Substance abuse is a significant problem among teens. What often starts as a social recreation can become a debilitating addiction. How do you know what it’s time to get help? And how do you get help?

Here are some ideas.

Are You Really Addicted?

If you are really addicted to a substance, it will control you rather than the other way around. It’s hard to get a good look at yourself to evaluate whether or not you’re addicted, so try asking yourself these questions:

• Could I go without this drug/substance for a day? Week?
• Do I use this substance daily or more than once a day?
• Do I feel weird or out of whack if I don’t take this drug or use this substance?
• If you had to stop using the drug or substance, could you?

If you answered the above in the following pattern – no, yes, yes, no – then you probably have an addiction problem.

Tell Your Parents

Of course you don’t want to do this. But honestly, they probably know something is up anyway and, though they will initially be upset, they will ultimately welcome the opportunity to help you. Parents are usually greatly relieved to be sought after by their teens if they have a problem.

Resources

Your school counselor will probably have a lot of good resources for you, with lists of various programs and centers where you can get help. Other adults in your life – family friends, pastors, and so forth – are also excellent resources for teens with substance abuse problems.

Parents and friends may wonder how they can help as they see their teen exhibiting behavior they can’t explain. What can you do to get help? For one thing, brace yourself. You will likely encounter anger, emotional outbursts, finger-pointing and name-calling (“You’re such a hypocrite!”), screaming, and a generally unpleasant encounter. This is not always the case, but it is likely to be, so prepare yourself.

Don’t forget to remind your friend or teen of your love and commitment to help. Remain calm and do not engage in irrational arguments. Identify with the teen’s feelings, and let them know specific rules and consequences with this in mind. Make the consequences and rules very clear, and let your teen know you are there for him or her no matter what.

If necessary, concerned friends and parents can look into drug rehabilitation programs and facilities in their area. Enroll your teen in one of these if you feel it’s needed.

Click here for more information on this issue and other problems you may experience with your out of control teen.

If you have a teen that you believe is participating in teenage substance abuse, then you need to take immediate action and deal with the issue. This is extremely important because teens who experiment and abuse various substances are not only a threat to themselves, but their actions may put many more people in harm’s way too. Although, the primary reason you, as a parent, should be confrontational about teenage substance abuse is to get your teen the help he or she needs to get off this destructive path.

So, exactly what should you do if you suspect your teen is displaying signs of teenage substance abuse? There are several things that you may need to do in order to help get the problem under control. The list below provides you with the most common options available for parents dealing with teenage substance abuse. However, there are other not-so-common techniques that can be used as well.

• Know and Understand the Signs and Symptoms: First, if you suspect that your teen is abusing drug, alcohol, medications, etc. then you need to do your homework and research the signs and symptoms of teenage substance abuse. You need to know all the signs associated with this problem and thoroughly understand them before you are prepared to confront your teen.
• Document Specific Instances: Once you know the signs associated with teenage substance abuse, it’s time to start building a case against your teen. While this sounds harsh, the truth is that people with substance abuse problems, especially teens, are experts at denial. So, you need to start monitoring your teen more closely (without his/her knowledge) and document specific instances when specific symptoms are displayed. If you find evidence of teenage substance abuse, take pictures of it and confiscate it. After all, you are the parent.
• Confront Your Teen: Once you’ve documented specific instances of teenage substance abuse signs displayed by your teen and/or have evidence of proof, it’s time to confront your teen. When you confront your teen regarding this issue, it’s vital that you do so in a loving non-judgmental way. You don’t want your teen to immediately be put on the defensive. And, it’s a good idea to wait until your teen begins trying to deny that anything is going on before you present them with your documented and/or confiscated evidence.
• Seek Professional Help: Finally, if you’ve confronted your teen about the issue and no changes are made by your teen, it’s time to get professional help. While you will not feel like a “good” parent for taking your teen to get professional help for teenage substance abuse, it is actually the best thing you can do for them. Otherwise, your teen may become an addict and continually fight to regain control over the addiction for the rest of his/her life, which is far worse than the bad feeling you have dealing with the problem now.

Above are the four main options you should exhaust when you first begin to deal with teenage substance abuse. Once you reach the professional help stage, you will be presented with many more options based on your teen’s current condition. If you feel your teen is experimenting and/or abusing various substances, deal with it immediately and don’t wait! Your teen may not have the time available to wait.

Teenage substance abuse is a growing problem among adolescents today. The sad fact is that if it goes unnoticed by adults, then the teen using has a great chance to be an addict in the future. When one becomes addicted to a substance, whether it’s alcohol, drugs or medications, it can lead to a lifelong struggle. There isn’t any recovered addict who doesn’t have weekly battles regarding whether or not to try it one more time. This is not the kind of struggle you want your child to deal with for the rest of his/her life. Therefore, look for the common signs and symptoms of teenage substance abuse listed below to determine if you need to get your teen help:

• Change of Behavior – Generally teens abusing various substances will go through a significant behavioral change. For instance, your teen may have been a pretty laid back person who was easy to get along with, but now he’s on edge most of the time and argumentative. While that may not be the exact behavioral change your teen is exhibiting as it is just one type of behavioral change. The important thing to notice is if your teen has gone through a significant behavioral change.

• Immediate Change of Friends - Another indicator that teenage substance abuse is going on is if your teen has stopped hanging out with a group of friends she’s had since childhood, or a long period of time. An immediate change in friendships is a good sign that something is going on with your teen.

• Change in Grades – It’s difficult for teens abusing substances to maintain good grades. Therefore, if you know your teen usually has good grades, but they have dropped all of a sudden, you should investigate what’s distracting your teen.

• Unusual Behavior – When teenage substance abuse is at work, teens will begin acting suspiciously. For instance, they may start answering questions vaguely while trying to avoid you. They may begin “disappearing” for short amounts of time throughout the day and try to conceal what they’re plans are when they go out on the weekends.

• Odd Clothing Choices – While dressing in all black may seem odd to “old” people like us, this isn’t necessarily the type of odd clothing choices being referred to here. Basically, you need to watch for your teen dressing out-of-season. For instance, if he begins to wear only long sleeve shirts during the middle of the spring and summer, then you should be concerned. When odd clothing choices like this start to occur, your teen may be trying to hide something.

Above is a list of the most tell-tale signs and symptoms of teenage substance abuse. However, there are more subtle symptoms that can occur. If you suspect your teen is experimenting with various substances, you shouldn’t wait to interfere as it could lead to a life-long battle for your child.

Click here for more information on this issue and other problems you may experience with your out of control teen.

Preventing teen substance abuse is something that more parents need to learn more about…before their children enter their teenage years. Unfortunately, the majority of parents think that their kids won’t ever be the ones who becomes an addict. However, this is never a guarantee, which is why parents need to take the time to learn about teen substance abuse and how to help prevent it.

The first step in preventing teen substance abuse is understanding the most common reasons why teens start experimenting with drugs, alcohol and other dangerous substances. These include:

• Genetics/Family History – There have been many studies done that have shown addictions such as alcoholism are much like a disease and may be linked to genetics or a family history of abuse. Therefore, if substance abuse runs in your family, you need to watch your teens closely for common indicators.
• Low Self-Esteem/Depression – Low self-esteem and depression are common among teens with substance abuse. Usually the teens feel like the substances they’re using give them a temporary break from their problems.
• Lack of Parental Involvement – Some teens begin hanging out with the wrong crowd and experimenting with various substances because they are bored and there isn’t anyone (parents) at home who show an interest in them.
• Peer Pressure – In many instances, peer pressure is involved when teens try a dangerous substance for the first time. Teens don’t want to appear scared or weak in front of their friends, so they give in against their better judgment.
• Location and Availability – Often times, where a family lives plays an important role in teen substance abuse. For example, those in poverty stricken neighborhoods generally have higher substance abuse rates because the availability of the “product” is higher.

Above are the most common reasons teens begin to try various substances. So, what should you, as a parent, do to prevent this? Below are a few tips:

1. Talk About Teen Substance Abuse – Many parents feel that by ignoring the issue, their kids will just know that experimenting with drugs and alcohol is bad. However, this isn’t the case. Sometimes kids take your lack of involvement to mean that you don’t care. So, when presented with the opportunity by friends they take it. Therefore, you need to begin talking to your kids about the dangers of experimenting with various substances well before they reach the teenage years.
2. Share Your Experiences – If you experimented with dangerous substances as a kid, then be willing to talk to your child about it. Talk to your child about the seriousness of what you did and how things could have went bad fast. Your kids are interested in you and your past and will often listen when you start talking about your adolescence.
3. Create Scenarios – One of the best things parents can do with younger (grade school) age children is to create various types of practice scenarios with them. You can pretend to be a friend who is trying to get your friend to try a new drug. This will help your child to develop a strategy for saying no to friends who try to do this in the future.
4. Be Involved – Finally, the most important things parents can do who want to prevent teen substance abuse is to be actively involved in their children’s lives. Make a point to spend quality time with your kids and to attend their school functions and extracurricular activities when you can. When your child feels loved and accepted at home, hanging out with “friends” who experiment with various substances will lose its appeal.

In many ways, parenting teenagers has changed over the years, but there are still many ways in which it has not. For example, teens have always been known for testing authority and being somewhat rebellious and argumentative. They have also been known to experiment with alcohol, as well. For many years now, alcohol has been the number one drug used by teens. This is something that hasn’t changed for many generations and there are many dangers of teenage drinking.

More than likely, you can remember going to a party or social event in high school where there was alcohol present. In fact, you may have even experimented with it yourself during your teenage years. If so, you definitely aren’t the only parent in the world to have done this. However, this doesn’t mean that experimenting with alcohol is something you want your own teens to be doing.

Most parents who drank alcohol during their teen years now understand that this wasn’t the smartest thing for them to have done and that there are many dangers of teenage drinking.  However, as teens, you don’t see the big picture and hindsight is always 20/20. Therefore, as parents of teenagers, it’s your job to look out for them and try to prevent them from abusing alcohol during their teen years. While drinking alcohol at a young age has always increased the chance of becoming an alcoholic, there are now even more reasons to try and prevent your teen from experimenting with alcohol.

Dangers Of Teenage Drinking

First of all, alcohol has been proven to be a depressant which isn’t good for anyone, but especially teens who are going through hormonal changes as well as dealing with peer pressure and stress. Take a moment to consider the high numbers of teen suicides we are beginning to see across the nation every year. Did you know that in most of these cases, alcohol is found in the blood tests that follow?

Additionally, a new trend that is beginning to appear and is gradually becoming a major issue is the amount of bullying that is going on in schools around the nation. More than likely, you’re aware that there have been many teen suicides that have occurred as a result from bullying. As if bullying isn’t bad enough, when you add alcohol to the equation, it can easily get out of control. The fact is that every teen reacts differently to alcohol and there is always an increased risk of violence when alcohol is involved – this is true for both teens and adults.

There are many more dangers of teenage drinking such as an increased chance of teenage pregnancy, becoming the victim of a sexual crime, making unwise decisions and risking losing college scholarships, a greater chance of becoming an alcoholic and many more. This is why those parenting teenagers need to become serious about preventing their kids from abusing alcohol.

The most effective thing those parenting teenagers can do is to play an active role in your teen’s life. Keep the lines of communication open and discuss the consequences of drinking alcohol. Also, make it a point to know what is going on with your teen at school and with his or her friends. And, finally, you need to keep a close eye on your teen’s activities between the hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays, as these are the hours when teens drink alcohol the most.

As you can see there are many dangers of teenage drinking. Be sure to talk to your teens openly and honestly about alcohol and the affect it can have on them and others.

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My Out Of Control Teen:  A online parent-program for those who are struggling with their out-of-control teenagers. learn cut-to-the-chase parenting strategies that work immediately rather than months or years down the road.

When excited new parents bring their newborn baby home, the last thing they think of is that their little bundle of joy may be an alcoholic one day. They especially don’t think about the chance that their baby could be an alcoholic before he or she leaves high school. Those are tough issues that many parents don’t want to think about – regardless of how old their child is. However, the sad truth is that underage drinking is a major problem that many pre-teens and teenagers are around every day. The good news is that, as parents, you can make a major difference in your teen’s life in regards to underage drinking.

There are many parents out there that believe the best way to deter their teens from drinking is to downplay it and allow them to drink alcohol while under their supervision at home. While this may seem like a good idea in theory, it isn’t. In fact, when parents provide their teens with alcohol at home, they get the idea that “it’s no big deal” and they don’t see a problem drinking when they’re out with the rest of their underage friends.

Another way parents deal with the issue of underage drinking is by ignoring the issue altogether. Ignoring the issue of underage drinking completely may make your teen think that you are oblivious to everything that goes on outside your home. When your teen begins to feel this way, he or she may start to sneak around and do things behind your back because they don’t think they will ever get caught. While it usually starts with alcohol, unfortunately that isn’t where it ends. When parents choose to overlook the fact that their teen is around underage drinking, or participating in the act, the door to drugs opens.

Many other parents try to protect their teens from the temptation of alcohol by forcing intensely strict rules on their teens. While these rules are usually implemented with good intentions, they often have a negative effect on kids. When you set rules that are extremely strict on your teen in fear that he or she may go out and get drunk, you may just push your teen into a nasty rebellion. If your teen doesn’t rebel in high school, he or she may go overboard in college when you can’t control them any longer. You definitely don’t want either of those to occur. So, what can you do to help your teen steer clear of underage drinking?

The best thing you can do is talk to your teen before he or she enters high school. In fact, it’s best if you start talking to them about the negative effects of alcohol while they are in middle school as a lot of kids are trying alcohol before they leave 8th grade. Don’t be afraid to be open with your kids about alcohol and what it can do. If you came from an alcoholic home, tell your kids about your experience. Your kids want to hear what you think about important issues like this – even if they say otherwise.

When you talk to your teens about alcohol, listen to their thoughts and opinions with an objective mind. Make sure you don’t talk to them in a condescending manner. When you set house rules for your teen, don’t be overly strict. Let them know you trust them, but if they betray your trust there will be consequences. Basically, just be open with your teen about underage drinking. Talking about underage drinking objectively is the best way to protect your teen from it.

Need help parenting your teen? Click here.

Fifty years ago the worst thing a parent had to worry about their teenager doing was skipping class, smoking or drinking. Those three things were terrible at the time, but today those aren’t the worst things kids can be doing. Drugs are one of the worst fears many parents have. This is because teenagers are getting high from marijuana, ecstasy, heroine and a host of others. These things can be extremely debilitating and have the ability to ruin a teen’s young life if addiction occurs. Therefore, parents need to do all they can in order to protect their teens from the influence of drugs.

If you are a parent to a teenager, or pre-teen, then you may think your kids don’t want to hear anything you have to say because they are under the impression that you have no clue what you are talking about. While this may be true to an extent, it has been shown that 66% of teens don’t do drugs because they don’t want to lose their parents’ respect for them. This should tell you immediately that parents really are the best anti-drug for their teens.

To be an effective anti-drug for your teen, you have to be more than your teen’s friend. You have to be a parent – the figure of authority that your teen looks up to. Having your teen’s respect is the key to protecting him from drugs. Below are several ways you can get this respect from your teen.

Communicate Effectively: As technology continues to advance, our communication skills seem to decrease. This is because parents and kids alike spend so much time watching television, playing video games, working on the computer, texting friends, etc. It wasn’t always like this. Families used to actually do things together at night and on the weekends, and because our society doesn’t any more, parents and teenagers don’t have the open lines of communication those of generations past did. It is important that you begin working on this immediately if you want to protect your kids from drugs. Communicate with them how you feel about drugs and the harm they can come from them. Don’t push the subject, but instead openly talk about it in a casual manner whenever the opportunity arises.

Keep Tabs: A lot of parents don’t pay attention to what their teens are out doing because they feel like it’s an “invasion of privacy.” Well, you’re their parents and you have a right to know where they’re going, who they’re with and when they’ll be home. While this won’t be immediately appreciated, years down the road your kids will thank you for paying attention to them. Believe it or not, keeping tabs on your teens actually conveys to them how much you love and care for them.

Get Involved: This is more than keeping tabs on your teens. It means that you start to take an interest in the things they enjoy. If your teenager has a hobby, make an effort to learn about it. You might even ask your teen to teach you how to do it. If your teen plays sports or participates in any extracurricular activities, make an effort to attend some of the events. It’s important that you are involved in your teenager’s life.

Set Boundaries: Your teen needs to know exactly what you expect from him or her as far as behavior goes. Set this out clearly in the form of house rules and set appropriate consequences if the rules are broken. Teens need to know they’re loved and setting boundaries is one way to show them that.

Recommended Resource: Out Of Control Teen

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare – finding out that their teen is using drugs.  Before you panic, you need to gather as much information as you can to assess the situation.  While a knee jerk reaction is normal, it can cause more damage than good when dealing with teenagers and drug or alcohol issues.  If you have found out about the substance abuse through a third party, refrain from confronting the teen until you have calmed down and created a plan of action.  If your teen has come to you themselves, they obviously know they are in deep waters.  Stern lecturing may seem like a good idea, but it may not be the right approach for a scared young person that is seeking your help.

Once a drug or alcohol, or even both, problem has been uncovered, it is important to find out just how deep into it the teen is.  Teens may experiment with different substances because of peer pressure or because of boredom, depression or stress.  Talking with teens early and frequently about the dangers of drugs and alcohol can help give them the words and actions to decline to participate in their use.

Parents should familiarize themselves with the different types of drugs that teens may encounter.  This will give parents some clues to keep an eye out for as to side effects and symptoms of drug and alcohol addiction.  Illegal street drugs, such as cocaine or marijuana, are still abundantly available and you may be most familiar with these types of drugs.  Unfortunately, there are newer drugs being introduced to the population all the time.  Ecstasy and “acid” are popular as they greatly change the perceived reality, which may appeal to teens that are dealing with other issues such as depression or abuse.  Over-the-counter medications have also become popular to abuse, such as cough medications and diet pills.  These are relatively easy to acquire, cheap, and extremely dangerous.   Alcohol is also easy to get for teens, especially for those with older siblings that are willing to buy it for them, or parents with unguarded liquor cabinets.

Another surprising drug addiction in teenagers are steroids.  Despite being involved in athletics, which are supposed to help protect children from the dangers of drugs, sometimes teens are driven by competition or pressure from coaches to use steroids to improve their game and increase their muscle mass.  Steroids are extremely dangerous to the still developing bodies of teens and can create lifelong issues that they will never recover from.

Parents cannot monitor their child’s behavior 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  They can only guide their children in the right direction, and it is up to the teen to make the right decision when it comes to drug and alcohol use.  By educating children early and consistently, parents can give their kids the right information to withstand the pressures that surround them as they travel through the teen year.

Out of Control Teen is chock full of useful information, tools and tips to help you with your out of control teen. Click here for more information.

Most parents can remember the underage drinking that took place when they were in high school. While teenage drinking wasn’t as bad as it is today, it was still a concern for parents back then. Today, however, not only do parents of high school teens have to worry about alcohol, they also have to worry about drug abuse as well. In fact, the use of alcohol and drugs is one of the biggest problems high school teens face today. The good news is that there are several things that parents can do to help their teens avoid the problems caused by using drugs and alcohol in high school.

Setting rules is one of the best things parents can do for their teen during his high school years. Rules are designed to give teens a clear set of expectations – and when teens know their parents expectations, they are more likely going to try to measure up to them. The flip side to setting rules is that parents need to establish punishments for when the rules are broken – and enforce them! While it may seem small, setting rules can play a huge role in whether or not your teen experiments with drugs and alcohol during high school.

Parents can also help monitor their teen by getting to know his friends. By getting to know the friends, parents are able to get a better understanding of how their teen acts when away from home. For example, is your teen hanging out with people that are into going to parties or are they teens that are focused on their schoolwork? Basically, if you want to learn more about your teen, study his friends.

Another way parents can help their teen steer clear of the high school drug and alcohol scene is by spending time with him and keeping the lines of communication open. Studies have shown that teens that have a good relationship are less likely to try drugs and alcohol compared to those that don’t. Therefore, make time to do something fun with your teen each week and always take an interest in their day and talk to them!

While high school is the time when teens get more freedom, parents should still keep close tabs on them. It is important that you know where your teen is outside of school – especially at night and on the weekends. Make it a point to ask who he will be with and where he is going – and, don’t be afraid to check up on him from time to time. It may seem like spying, but how will you ever find out if your teen is telling you the truth if you don’t ever validate his story?

If you follow the four tips above, you will be taking a huge step towards preventing your teen from experimenting with drugs and alcohol during high school. However, parents also need to be aware of the warning signs that indicate drug and alcohol use. If you notice several of the symptoms below present in your teen, do not hesitate to take action. Many drug and alcohol addictions started in high school.

-       An increased need for privacy

-       A drop in class grades

-       A new group of friends

-       Evidence such as bloodshot eyes, alcohol on the breath, drug paraphernalia, unfamiliar medications, etc.

-       A sudden interest in mouthwashes and colognes/perfumes

-       Missing medications

-       Frequently asking for money

If you’re teen is out of control and you’d like more help and information, click here and you will be directed to an online parent-program for those who are struggling with their out-of-control teenagers. Learn cut-to-the-chase parenting strategies that work immediately rather than months or years down the road.

Teenage binge drinking is a serious problem. In fact, 90% of the alcohol consumed by teens is consumed in the form of teenage binge drinking.

No matter how you put it out there on the table the facts are scary. You can get the statistics from anywhere – Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) reports that more than 5 million high school teenagers experience binge drinking at least once per month. However, it could be higher or lower depending on the specific teenager, who they’re with, and how often they attend high school parties. The fact of the matter is that it happens all across the United States. You may think that your teen is not involved with this sort of behavior, but think again. What child would want to tell their parents that they binge drink on the weekend? And just so we’re clear, teenage binge drinking is usually defined as having 5 or more drinks on any one occasion. No matter how you look at it, five or more drinks in high school usually means that it is enough to get the teenager drunk, if that tells you anything.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has created the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free. What is their main purpose in doing so? Its main goal is to keep alcohol away from children ages 9 through 15. The implications of having such an organization are daunting! Why, in fact, does the United States need such a Leadership? The answer is because teenagers are starting to binge drink at an earlier age, with over 40% of high school sophomores indicated that they have been drunk at least once, as the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free reports. In addition, they also have found, through studies and reports, that nearly 20% of junior high school teenagers have experienced the same thing! Those two facts beg the question, “What is going on?”

It seems as though their needs to be some way for teenagers, high schoolers and junior high schoolers alike, to realize that binge drinking and drinking just to have that experience are not the ways to have fun. Studies have also shown that binge drinking reduces a student’s ability to remember what they learned in class. Furthermore, shouldn’t the amount of automobile crashes involving alcohol be enough to convince children and teenagers that it is most definitely not a safe thing to do?

One solution to the problem would be to create other positive influences in the teenager’s life that they can cling to instead of alcohol. If there is something wrong within the family or if a family is experiencing some sort of trauma, teenagers and high school kids are more likely to drink. The Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free is educating the public, families, and the States of their own children’s’ drinking problems, hoping to reduce the number of children ages 9 through 15 who drink on a regular basis through education. Indeed, whole communities need to get involved and make this a city-wide and state-wide goal. Achieving a teenager binge drinking rate close to zero percent would almost be a miracle, but it is possible! In the meantime, educate your kids on why not to drink and why they should stay alcohol free. America can change this trend, one child and high schooler at a time! Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free. (http://www.alcoholfreechildren.org/)

By Matthew Schieltz

My Out Of Control Teen:  A online parent-program for those who are struggling with their out-of-control teenagers. learn cut-to-the-chase parenting strategies that work immediately rather than months or years down the road.

No-Nonsense Parenting For Today’s Teenager – Learn how to feel like a good parent even when your teenager hates you. Also learn how get your disrespectful Teenager to LISTEN to what you say & RESPECT you as their parent while getting peace back in your home. Risk Free for 60 Days! No Obligation!”