Today, a new trend among students is Robotripping—taking cough medicine from a parent’s medicine cabinet and getting high.
When I was growing up, we simply drank our parents’ liquor that, similarly, was neither hidden nor locked up. We knew where to find it and how to replace the amount we took with water.
Yes, kids have always been doing risky and dangerous things, but if you're a parent today, you can protect your kids and their friends by making three little changes that will have big results:
(1) Discuss then Role Play: Talk about the daily news reports that discuss drugs and alcohol. Don’t assume your kids are oblivious to these stories. Instead consider each scenario a teaching opportunity. For example, this week, a young starlet failed another drug test after only a few weeks out of jail and rehab. Discuss the details. Ask simple questions, such as, “Do you know anyone who does this stuff?” Don’t accuse, just discuss. Then “role play” with your kids: What would you say if you were asked to try a substance or do something illegal? What would you do or whom would you call if your friends weren’t ready to leave a party and you didn’t have a ride home?
Additionally, talk about your past. You don’t have to give specific details as much as identify with the pressure of being in an uncomfortable or scary situation or the importance of friends who have similar values. Don’t underestimate the importance of your concern and interest in your kids’ culture.
(2) Be a Role Model: As a Life Coach and former athletic coach, I have consistently raised the bar for my own life so that I am presenting the possibility to students that you can be fun and sober and live by your convictions, even if your peers or coworkers or family members do not hold those same values.
Just last week, I spoke for my son’s non-profit organization that serves the Latino community in our county. As I told the students and their parents about my own struggle with alcohol as a teenager, my consecutive years of sobriety, and how difficult it was to be a sober parent and raise a child in a sex-crazed, binge-drinking culture, my son began to wipe the tears streaming down his cheeks. His tears reminded me just how difficult it was for both of us during his high school years—to have a parent not really fit in nor align herself with the partying culture of society. There was a cost for both of us. Parents and kids must know that there will be lonely times when you determine to live differently than the cultural norms.
(3) Clean the House: This little change is pretty simple. In the recovery world, when you get sober, you clean—and it starts in the home. Based on recent reports, household meds are today’s drug-of-choice for kids. Do you have medicines in your cabinets that others can freely access--everything from prescription drugs to over-the-counter medicines? Or do you have a case of beer or wine in your garage? Would you even notice if a bottle or two were missing? Remember, it may not be your kids who want what to experiment with what you have in your house—their friends might be the savvy and sneaky ones.
Whether or not you have kids of your own, this young generation is looking for caring adults who will take an interest in them by offering them wise advice, a role model to follow, and a safe house in which to live or visit.
Be encouraged,
Becky
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