Get Help

(Web & telephone links to help from agencies and others.)

Talk with Your Child or Teen

Research has shown that parents and family life can protect or increase the risk of harmful use of substances. The following chart illustrates those factors:

Parent/Family

Influences

- prenatal exposure to alcohol, tobacco or other drugs

- poor family management, discipline, and problem solving

- low parental monitoring

- family conflict/divorce

- family mobility

- teen parent household

- sole parent household

- low parental expectations and support

- parental substance abuse and deviance

- favourable attitudes toward teen alcohol, other drug use

- parents’ mental illness

- remaining in an abusive or conflict-ridden family

- family disruption (e.g. unemployment)

- weak parenting skills, especially for children with learning disabilities or behavioural problems

- - genetic predisposition to alcohol and other substance problems

- cohesive family unit, positive bonding

- strong parent-child attachment

- strong emotional support & absence of severe criticism

- a sense of basic trust

- high parental expectations

- clear rules and expectations

- strong parental supervision and monitoring

Clearly, parents have a critically important role in preventing substance use problems. In order to play this role, it is not necessary to become a drug expert. Much of the preventive potential of parents in fact does not come down to drug knowledge, but rather the ability to provide a healthy growing environment for a child and adolescent through the years. This is hugely challenging of course, and when it comes right down to it, there are no guarantees. Parents however, can increase the chances by paying attention to the risk and protective factors that are within their controls as parents

Parents interested in improving their skills in these areas may benefit from reviewing the high quality resources identified in this kit. Other possibilities are to check with your child’s teacher about drug education “home work” completed by the parents and child (these approaches have been studied and shown to be helpful). Perhaps the most promising approach is to take a parent education program, where available, particularly when your child is young.

Recommended Resources

Discussing substance use with adolescents:

AADAC parents information service (Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission)

http://parent.aadac.com/prevention/parent_info_series.asp

Straight talk about marijuana (Health Canada)

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/alt_formats/hecs-sesc/pdf/pubs/drugs-drogues/straight_talk-parlent_franchement/straight_talk_about_marijuana_parents.pdf

Pot and driving (Canadian Public Health Association)

http://www.potanddriving.cpha.ca/

MADD Canada parents section

http://www.madd.ca/english/youth/parents.html

Talking with kids about crystal meth and other drugs (Manitoba govt)

http://www.gov.mb.ca/crystalmeth/