As you, like so many of us, prepare to add onto our news feed that picture collage full of our kids in their backpacks headed off to a new year of school, you may be feeling teary eyed or nostalgic. Or, if you’re like me – you are just plain ready to hug a teacher somewhere!
With the start of each school year, comes new and exciting things for our kids. However, there also comes new challenges – and I’m not just talking about how to find the square root of pi. There are social challenges – and I’m not referring to tide pods here, either. I mean – the kind of challenges our kids face when it comes to drugs and alcohol.
I remember thinking my kids were just too young to be talking to them about drugs and alcohol. I didn’t want to introduce something to them too soon. But, I was wrong. Because, even as those thoughts were still fresh in my mind the day came when my daughter came home and told me about a kid in her class drinking one of his dad’s beers out of the fridge…she was in 2nd grade. I was thrown into the full realization that my kids were going to hear things about drugs and alcohol no matter what false sense of a timeline I had in mind. And, you can be sure that I wanted them to hear the truth straight from me -definitely before hearing “who knows what from who knows who.” Since that day, I have had age appropriate conversations with my kids on a regular basis about drugs and alcohol. We talk about what it could do to them, and what our rules and expectations are about them.
Drugs and alcohol don’t pick a specific demographic box. They affect everyone…rich kids and poor kids, kids in sports and kids not in sports, kids with good grades and kids with bad grades, kids from every background and family structure out there. But, there is one thing you can do to give them a better chance of remaining drug and alcohol free. That is to talk to them – talk to them often and help them come up with a plan to say no in a way that they will actually feel comfortable with in front of their friends.
In the end, whether you are clinging to a box of tissues, jumping for joy, or somewhere in between, remember to send your kids off to school this new year armed with knowledge and a plan. If you need to arm yourself with more knowledge – be sure to follow Drug Free Charlotte County’s Facebook page. You can also find some great information at: www.drugfree.org.