As the parent of an addicted child it’s hard to come to terms with the idea of having a child for whom drugs are the most important thing in life. Denial is common and no one can judge this. However, there comes a moment when you have to face the consequences of addiction and the fact that you might lose your child. Parenting an addicted child is hard, because you must cope with their dislodging from the family, their faulty decisions and the fact they might lose their life to addiction. The truth of all these is hard, but if you want to help your child overcome their illness, you must acknowledge all these.
You might be their enabler
Bariatric surgeon Dr. Nowzardan coined the term enabler in the context of food addiction and in most of his cases, the parents are the enablers. As a parent you can’t stand to see your child suffering, so you do everything to make them feel good, even if it means allowing them to continue with their addiction. Unfortunately, the only way to help your addicted child is to be firm and refuse to be their enabler. According to Suboxone Treatment Clinic, which is specialized in rehab treatments, the road to recovery is painful, as the addict needs to face the consequences of their actions and learn to overcome them, to get better.
You will blame yourself
Parents try to raise their kids as best as possible, so when you see them taking the wrong path you will tend to blame yourself for this. Asking yourself what you did wrong is not going to help anyone and you will never find an answer for it, because trying out an addictive substance is one’s choice. Your child chose to become addicted when they engaged in this behavior the first time, so there is nothing you could have done in the past to change their actions.
You can help your child in the present by encouraging them to seek help and support them during rehabilitation.
Your child has to seek help on their own
The road towards recovery starts when the addicted person realizes their situation and decides to get help. Until they want to receive help, you can’t force them into rehab. If you do this, they will eventually get out and continue to do drugs. For a parent is hard to accept that you can’t fix your child, but you won’t be able to do anything about it.
Your child might become a criminal
One of the hardest things to accept as the parent of an addicted child is the fact they might become criminals. Drugs are expensive and many addicts turn to criminal acts to finance their addiction. Stealing is common, but also is stealing from their own home. Your addicted child might take expensive items from the home to the pawn shop to get money and then lie about it. Lies are an addict’s best friend, which is another hard thing to accept for a parent, especially if you used to have a great relationship with your son or daughter.
