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“When Charlie asked me if I had ever used drugs when I was younger, I wasn’t quite sure what the best way was to handle it.
“I was worried that if I told her that I had, she would think it gave her permission to do the same. I didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of lying to her either. I decided to be honest and tell her that I had used drugs.
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“She didn’t seem in the least bit shocked, but more interested in my experience. I talked about how I took the drugs to fit in and although it resolved my curiosity, it also scared me now to think about what I did. I told her that I think about some of the situations and can’t believe how lucky we were that nothing went wrong.
“I told her that I thought she may think it was hypocritical, but I would prefer that she never took drugs. To my surprise, she didn’t think it was hypocritical, she preferred I told her the truth and could see how my view had changed over time. We chatted about some of the different effects of drug I would worry about.
“I know I can’t stop her from taking drugs, but at least I’ve spoken to her about my concerns and now I just have to hope that she’s taken it on board.”
I WISH I’D KNOWN….
You don’t have to have ever taken drugs to understand where your teenager may be coming from but if you have, the best thing you can do is to be honest. Use the opportunity to talk about the risks associated with using drugs and set some clear ground rules as to what you would expect of their behaviour with regard to taking drugs in the future.
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