Teen holiday parties pose unique challenges for parents and teens. During these events, teens may feel pressured to use drugs or alcohol. And parents worry about this problem for their children. Instead of forcing your teen to stay home, understand the dangers they face, and help them through tackling these challenges in a healthy way. With preparation, your teen parties in TX can become healthy social events instead of incidents that could spark the need for a substance abuse treatment program. If a teen in your life is battling drug addiction, please contact Fort Behavioral Health at 844.332.1807 today.
Talk to Your Teen About Drug Use
Regularly talking to your teenager about the dangers of substance abuse could protect them from peer pressure. In fact, compared to teens whose parents don’t talk to them about drug abuse, teens with parents who do have a significantly lower chance of substance use. Establish a rapport with your teen long before the season for holiday parties starts to establish a baseline of expectations.
Know What Happens at Teen Holiday Parties in Your Home
If your teen wants to host a party, know what happens during the event, even if you are not there. The law holds parents of minors legally responsible if drugs or alcohol appear at a party in your home.
Never allow any drugs or alcohol at parties in your home, even if you must stay home during the event. Serving food and drinks gives you something to do while making your presence known.
Networking with other parents and discussing your expectations of party attendees could prevent teens from bringing drugs or alcohol.
Get Information on Parties Your Teen Attends
Before your teen goes to a party, find out as much information as you can. Phone the parent and find out if a responsible parent or another adult will attend the party the entire time. Ask about when the party starts and ends. Establish rules with your teen about drugs or alcohol and remind them to leave the party if those substances appear. Also, instruct your teen never to accept a ride from someone who used drugs or alcohol.
Knowing the ending time for the party allows you to wait for your teen to come home. If your child knows that you will wait up for them, they may feel less likely to stay out after the party where they can get into unsupervised trouble. Also, when you wait up, you can verify that your teen did not get a ride home from someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Follow Up with Your Teen
It would be best if you had frequent conversations with your teenager leading up to the holiday parties. However, you also need to follow up with them to ensure that they followed your directions. Continue to remind them that drugs and alcohol have significantly different effects on the developing teen brain.
Also, connect with the parents who hosted any teen holiday parties after the events to verify that drugs or alcohol did not appear at the events. Having a good relationship with the parents of your teenager’s friends also ensures that future parties will remain drug-free as long as one of the parents in your group attends.
Get Teen Addiction Treatment in Texas from Fort Behavioral Health
While some people expect drugs and alcohol to appear at all teen parties, you can take proactive measures to ensure that your teen avoids these substances and does not take them if offered. However, sometimes, the best parenting cannot stop a teen from trying drugs at holiday teen parties or falling into alcohol or drug addiction.
In some cases, teen parties in TX could open the door to the need for alcohol addiction treatment programs for teens. If you suspect that your child attends frequent teen holiday parties to acquire drugs or alcohol, they may have a problem with substance use. Contact us at Fort Behavioral Health at 844.332.1807 for more information about your options. Getting treatment for teen drug or alcohol addiction early increases the chances of a successful recovery.
