Helping Parents & Children Understand Secondhand Drinking | Drugging

If we can help parents and children through simple educational programs in schools, PTA newsletters and the like understand the impacts of secondhand drinking | drugging, we just may be able to help a child avoid developing the brain changes associated with ACEs. Why is this so important?

Coping with secondhand drinking | drugging is especially problematic for a young person because of the brain development that occurs from birth through one’s early 20s – especially if the parent or sibling’s drinking or drug use behaviors involved verbal, physical or emotional abuse - one of the definitions of childhood trauma.  This is of particular concern because childhood trauma actually changes the way the brain wires, which of course changes the way that child's brain works. And in the case of substance abuse, those brain changes around childhood trauma become one of the five key risk factors for developing a substance abuse problem and/or an addiction.

For more on this concept, consider reading: Coping With Secondhand Drinking | Drugging Can Cause a Young Person to Wire Unhealthy Coping Skills