The most troubling subject a parent can have must be when, they think a child or teenager is using drugs.
As principal of a primary school, I found that it even happened to younger children.
This was mostly because of parents not being a good role model.
You cannot think that this is possible, but there are parents who use drugs, and even put some in their children drinks, like orange juice or milk.
Fortunately this was not an occurrence that I often came across. But I did come across a few.
This was very sad, as we at school could see that the child is changing, without knowing why.
We often looked and saw that these children really had been looking less neat. There eyes were different than usual and they really got angry easily for no reason at all.
This was the most heart-breaking children to see as they did not even realise what was happening.
It was very quickly apparent that the parents were also on drugs and that because of that they did not care anymore.
How to help these people was the big question?
They normally did not want to be helped and that made it more difficult.
The only way was to get welfare involved and that was really not what anyone wanted. So we had to be hard sometimes even though your heart was breaking, and take these children away from the family.
I had a few parents who were policeman, and would contact them to try and help the parents. They had to find out where they got the drugs and sometimes even lock a parent up because of aggressive behaviour.
This did help as this parent was then taken to rehabilitation centres, and we tried to help them there. But if they do not want to be helped, you can try your best but it will not work.
The children had to be put into homes, with no children as we did try to prevent making more addicts.
Luckily we had a few teachers who did not have any children and they were always prepared to help.
As the drugs stopped being given to the children, they would suffer as they were addicted and had to get rid of that addiction.
We use to take them to rehabilitation centres sometimes if it was too far gone for the child to be helped at home.
So parents, rich or poor there are certain signs that you can look out for to make sure your child is not on drugs.
Good parents would notice it very quickly, as first you just get that feeling.
Once you have that feeling ask your child, and look at his behaviour.
You don’t ask the child if he or she is on drugs, you ask them if they know anyone who uses drugs.
They will then not be suspicious of you and might just start talking about their own problem. Please and I repeat Please do not get angry and listen to what they are telling you.
If we don’t listen to our children we are really in trouble and not just them.
Just remember that prevention is better than cure.
You will maybe see the child’s eating habits change.
They might even become reclusive in their rooms or in bathrooms and there are so many things to watch out for.
Never forget that your child can be one of them even if you think they are perfect.
This is something that can happen at a party they go to without them knowing.
Always teach children never to drink something that was not opened in front of them. Some drugs could be put in this drink without them even knowing.
Then always make sure that children can call home if they feel uncomfortable. They must have enough money with them if a cell phone is not available.
Make sure that if there is a party that there is some grownups at the party who you know will look after the children.
We cannot put our children in cotton wool and keep them safe, but it is our job to try our best.
They must know that there are certain rules that have to be followed like I did mention above.
Then I use to just pop round at a party anytime and walk in without them knowing that I am coming, this made me feel more comfortable as I then knew what was going on.
I can keep on like this for hours but parents please try to keep your children away from drugs, as peer pressure is one of the big reasons for bad things happening to children.
A very important thing to notice is when they change their friends.
Children normally don’t just leave their lifetime friends for no reason, so it is very important to watch out for this as it is a good reason for children to start using drugs.
No parent will be happy with this if you love your children, but be careful not to be mislead.
Please remember this and have a wonderful day from the Wild Coast.
