Smoking damages your health, looks and finances. It’s not cool or tough or rebellious, just self-destructive. It’s also addictive, so once you’re hooked on cigarettes, it takes real effort and determination to break free again… but the sooner you stop the sooner you will repair the damage it does.

Thirteen is too soon to give up on the future. OK, things haven’t worked out the way Demi expected, but she still has a family – they just don’t live together any more. They can still be a happy family, and good friends and a few exam passes could hand Demi back her future too. Demi needs to talk to friends, family, maybe even a school counsellor or guidance teacher about how she’s feeling, and find better ways to handle the hurt. Right now, the only person she’s punishing is herself.

Cathy

I’m usually really shy, but a few weeks ago I was out at a party and ended up getting tipsy on cider. I was amazed how brave it made me feel. I’ve done it a few times since, and once I had some wine my parents had left in the house before I went to school. It made me feel like I could cope better, somehow. But it feels a bit scary and out of control too. What should I do?

Tracie, age 13

Dear Cathy

Lately, I’ve been hanging out with some kids who drink. I’ve ended up drunk a few times. Once I ended up kissing this boy I’m actually a bit scared of, and a few times I’ve had really bad hangovers and had to miss school. My mum doesn’t even notice or care. I’d like to stop, but I don’t know how.

Julianne, age 14

Alcohol is a drug. It can relax you and change the way you feel, as Tracie has discovered. It can also make you do things you might not otherwise do, which is why Julianne found herself kissing a boy she didn’t even like. That’s not all, though. Alcohol is a poison, and it damages your body and kills off brain cells… hangovers are your body’s way of warning you off. If it hurts, it’s not good!

Tracie is using drink to give herself confidence, but it’s a dangerous way to do it. Drink can make you brave, yes, but also foolish. It wrecks your judgement and leads you into bad decisions. And drinking before school is a fast track to disaster… Tracie will be found out, and when she is, she’ll be in a whole lot of serious trouble. Tracie knows that drink is not the answer. She needs real confidence, the kind that comes from liking, accepting and trusting herself – those things cannot be found inside a bottle.

Julianne also knows that the drinking has to stop. All too quickly, it is leading her into dangerous situations and messing up her school attendance. It sounds as though Julianne wants her mum to notice what’s going on – it’s almost as though the drinking is a cry for help. Julianne needs to sort things out with her mum – if she feels loved and secure, she won’t need to go to such dangerous extremes to get her mum’s attention.