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Exceptions To The Rule
Direct Answers - Column for the week of March 29, 2004
Yesterday I turned 48, and she just turned 21. Uh-oh, I can hear the gears turning in your heads already.
She will graduate from university in England in June with a degree in...
Hey Parents, Stop Before You Shop: Here’s How to Avoid Holiday Teen Gift Faux Pas
(ARA) - As the holidays go by year after year, trendy gifts come and go. A few years ago we witnessed the truly engaging battery-operated, wall-mounted singing fish. Rewind to the decade prior and we find the puzzling Rubik’s Cube, as well as a...
Preventing Obesity in Young Children
Do you have a young child whose weight or eating habits are out of control? Need some real world help with ‘taming the cookie monster'? Here are some things that worked for our family.
Our daughter, now 14 years old, was plump from birth and...
Step Parenting Power Tool: Using Family Rituals and Traditions to Create Identit
If you are in a step family and struggling for some sense of family identity, don't despair. You can enhance your feeling of togetherness with the use of family rituals and traditions.
Step Parenting Power Tool: Using Family Rituals and...
What Is Reflexology?
For the Reflexologist, the feet are a microcosm of the human body and every organ and body part is represented in the feet. Where there are two organs in the body they will be represented on both feet, e.g. lungs and kidney and where there is only...
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10 Signs That Your Teen Is Using Drugs
Did you know that over 75% of teens aged 16-17 report that obtaining marijuana is “easy or fairly easy?” Or that 25% of youths between 12 and 17 say the same of crack?
When children start using drugs they usually exhibit many different signs that parents need to watch out for. Unfortunately, many parents often write-off these signs as normal adolescent behavior and as a result they don't realize that their child is into drugs until it is too late. How can you as a parent know for sure whether or not your child is in danger of falling into drugs? Know that every child is in danger of this. Parents who fail to recognize this will stay in this state of denial till their son or daughter is arrested or overdoses -- and by then it is too late. So what should you as parents be looking for as signs that your child is experimenting with drugs or alcohol?
§Dramatic changes in attitude or personality.
§New friends who may exert peer pressure on your child.
§Problems at school, such as falling grades or increased tardiness.
§Increased withdrawal, depression, or secretiveness.
§Changes in sleep patterns.
§Increased or decreased
appetite.
§Dilated, red, or glossy eyes.
§Escalating verbal or physical abuse.
§Dramatic mood swings.
§Need for additional money.
Drug use can lead to a host of significant health, social, learning and behavioral problems at a crucial time in a young person’s development. Getting high also impairs judgment, leading to risky decision making on issues like sex, criminal activity or riding with someone who is driving high.
If you believe that your child may be using alcohol or drugs, don’t overreact. Some of the warning signs listed above may be normal for your teen and some signs may have other causes. One cannot ignore the reality of teenage drug and alcohol abuse, however, so the presence of three or more of these warning signs should prompt a discussion with your teen and an evaluation of whether professional help is needed. For more advice, or to locate the right treatment facility for you, contact your pediatrician or call the Center for Substance Abuse Referral Help line at 1-800-662-HELP.
About the Author
Nicole Brownfield
71 County Road 269
Stevenson, AL 35772
(256) 437-8788
jnb8788@aol.com
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