Health surveys prove that drug abuse and addiction has spread in the teenage population in the country at an alarming rate. In fact a majority of emergency room visits of teenagers usually involve the use of one or the other type of drug or alcohol. Most of these teens who experiment with drugs are putting their safety as well health at risk. However, as parents and guardians of teenagers it is your duty to find ways to help them get out of their problem, but sometimes we need help too. We don’t know everything.
The Mistakes Parents Make
It is true that you are a parent and you worry about your child. But remember that your child is not a kid anymore and in order to stay close to them and help them you need to tweak your parenting skills a bit. There are certain mistakes that you need to stop making in order help your teens and they are:
- Expecting the worse – It is true and no one can deny it. Most of the times teenagers get a bad rep without a justifiable cause. However, always expecting the worse from your teenager will distance your teen from you and he gets the feeling that he will only be loved if he is ‘good and perfect’ and that making mistakes is not allowed.
- Reading too many parenting books – More than trusting your guts and instincts a lot of parents make the mistake of trusting the advice of outsiders or experts. These books are not bad but they can prove to be a problem if a parent starts replacing their own innate skills with these books.
- Worrying yourself over small stuff – You may not like your teens new piercing or hairstyle or her funky choice of clothes but going berserk about is not done. Allow them to make their own age-appropriate decisions so that they can learn and grow.
- Ignoring the big stuff – However, ignoring the big stuff is dangerous. If you know that your teen is using drugs or alcohol do not sit back confront him now.
- Too much or too little discipline – The excess of everything is bad. Do not tie your teen in knots of discipline – it will only make him more rebellious. However, giving way too much freedom can also take him to dangerous paths.
