By MICHAEL OVERALL Staff Writer on Feb 26, 2013, at 12:30 PM Updated on 2/26 at 12:27 PM
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We’ve all done something that we’re not proud of. Maybe not drug use. But something. And whatever that something is, it’s something we wouldn’t want our kids to do.
But should we tell our kids that we’ve done it? Maybe explain the awful consequences that we faced? Help them learn from our mistakes?
Maybe not.
Parental confessions often backfire, making kids less likely to have strong negative perceptions of drug use, according to a recent survey published in the journal Human Communication Research.
Researchers asked more than 500 kids, sixth- to eighth-graders, about what their parents had told them about drugs, alcohol and tobacco. And they asked the kids about their own perceptions, too.
More than 80 percent of parents had admitted to some level of abuse in the past, even if it was just the occasional binge drinking in college. But the more parents talked about it, the less likely their children were to have a strong negative perception of it.
“Well, my parents tried it,” they seem to think, “and they turned out OK.”
Parents should talk to their kids about drinking and drugs, the researchers said. And talk often, making it perfectly clear that you don’t approve and will not tolerate drug use.
But leave personal anecdotes out of it.
For more details, click HERE.
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