Grades 4 through 6

A common stereotype holds that teenagers are rebellious, are ruled by peer pressure, and court danger even to the point of self-destructiveness. Although teens do often seem unreceptive to their parents as they struggle to become independent, teens need parental support, involvement, and guidance more than ever.

Young teens can experience extreme and rapid shifts in their bodies, emotional lives, and relationships. Adolescence is often a confusing and stressful time, characterized by mood changes and deep insecurity, as teens struggle to figure out who they are and how to fit in while establishing their own identities. It's not surprising that this is the time when many young people try alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs for the first time.

Parents may not realize that their young teens feel surrounded by drug use. Nearly nine out of ten teens agree that "it seems like marijuana is everywhere these days." Teens are twice as likely to be using marijuana as parents believe they are, and teens are getting high in the places that parents think are safe havens, such as around school, at home, and at friends' houses. 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. At the same time, you should discuss drugs' long-term effects:

the lack of crucial social and emotional skills ordinarily learned during adolescence;
the risk of lung cancer and emphysema from smoking;
fatal or crippling car accidents and liver damage from heavy drinking;
addiction, brain coma, and death.

Courtesy U.S. Department of Education: Growing Up Drug-Free: A Parent's Guide to Prevention - 1998