Number of children with drug woes on rise

[Luba]

According to a 'Province' article: Kids as young as 7 suffering

London - British doctors are treating children as young as seven suffering from the effects of alcohol or drug abuse, according to a recent survey.
The poll of 500 family doctors for More4 News program found 41% believed the number of youngsters with alcohol and drug problems was rising.
About 85% of doctors said children and teenagers had ready access to drugs, while 95% said they had easy access to alcohol.
Nigel Williams, the Children's Commissioner for Northern Ireland said that "Children are using alcohol and drugs at much younger ages."
Youths aged 14 to 16 were the most likely to experience problems.
56% of those surveyed said there was a lack of local support to handle the problems.
According to Williams young people aren't actually responding to the messages, that they're continuing to experiment and are experimenting at younger ages.

[Duke]

Sadly that doesn't really come as a suprise to me. I think its less and less common for parents to actually spend quality time with their kids these days and/or get to know them as a person rather than just a kid. I can say that splitting up with mom was really the best thing that could have happened for me and my daughters relationship.

Another thing that really helped was stepping down from a stressful job. I had to face the fact that stress in my life was directly proportionate to the stress between my daughter and I.

[Weiser]

I believe it. It's too bad too. These kids are still growing, I'd hate to see what it does to them when they start so young.

I really do think that parents should spend more time with their kids and ask them questions about everything.

My parents did that, and even though I found it to be really annoying, I was a pretty good kid. Granted when I moved away I did a 180, but when I was younger and at home I was good, couldn't get away with basically anything so I never bothered to try.

[Star]

it doesn't surprise me either. parents need to know who their kids are hanging with, where they're hanging with them and what they do when they are hanging out.

Kassandra's almost 14 now. for this past year, i allow her to go to the movies, the mall and once a month dances at the Y. I know who she's going there with and who she meets there. i drive her in and pick her up as soon as it's all done. half the time i feel like her friends personal cab driver; i drive them home and/or pick them up also.

I don't allow kassandra to hang out after school, she is to come straight home. I don't allow her to just hang out someplace without a reason (shopping, movies, etc..) and i certainly don't allow her to walk the streets and stand on corners or in front of establishments.

When kids are allowed to do these things, that's when the trouble starts. Unfortunately, no matter how hard i tried to keep krystal from doing these things, she rebelled. sometimes that happens but at least i know that i did my best. the rest was up to her.

Kassandra is fine with our rules. One more thing i do ask her on a regular basis is if there was any smoking, drugs, alcohol at all while she was out. i'll even sneak in a sniff test on her (without her realizing that's what i'm doing). i smell her breath and pay attention to her eyes. so far, nothing.

I can't stand to see kids just hanging out and walking the streets. i wonder, where are their parents?

I remember when i was young, at 11:00 pm every single night before the news started, they would say :It's 11:00 o'clock, do you know where your children are?". they don't say it anymore on tv. I hated that because that was a remeinder to my parents that hey! it's late, time for bed kids! LOL!!

any of you remember that at all?

[Luba]

Originally Posted by Star

I remember when i was young, at 11:00 pm every single night before the news started, they would say :It's 11:00 o'clock, do you know where your children are?". they don't say it anymore on tv. I hated that because that was a remeinder to my parents that hey! it's late, time for bed kids! LOL!!

any of you remember that at all?

Actually I do...but here it was for 10:00...the kids must have been more trouble in Western Canada!

[Luba]

I just realized it took me just about two years to respond to this question...I'm a very slow thinker!