Drug Contract Between Parents And Teenagers
What Are Drug Contracts?
What Should Be Included In A Teen Drug Contract?
- Rules — This is the foundation of your drug-free contract. You can list all the substances you want to prevent your child from using. What makes a drug contract flexible is that you can indicate whether, for example, you want to allow your teen to drink on exceptional special occasions a certain amount of alcohol with your supervision. While writing down every rule, you need to explain to your child the negative impacts of the substances on his health and well-being.
- Reasons and Consequences — While writing down the reasons, you can initiate a 2-way conversation with your child. Asking for their opinions will help you know your child’s feelings toward drug abuse. The consequences should be simple. They might include community service, decreasing their daily allowance, deprivation from specific gadgets, and many others. These are essential things in young people’s lives, and having consequences that will affect them will make your child think twice before using harmful substances.
- Signature — Of course, just like any other contract, a drug contract should contain your and your children’s signature. This will symbolize that all the parties involved agree with the contents of the contract.
How Should The Contract Be Delivered To Your Teen?
Why Does It Matter If You Use a Written or Oral Contract?
When Is The Right Time To Have This Conversation With Your Teenager?
Which Drugs And Alcohols Should Be Included In The Contract?
How to enforce your drug contract with your teen?
- Always Keep Calm — This may sound simple, but it takes a lot of discipline. Once you know about a specific violation, be calm and collected. Enforce only the consequences that are agreed with. Avoid adding new clauses to become more objective.
- Acknowledge Success — Both you and your child are trying to live a sober life. Your teen is doing their best to follow your rules. Aside from giving them the rewards listed in the contract, you can treat them to other things to make them feel good about their sobriety. Give them enough recognition when they deserve it.
- Stay Involved — A contract without proper monitoring is not good enough. Although there might be rules, it is still up to your children whether to follow them or not. You wouldn’t want to learn that your child is addicted when the situation is already severe. Keep an eye on your teen’s friends and activities as much as you can. You can also use the same social media platforms your children use since they tend to communicate their feelings and activities.
How do you know when it's time to enlist the help of a therapist or other professional for your teen?
After doing your part trying to prevent addiction, you should take the next step: getting your teen into a rehab facility. If your teen exhibits signs of depression, self-harm, rebellion, drug use, poor school performance, absences, anti-social behavior, mood swings, and participation in illegal activities, then now is the time to seek help troubled teens. Since you are near Los Angeles, California, you should contact the Key Healthcare team. We offer Teen IOP, an outpatient program specifically designed for teens aged 14-17 to help them battle drug addiction and live a fully sober life. On the other hand, if your teen has already undergone primary treatment and still needs an aftercare program to prevent relapse, the Teen Sober Living program would best suit their needs.