Parents And Teens – Reclaiming Trust And Repairing Damaged Relationships

Your troubled teen is running with the wrong crowd and has become alarmingly defiant and rebellious … again. The messy hair, dingy clothing, and body piercings continue to be the norm. Since your teen has “experimented” with drugs and alcohol in the past, you’re certain that he or she is back to the same old tricks, even though he or she swears things are different now.

Some parents assume their kids are continuing to abuse drugs or alcohol and end up treating them as if they’ve done something wrong while those assumptions couldn’t be further from the truth. Those wrong assumptions end up fueling resentment instead of giving kids the means to prove their trustworthiness.

Your teen wants your trust and you want to give it. Unfortunately, neither of you knows how to give what the other wants.

When it comes to substance abuse, there’s a relatively new way to separate fact from fiction, and it’s becoming more popular than most people think. One of the reasons you may not have heard of it is because of its private and confidential nature. It provides the foundation for reestablishing trust based on truth. If a child wants to prove that he or she is drug free and a parent needs solid evidence rather than verbal assurances, then a home drug testing program may be the answer.

Critics of this emerging trend of home drug testing claim that the act of testing teens for drugs is an irresponsible abuse of trust and only drives a wedge between parents and their teenage children, who already have a strained relationship. However, who can argue against relationships based on facts over fiction, especially when the bond of trust has already been destroyed?

Mason Duchatschek has interviewed thousands of parents, teenagers, school board members, counselors, school principals, and superintendents. He is the president of www.TestMyTeen.com (mason@testmyteen.com) based in Fenton, Missouri.

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