He asked me if I wanted to smoke, and I was like, alright. James, who smoked marijuana with his father at age 15. James says the experience certainly altered his relationship with his father. James and his father are not alone.
Research shows an alarming number of parents have used drugs with their kids.
It really interferes with the appropriate parent-child relationship, says Dr. Margaret Nichols, a clinical psychologist. A relationship in which the parent helps set standards for the child to follow. Dr. Nichols says it also makes future attempts to parent the child extremely difficult. So that everything from then on, she says, when you say no, don t do it, it becomes ludicrous, it s empty. Dr. Nichols also says other shared activities, like drinking, can damage a parent-child relationship, too.