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Preschoolers
At this early age, they are eager to know and memorize rules, they want to know the rules, and they want your opinion on what's "bad" and what's "good." Although they are old enough to understand that smoking is bad for them, they are not ready to take in complex facts about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
Kindergarten through 3rd Grade
Now is the time to begin to explain what alcohol, tobacco, and drugs are, that some people use them even though they are harmful, and the consequences of using them.
- Discuss how anything that is not food or prescribed by the doctor can be extremely harmful.
- Tell them that drugs interfere with the way our bodies work, can make a person very sick, or even cause them to die.
- Explain the idea of addiction-that drug use can become a very bad habit that is hard to stop.
Grades Four through Six (ages 9-11 years old)
By the time children leave elementary school, they should know:
- the immediate effects of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs on different parts of the body, including risks of coma or fatal overdose;
- the long-term results of addiction and the loss of control over their lives that users experience;
- the reasons why drugs are especially dangerous for growing bodies;
- the problems that alcohol and other illegal drugs cause not only to the user, but also to the user's family and world.
Grades Seven through Nine (12-14 years old)
Adolescence is often a confusing and stressful time, characterized by mood changes and deep insecurity, as teens struggle to figure out whom they are and how to fit in, while establishing their own identities. Parents may not realize that their young teens feel surrounded by drug use. Nearly 9 out of 10 teens agree "it seems like marijuana is everywhere these days." Teens are twice as likely to be using marijuana as parents believe they are, and teens are getting high in the places that parents think are safe havens, such as around school, at home, and at friend's houses.
Parents profoundly shape the choices their children make about drugs.
Teens need to know the immediate, distasteful consequences of tobacco and marijuana use--for example, that smoking causes bad breath and stained teeth and makes clothes and hair smell. As a parent you should discuss drugs' long-term effects:
- The lack of crucial social and emotional skills ordinarily learned during adolescence;
- The risk of lung cancer and emphysema from smoking;
- Fatal or crippling car accidents and liver damage from heavy drinking;
- Addiction, brain damage, memory loss, coma, and death.
Grades Ten through Twelve (ages 15-17 years old)
To resist peer pressure, teens need more than a general message not to use drugs. They need to hear from a parent that anyone can become a chronic user or an addict and that even non-addicted use can have serious permanent consequences.
Most high school students are future-oriented so they are more likely to listen to discussions of how drugs can ruin chances of getting into a good college or being hired for a job.
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