Reply to Should I reveal Aunt's drug addiction to my kids?

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[quote=Anonymous]We have addiction/substance abuse issues in my family.  Even though my kids really haven't seen any of the effects, we've been very open with them that, in our family, we have an increased risk for these behaviors.  I've been having these conversations with them since the oldest was probably about 7.  I forget at what age they learned about smoking in school but it was pretty early and when they express astonishment that anyone would ever smoke, I remind them that as they get older, they'll be tempted to do things that are perceived as cool or fun.  The problem is the people in my family have a hard time stopping, that's just the way our brains work.  It was easy for my kids to understand that aspect because one was a thumb sucker, another bites his nails and the third has another stimming behavior.  Even though those behaviors aren't harmful, they would like to stop but find it difficult.  It helps them understand the difficulty an addict has.  Now that my oldest is 11, we've been talking about 'self-medicating'.  I hadn't planned to discuss it so young but he came home talking about someone getting drunk.  If he's hearing this at school, well, I know we need to have this discussion now.  [/quote]

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