Stop Before You Start
SCARE THEM WITH THE TRUTH—
BEFORE DRUGS BECOME THEIR REALITY.
Some people will not agree with what I am about to say.
That is okay.
Parents, scare your children with the truth about drugs.
Tell them what addiction really looks like.
Tell them that the first pill may not look dangerous.
Tell them that the first person offering it may call themselves a friend.
Tell them that drugs can lie to their brain, take control of their body and make stopping feel impossible.
Tell them about the children who believed they were trying something only once, and never came home.
Show them what drugs can take:
Their sports.
Their friendships.
Their education.
Their trust.
Their home.
Their dignity.
Their future.
Their life.
If that sounds too frightening for a child, imagine how frightening it is to watch addiction take hold of your child.
Imagine searching the streets for them.
Imagine wondering whether they are cold, hungry, hurt or alive.
Imagine lying awake every night waiting for the telephone to ring.
Imagine driving them to detox, believing this might finally be the beginning of their recovery, and then learning they will never come home.
Imagine planning their funeral.
Imagine receiving their death certificate.
That is frightening.
The truth is not the danger.
The drugs are.
McKayla was only 12 years old when drugs entered her life.
Someone told her they would make her feel better.
They did not.
They slowly took her choices, her dreams and the future she should have lived.
McKayla tried to stop. Our family fought beside her. We loved her, searched for her, brought her home and kept believing there would be one more chance.
Then addiction took the final chance away.
She died at 27.
So no, I will not soften the truth to make adults more comfortable.
I would rather frighten a child with the truth than have another grandmother sit beside an urn wishing someone had warned her grandchild sooner.
Education must begin before the first offer.
Before the first party.
Before the first vape.
Before the first gummy.
Before the first pill.
Before another child says, “Try it, it will make you feel better.”
If we wait until children are surrounded by drugs, we have waited too long.
That is why I created:
STOP BEFORE YOU START
Learning to Make the Safe Choice
This book teaches children, in simple and age-appropriate language, how to recognize dangerous substances, resist pressure, walk away, tell a trusted adult and respond in an emergency.
It is not meant to make children afraid of life.
It is meant to make them afraid of the choice that could take their life away.
Read it with your child.
Talk openly.
Answer the uncomfortable questions.
Give them the truth before someone else gives them a lie.
Education Stops Addiction™
And sometimes, a frightening truth is exactly what keeps a child alive.
From one heartbroken grandma who learned too late:
Please educate them early.
Please educate them honestly.
Please do it before drugs educate them the hardest way imaginable.
Stop Before You Start—Learning to Make the Safe Choice
Available on Amazon:
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