It would be nice if there was a way for a parent to know with 100% certainty that their child is not going to get involved in drug or alcohol abuse. At the end of the day there is no guarantee that your child or teen won’t experiment with drugs or other addictive behaviors, but in this blog post I have identified some characteristics of families that are contributing factors to family members becoming prone to addiction. It is definitely important to teach them to say “no” to drugs and the various reasons for declining to take drugs, but I have outlined here the kind of environment to create in your family in order to lessen the odds of your kids getting hooked on drugs or other destructive behaviors.
1. Help your kids express and manage their emotions.
If a teen does not have the skills to manage their own emotions when they try drugs for the first time it can be easier for them to become hooked than for a person who can manage their emotions well. For example, if your child struggles with anxiety, drinking or drugs may seem to them like a great way to cope at the time. Families where certain emotions aren’t allowed to be expressed or only certain people can express those emotions have children that are looking for either an outlet for those emotions or a way of managing them.
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