Protect your kids online. Today.

These are all things I do with my daughter.

Hi, please allow me to introduce myself. I don't really want to be part of this conversation, only happened to hear (read) about it on Yahoo news. But I have some things to say, hoping you can take it as constructive criticism from someone with some kind of expert knowledge on the issue.
I am 58 years old, father of 4, a grandfather since 2 years ago, and as my age suggests, I was a teenager during the wild 60s, and have done - extensively - any drug in the book and many that are not. I also have a degree in psychology and psychotherapy, and have worked as a therapist for 13 years, and am now a software consultant.
Of your 5 suggestions, the first 4 are useless, unless you apply them to a person of a certain pre-puberty age. If you try to regulate a teenager in those ways you actually make it more interesting for them to break these rules.
Your suggestion 5 is right on: "Building an open and trusting relationship with your kids about their online use." But way too limited. You can have "an open and trusting relationship with your kids about" anything, or about nothing.
So if you are really interested in understanding the appeal of a drug like dextramethorphane, maybe I can help.
First of all - it's legal, sort of. You can buy enough DXM (.3 to 1 gram) to get you a very interesting state of consciousness, in the supermarket. However you'd have to drink so much of the syruppy concoction, it's likely to make you throw up before you get anywhere you'd want to be. But it's also not too difficult to obtain in pure form, and that's where it gets interesting.
So what does it do ? It's not really a psychedelic drug, meaning it doesn't affect your vision, doesn't give you the "kaleidoscope" effect like LSD, DMA, 2CI etc. However it does affect the way you perceive sounds, and here may be a clue to it's appeal to young people. Listening to music while under the influence of a medium dose (.5 g) of DXM is quite an experience. If one goes beyond that, it becomes even more interesting, as in my experience it is one of the few drugs that will guarantee an out of body experience (OOBE) at a dose of 1g or below, depending on one's constitution. Now I don't really know how much that would appeal to today's teenagers, but my generation was very serious about exploring altered states of consciousness, and maybe today's youngsters are too. These are just some talking points if you really want to engage in an open, non-judgemental, interested dialog with your children. It's also important to know that a dose beyond 1g can well be fatal. That's where the real danger lies.
When I hear stories about "kids" doing bad things under the influence of combinations of drugs, it really is utterly unscientific. Combinations of drugs have not really been studied academically, so the data is poor. We, the 60's generation, and maybe today's youth, know quite a bit about combinations. And a combination of marijuana (which is a downer, meaning it's not likely to make you get up, go out, and do things) and DXM (which is even more of a downer) is not a sufficient explanation for criminal behaviour as has been reported. I - and many of my friends - have experienced this particular combination, and many others, and no one I know has exhibited criminal behaviour (apart from breaking drug laws that are debatable to begin with).
To conclude, your intention to engage in an open dialog with your children is laudable, but not possible if at the same time you impose restrictions (as in your suggestions 1-4), because there you create what's called a "cognitive dissonance". To be taken seriously you'll have to demonstrate some knowledge, or at least some genuine interest (not so hard because we are talking about your children). And you'll have to accept the motivations and purposes the youngins express, and the best you can hope to do is to enlighten them to stay out of danger, however you define that. But again, you'll have to be knowledgeable. If you substitute knowledge with the panicky ideas disseminated by the popular press, you'll destroy your credibility.
Good luck,
René

Thanks for giving us some insight into your knowledge and opinions about cough medicine abuse. Your response is exactly the kind of discussion that the five moms are hoping will emerge from our campaign. I joined this campaign to make sure that parents—and grandparents, like yourself—are made aware of this trend. As you have alluded, cough medicine abuse has been around for awhile and there is no doubt that when it is abused in extreme quantities, it can be very dangerous.

Our goal is to engage parents by making them aware of this danger and to give them the tools that they need to protect their children. We are not here to give a "fix-all" solution or tell parents how to raise their children. Each family and each child is different and requires its own way of handling issues like cough medicine abuse. The Five Moms want to provide suggestions and resources for parents so they have the information they need to make sure that their child doesn't end up in the hospital.

Your participation is just the beginning of making many more parents aware. Every parent has the right to know what is happening, and I, and the other five moms will do everything we can to make sure of this. We hope you will continue to spread the word too.

If you try to force kids not to go on certain websites then all they're gonna do is use proxies and go on a LOT of porn. This will most likely infect the computer with viruses and spyware and sorting all that out will be a pain.

Just go up to your kids, smack 'em and say "DON'T DO DRUGS OR I WILL END YOU"

Wow, it is interesting the types of responses you are getting. I think your suggestions are excellent for many reasons. Our children need guidance and rules. They need to know we care, and one way we can show caring is by monitoring their behavior. It is important that we have open communication as much as possible. I would also add that education is important. I wish every kid in junior high could come and spend a few days in the detox where I work and observe the misery that comes from using drugs. Thanks for your article.

there are 2 sides to the coin in any given situation, we as parents need balance..yes we need to start the pattern while they are young..discipline means training...teaching...you can set the boundries and yes they w try to get around them...but sometimes you just have to put a stick in there spokes when you can..education is important but age appropriate..

Great on-line advice that we already use with our 12 year old. Good luck with your campaign.

Rene's post echoes my feelings exactly. There's far superior insight and advice to be found in those words...

Thanks for your article!! As a parent of 3 teenagers, the biggest worry I have is to keep my children away from peer influences. I disagree with René, not all people in the 50's or 60's did drugs, and I am one of them. I was raised in New York City, and have seen so many lives lost due to drugs, I will never glorify them. When my children were ready to start school we moved to Orlando Florida to try to escape the problems of a big city. But the drug problems are here too, maybe even more so. It is really a scary time for parents and children, with the internet they can find anything, good or bad. We just have to pray that our words are reaching them, and having a consent eye on them to see what they are doing. I do not agree with Rene that you have to have first hand knowledge of drugs to engage in an open dialog with your children. For me I state the dangers of taking drugs, but mostly I believe that being able to tell them that even if their mother grew up in the 50’s & 60’s I found the strength not to give into peer pressure, and I pray to God that they find the same strength.