wonen Ea!

Parents advised
to keep kids busy

FROM PAGE C1

specific problem in the U.S.
was that students as young as
12 were turning to
marijuana.

Cotton said there were few
Statistics available on West
Van but that a 1978 Van-
couver study showed a large
increase in the number of
children under 14 starting to
use marijuana. As well, over
75% of Vancouver high
school students had used
alcohol by the time they
graduated.

“YT don’t think the Lions
Gate Bridge makes a dif-
ference in what is hap
pening,” he said

Corporal Les Fox, Crime
Prevention Unit, West
Vancouver Police, told
parents that alcohol abuse
by adolescents is on the
Increase and poses a
significant problem.

“It ts not uncommon on
Friday and Saturday mghts
to see 12 to 14 year olds
under the influence of
alcohol.”

Fox outlines to parents
what to watch for if they
were suspicious their child
was smoking marijuana.
These were to look for
cigarette paper (used for
rolling marijuana), burnt
metal clips which hold
marijuana, seed in the lining
of pockets, a smell of burnt
leaves around their child,
discoiored fingers, and small
pieces of foil paper used to
wrap hashish.

Fox advised parents to see
that their children were

involved athletically, “the
busier the better”, and had
short and long-term goals.
“Be selective about whom he
or she associates with. An
adolescent needs direction
from you. Sound, straight

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kids don’t go down the
garden path.”

Family Service Secondary
School counsellor Colin
Steele said that drug and
alcohol use was “a symptom,
not a problem”. A lot of kids
are feeling depressed about
themselves, and find a lack
of pleasurable experience in
their adolescent’ en-
vironment and = decision
making techniques.

“The family is still the
major influence over
children if the lines of
communication are open.”

The key, Steele said, was
communication and helping
the child develop problem-
solving .

Speaking on Adult Role
Modelling, Chris Ket-
teringham, Intake
Assessment Coordinator for
Alternatives, a treatment
program for those with drug
or alcoho! problems, pointed
out the widespread use and
tolerance of prescription
drugs in society today, and
by parents.

Kitteringham said that she
deals with drug dependent
adults who share the
characteristic of never
having been taught how to
deal with negative in-
fluences. She said parents
should tell their children
how to deal with stress
without having to resort to
drugs.

West Vanvouver
psychiatrist Dr. Paul Ter-
mansen said that parents
forget quickly what their
adolescence was like and the
tremendous changes which
occurred during that time.
He explained that parents
are often going through a
mid-life crisis the same time
their children are = going
through adolescence causing
further stress.

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C3-Sunday News, November 9, 1980

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