Set a reasonable time for your child to be home.

Be awake and interact with them when they come home.

Clearly and often tell your children your expectations that they not use. (Every time they go out!)

Talk with them in advance about situations that may arise around alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.

Discuss together ways to avoid uncomfortable situations.

Tell them why you make the decisions you do about chemicals, including medications.

Offer your children a safe ride home if they call. (That means you have to be available.)

Use teachable moments to give them accurate information about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.

Get to know your son's or daughter's friends and share with them your expectations about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. They appreciate knowing you care about them.

Together, decide what the consequences will be should you have any evidence or suspicion of alcohol or other drug use. (If your intuition tells you something is wrong, it probably is. Trust your perceptions.)

Your kids have a hotline of communication . . . develop one among adults, too.

Youth will often spend the night out if they plan to use. Know where they are going. Talk to the hosts and ask if alcohol or tobacco is allowed and to what degree the hosts plan to be involved and on-site.

Tell your son or daughter in advance you will be checking up. Then do it. Make sure they are where they say they are.

If your son or daughter is using tobacco in spite of all consequences, do not allow it in your home or vehicles or in your presence.

Reduce the easy accessibility of alcohol around your home. Consider keeping your alcohol supply under lock and key.

If problems develop and persist in the face of consequences, do not hesitate to take your child for an assessment to find out what the problem is and how to remedy it.

Set a good example regarding health and safety.

Provide an environment that empowers your child
In more than 20 years of drug abuse research, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has identified important principles for prevention programs in the family, school, and community. Prevention programs often are designed to enhance "protective factors" (those associated with reduced potential for drug use), and to reduce "risk factors," (those that make drug use more likely). Research has shown that many of the same factors apply to other behaviors such as youth violence, delinquency, school dropout, risky sexual behaviors, and teen pregnancy.

Protective factors (reducing the potential for drug use):

• strong and positive family bonds;
• parental monitoring of children's activities and peers;
• clear rules of conduct that are consistently enforced within the family;
• involvement of parents in the lives of their children;
• success in school performance; strong bonds with institutions, such as school and religious organizations; and
• adoption of conventional norms about drug use.

Risk factors (increasing the potential for drug use):

• chaotic home environments, particularly in which parents abuse substances or suffer from mental illnesses;
• ineffective parenting, especially with children with difficult temperaments or conduct disorders;
• lack of parent-child attachments and nurturing;
• inappropriately shy or aggressive behavior in the classroom;
• failure in school performance;
• poor social coping skills;
• affiliations with peers displaying deviant behaviors; and
• perceptions of approval of drug-using behaviors in family, work, school, peer, and community environments.

SOURCE: National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIDA Notes, Vol 16, No 6, NIH Publication No. 02-3478, February 2002.