My stepdaughter is 17...her boyfriend is 18....my other daughter is 13.

For the most part....they're angels. My SD's boyfriend lives with us now because he's dad is a deadbeat and his mom kicked him out on his 18th birthday. (yah....no more child tax benefit and no more declaring him as a dependant). His mom is also hooked on oxycodone. So I've spoken with him in-depth about my oxycodone addiction. The goals I have in doing so:

1. To plant a seed for him to empathize with her in the future rather than judging her (which he understandably does)

2. To stress to him that there's no way in hell HE can help her with this.

Both him and my SD are straight-edge which is great. They are confounded and shocked when I talk about my past drug-use. I don't 'seem' like someone who has smoked crack. This helps with several points. Drug addicts need help, not judgement. I'm not perfect. You can change things about your life that you're not happy about. Lots of other reasons too. They don't hide things from me. And part of that is because I don't hide things from them.


I JUST started sharing stuff with my 13 year old. The big thing I try to imprint on her is that weed is relatively safe. Pills and powder are like playing Russian Roulette. I have started using anecdotes from my past for a couple reasons: To scare her, t o inform her and to encourage her to come see me about questions. Also, she will talk to me about stuff happening. She has a friend who's 14 and she's worried about his drug use. She has asked if she can invite him over so that I will talk to him. I LIKE being involved with this stuff. I want to know whats going on. I haven't yet completely opened up to her though. She doesn't know I've smoked crack, done heroin, been addicted to oxycodone. She will eventually though. When there's a reason for it.