Of course, every child knows that drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes is dangerous for health. But few people will explain what the danger is. Students every day become witnesses of scenes where adults drink alcoholic beverages, smoke, on television screens in almost every film show the same alcohol and smoking.
Not only does the child want to assert himself as a person in adolescence and feel like an adult, imitating him, starts to drink and smoke. So also in children there is a cognitive dissonance because of conflicting information about smoking and alcohol. And this is another reason why schoolchildren try alcohol and cigarettes. They wonder how they actually affect the body.
The most important thing is for your child to learn all the facts and threats of using harmful substances. Do not bully or threaten your child. Everyone knows that the more parents forbid something to do, the more children want to do it. It is proved that many children who drink alcohol or smoke very strict parents who do not talk about these bad habits, but simply forbid.
Therefore, this forbidden fruit becomes especially sweet for children, and they try to smoke and drink outside the house, in every way hiding it from their parents.
It will be better if you calmly talk with your child about the harm of alcohol and smoking and your voice will not be strictly "impossible." Your children should know that you can always talk to these topics at any time, and you will not scold or reproach them.
First of all, during an unobtrusive and non-compulsory conversation about the dangers of alcohol and cigarettes, you need to tell what alcohol and tobacco are. Then it should be explained that some people abuse alcohol and smoke cigarettes despite the proven harmfulness of these habits for health. Tell that any substance, except food products, having appeared in an organism of the person, can appear very dangerous to human health. Next, it should be mentioned that these bad habits can lead to impressive violations of the body's functions, to weaken health, and sometimes to lead to a fatal outcome. And most importantly, say that if you start drinking or smoking, it will be difficult to eliminate this mental and physical dependence.
So, our advice to parents.
At the age of 8 years, it is necessary to dwell in particular on the following points:
- food, alcohol, drugs and cigarettes - these are completely different things;
- adults can sometimes drink a small amount of alcoholic beverages, and the child does not, because alcohol has a harmful effect on the formation of the brain and other organs of the child's body;
- adults can smoke, and children do not, as this can lead to many different diseases in schoolchildren, and most importantly because children do not grow from cigarettes;
Drugs destroy the human body, so they are forbidden to eat at any age.
At the age of 11 years:
- information about the dangers of alcohol, drugs and smoking should expand and become more complicated;
- it is necessary to cite irrefutable facts in the form of a discussion. Children at this age are drawn to knowledge and do not accept precepts;
- Tell us that some adults have a pathological dependence on bad habits;
- the use of alcohol or cigarettes leads to severe damage to the lungs, brain, liver and other organs.
Some tips how to protect the child from bad habits:
1. Parents should take an active part in the lives of their children. In this case, the probability of children falling into unpleasant situations decreases. Adults need to know all the friends of their children, where they walk and what they do. Try to invite them home more often. Let them play better at home under your supervision.
2. Spend more time with children. Talk about their interests, support them in any endeavors.
3. Always help the children at the first request. The child should feel its importance.
4. Give your child to some sports section or play sports games yourself. Schoolchildren, who are constantly engaged in something, have less time and energy to smoke or drink alcohol.
5. Empower teenagers with household chores or a dacha. Duties allow them to feel part of the family and to realize the importance of what they are doing. Children with a sense of their own importance, in rare cases, start drinking and smoking.
6. Protect children from watching movies and programs, where adults and, especially, teenagers smoke and drink alcohol.
7. And most importantly, never drink or smoke in the presence of your children. After all, most of all they imitate you.
Now you know how to tell a child that alcohol, drugs and smoking are harmful. We hope that our course, where we talked about the special features of comprehensive assistance to families where children use alcohol, drugs, will help you avoid this terrible problem.