Although teens may not show they appreciate it, parents profoundly shape the choices their children make about drugs. Take advantage of how much young people care about social image and appearance to point out 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. It is both an exciting and challenging time when your child enters middle school or junior high. They're little fish in a big pond and desperately want to fit in. Because your children may now see older students using alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs and may think they are cool and self-assured, your children may be tempted to try drugs, too.
Drug use goes up dramatically in the first year of middle school or junior high.
No matter where you live, your children will be exposed to all kinds of drugs from now on. At this time when peer approval means everything, your children may make you feel unwelcome. But while your children are pulling away from you to establish their own identities or may seem to be embarrassed by you, they need you to be involved in their lives more than ever before. If it seems that your child is attracted to those with bad habits, reiterate why drug use is unacceptable. Older teens have already had to make decisions many times about whether to try drugs or not.