalants, and illicit drugs such as Marijuana, Ecstasy, Cocaine/Crack, Heroin, Mushrooms

Scenario

     You find out that kids are selling prescription drugs at your child’s school. Your child

    hasn’t mentioned it and you want to get the conversation about it started.

What to Say

Hey, you probably know that parents talk to each other and find things out about what’s going on at school… I heard there are kids selling pills—prescriptions that either they are taking or someone in their family takes.  Have you heard about kids doing this?