When your child is young, you’ll be full of hope and optimism about what they could become, and you’ll be excited by the potential you see in them to grow and blossom into a happy and successful adult. However, sometimes life isn’t as easy and predictable as we imagine it will be, and sometimes our children are affected by traumatic life experiences or get involved with the wrong crowd.
Those who start heading down the wrong path and get involved with drugs can find that it becomes a slippery slope. While they may have only intended to experiment with drugs and use them recreationally at parties and to enhance their experience of life, they will likely become quickly addicted, and this can have the power to negatively affect every aspect of their life.
If your child is addicted to drugs, you’re likely going through a terrible journey, and you may not know how to best help them. The following are some tips for effectively helping your drug-addicted child.
Remember that addicts can lie
If you trust your child’s character and you remember that they were always open and honest with you growing up, you’ll want to always trust what they are telling you. However, sometimes you need to remember that it is not your child that you are speaking to, but an addict. Addicts often lie because their mind is ruled by their addiction. Never necessarily trust when your child tells you that they are not using — wait to see the evidence yourself.
Parents can be enablers
When you love your child unconditionally, you may inadvertently enable them, because you would do anything to take away their pain. The truth is that you must sometimes allow them to experience the natural consequences of their actions so that they can begin to help themselves.
The way that you intervene with your child’s drug addiction will have a lot to do with your child’s age and how long they have been addicted. Helping them to avoid jail time and go through rehabilitation could be a way for them to get their life back on track.
