Monday, September 25, 2006

Parents "Unaware" of Kid Drug Abuse

One of my favorite Shelley quotes is, "The eyes bring to seeing what they want to see."

Who wants to see their kids using drugs and drinking alcohol? Here is my theory: the parents are inattentive to begin with, or some other family problem exists, and the kids cope or experiment while the parents are distracted.

Who wants to deal with a doped up kid while both parents are working like crazy? Who wants to deal with a doped up kid in the middle of divorce? Who wants to deal with a doped up kid when the church would find out and this would look bad? Who wants to deal with a doped up kid when fighting depression or other physical problems oneself?

Kids with future plans don't do drugs. Happy kids don't do drugs. Confident kids don't start smoking. Secure kids don't need to go to a party, drink themselves into oblivian to feel good about themselves.

Of course, parents are unaware of their kid's behavior. Seeing it would mean dealing with it and dealing with it effectively would mean dealing with the cause and not just the symptoms. (Many parents trot their kids to the psychiatrist, medicate them--because, of course, the kid is the problem and are done with it.)

The authors of the study hope this "research helps parents wake up." They haven't woken up since the War on Drugs was declared, why would they wake up now?

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