My Future in 2794 Days

I am terrified to have teenagers.  My children are 3 and 5, so this may seem a bit of a premature panic, but I remember being a teen myself.  It wasn’t pleasant then; I can’t imagine sorting through those years from the side of a parent.

I have actually done the math.  Not that I’m spastic or anything…From today, it will be 2,794 days until my family hits the teenage years.  With this knowledge I could do one of two things: go the typical-Meredith route and work myself into a tizzy over all the potentially nasty things that could happen OR I could wise up a smidge and listen to some smart mamas who have actually been there.

You see, October is National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month. Research shows that teens who are validated by their parents are more confident and more resistant to peer pressure. Peer pressure to do things like abuse medicine.

With all of this mind, Stop Medicine Abuse launched a new campaign called, #ToMyTeen to generate conversation among parents about what is good about raising a teen in today’s world.

This initiative is working to alert parents and members of the community about the problem of teen abuse of over-the-counter (OTC) cough medicines containing dextromethorphan (DXM, is a safe and effective ingredient found in many over-the-counter (OTC) cough medicines.).  And this issue is no joke: approximately 1 in 25 teens reports abusing excessive amounts of DXM to get high. One in 3 knows someone who has abused cough medicine to get high.

How You can Participate and Start Loving on Those Teens:

1. Visit to ToMyTeen.com and answer one of our questions about raising teens and tweens today
2. Write down your answer on a large piece of paper
3. Take a photo holding up your answer
4. Upload it to the site
5. Share your images on Twitter or Facebook and include the hashtag #ToMyTeen. Invite and encourage your friends and family to join the campaign

This isn’t that scary, really.  See, I did it and didn’t even pretend to put make-up on first:

 As an added bonus for participating, the Stop Medicine Abuse campaign will randomly pick 5 winners at the end of the month to win a $50 VISA gift card.

The bottom line is: having a conversation with your child is critically important. Data shows that what parents say matters. In fact, teens who learn about the risk of drugs from their parents are 50% less likely to use drugs.  So, talk with your teen about the dangers of OTC cough medicine abuse and monitor your medicine cabinet.

On top of having uper-important open and honest discussion with your kiddo, make sure to take a few minutes to validate them for the good stuff.  Even while my kids are in this young stage, I struggle with this.  I think I would cringe to listen to a recording of myself hollering at them to put on their shoes and “Don’t touch things that aren’t yours!”. Does Mommy do anything but yell?

While we parents must be so proactive in directing our children on the right path, whatever age they are, it’s vital that we take the time to praise and recognize the good things they do too.  This helps give them the confidence to believe in themselves and make good choices–whatever comes their way. Building them up is IMPORTANT.

Thanks to Stop Medicine Abuse and #ToMyTeen for promoting the value of this!

****I am compensated as an OTCsafety blogging ambassador for this post, but my opinion are my own.****

Image Credit: depositphotos.com, ID:15691517, copyright:konradbak

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Meredith

Meredith blogs at The Mom of the Year, where she dedicatedly earns her title one epic parenting fail at a time, offering quick, relatable laughs for fellow parents and all their empathizers. She has been part of several best-selling anthologies, featured on prominent sites such as Huffington Post, In the Powder Room and BlogHer, and loves her role as the Executive VP/Operations Manager of The BlogU Conference. When she's not breaking up fights over Legos and juice boxes, she remains fully committed to sharing a less serious look at the world of parenting.

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