WHAT wonderful advice Dominic Shelley, founder of drugs and alcohol program RAAD, had for parents this week about trying better to protect their children.
Shelley’s advice was simple and powerful.
He wants parents to make sure their children are aware that they will be offered drugs while attending schoolies – or for that matter any young person’s event.
Shelley also says it is best for parents to let their children know that – while not condoning drugs – if they should take anything, including alcohol, and become ill or out of control to call home fast.
What wonderfully simple and sound advice.
It raises the question about how many times children do not get such common sense-style communication from parents.
For example, do parents let their children know that if it should turn out that they have questions or doubts about their sexuality, that it’s ok to raise it with mum and dad? Are they told that they do not need to feel bad about this and that their parents are there to support them?
All parents rouse on kids from time to time. Usually it is done with love in the heart in the hope that they can warn off or scare a child from taking part in potentially dangerous activities or taking an unwise decision.
Activities can range from things like drug and alcohol abuse to hanging out with kids who drive dangerously or just simply getting in with the wrong set.
Regardless, it’s mostly fun watching children go through their teens but the sage parent soon realises that teenagers are probably not the most honest of species on the planet and that as risk taking goes, they are pretty much at the top of the tree.
Shelley also honed his advice to one particular drug issue, that of synthetic, home-cooked drugs that can arrive in the mail.
He pointed out that it was extremely difficult for paramedics and doctors to treat overdose patients when they did not know what chemical compounds had been ingested.
It can be a terrifying time for parents guiding their children through milestone events like schoolies and on into adulthood.
It’s a time of great indecision and worry as parents try to work out when and how to let go of offspring as they head out into the world.
Advice like that of Shelley’s can make those difficult times for parents and teenagers a little bit easier.
