What, if anything, do you teach your kids about addiction? Do you stick to the basics of drugs and alcohol or discuss other addictions such as food, gambling, sex, porn, and other things that can take over and consume a person?
My daughter is well aware of addiction.....not just drugs. She has a very disfunctional extended family (that I keep her away from). Her birth mother is an alcoholic/drug addict, several other family members are addicts (to drugs and/or alcohol), 1 aunty who has a major food addiction and is morbidly obese, even after gastric bypass surgery, 1 aunty who is annorexic.............etc. etc.
So, my daughter is educated on different forms of addiction (not so much porn or sex yet) and as she gets older and has questions, I answer them.
My oldest is somewhat informed about drug addiction. Her bio dad was a drug addict and then decided not to see her for 4 years.....then barely see her for the next 1 year....then not at all since.
She asked me why were were not together and I did tell her that he was using drugs and that the drugs were making him sick and it wasn't safe for us. I also told her that he was thinking about anything but drugs even though he was hurting himself because that is what drugs do. I did tell her that he was working on himself which is why he wasn't seeing her (though it was also due to his laziness but I didn't tell her that).
They know the basics of drugs and alcohol, but we haven't had to cover anything else yet. I'm sure as ds1 gets older (he's 12), we'll have to get into that other stuff : (
I really don't think they have the capacity to completely understand addiction. Shot I still don't understand....
Quoting wakymom:They know the basics of drugs and alcohol, but we haven't had to cover anything else yet. I'm sure as ds1 gets older (he's 12), we'll have to get into that other stuff : (
My kids are still a bit too young to fully understand addiction. My 7 and 5 year old daughters found some old photos a couple weeks ago of my friend Devin. They asked what was wrong with him and why he looked so different from the photos of when he and I were in our early teens and how he looks now. The photos were taken during the 4 year period that he was addicted to heroin and various pills. Devin and I both told them the truth, that he was sick from taking a lot of bad drugs. He talked to them about it and made them feel better, they were both very concerned because they love him. I told him as the they get older I want him to educate them on his past, it was hard enough be his friend and dragging him out of all that and I never want to experience that if it's one of my own kids.
No one will really understand it fully (even adults) unless they have been through it themselves or have a loved one that is an addict.
I think that you can talk about how sometimes have a need for certain things so much that that is all they think about. Put it in terms that children know like....what if you drank chocolate milk and liked it. You wanted more and then you wanted more and then you wanted more. You wanted chocolate milk so bad that you would be mean to everyone or do something you wouldn't normally do to get chocolate milk.
IDK...just thinking outloud.
In the younger elementary years, my talks focused more on the dangers of drugs and alcohol. As he's gotten older, I've tried to include the dangers of addiction overall in my talks with him. Addictive tendencies run in my husband's side of the family, and so I'm concerned that my son is at higher risk towards any sort of addiction.
i've talked about all addictions with my oldest, she's 8. they have red ribbon week at school every year & when she started school she asked me what it was about. i like the idea of this but have found that the school doesn't really explain anything to the children. it's more of a generic "just say no" without helping the children understand why. my daughter came home last year saying all drugs were bad & those who take them are not smart. i had to explain to her why that statement wasn't true. trying to explain to a 7 year old why some drugs are good & some are not & how even good ones get misused wasn't fun but necessary.
when she asked why some people are so much bigger than others we talked about food addictions. when she asked about people in the show "hoarders" we talked about the addictions they have. as much as i can i've explained to her about various addictions & addictive personalities, in a manner she can understand for her age. i think it's important for her to understand such issues. after all it's with understanding that we can grow & conquer. there is a history of issues in my family & my husband's & as the kids get older they will be informed of them so they can, hopefully, not end up in similar situations.
For now we don't discuss it.
But addiction is an issue he will be fully aware of. He needs to be.
Half days for the last two days of school...
- chinosruca
on Oct. 21, 2011 at 11:56 AM