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Should I Be Snooping in My Teen's Room?

If you have noticed some peculiar changes with your teen lately, you may be a little concerned about what the cause may be. Drug and alcohol abuse are often the first things that come to mind, but how do you prove it? Since there has not been any solid proof of these mental allegations, you may really want to look for clues to back up your suspicions without getting caught. You probably have many questions that surround what to do in this situation. Should I search their room? Do I have the right to do so? What if I do find paraphernalia? How do I handle all of this? Although you may feel intrusive to their privacy and trust, the main thing to focus on is that you are trying to protect your teenager from the damage that drugs and alcohol can cause. To find probable cause to whether your teen is doing drugs or drinking, you may have to look through their things to get an indication of what you are dealing with. Teenagers are creative with hiding things from their parents, so you will have become creative too. Examining everything in their room will be necessary to discover the things they are trying to keep away from you. Here are some of the places that are common stash spots.

In plain sight

Look inside their stuffed animals, pillows, drawers, or containers on top of their desk. Drugs can be under furniture, taped on the back of a wall poster, placed inside a bed frame, or inside their mattress. Unscrew air vents to see if there are any contraband they placed inside.

Clothing items

Check the pockets of jackets, hoodies, pants, or shirts. Belt buckles and shoe insoles are also sneaky places that can disguise drugs.

School supplies

Books can be hollowed out. Caps of highlighters and pencil boxes can hold drugs. Vaping devices are also made to look like USB drives which could be harboring drugs.

Electronics

Battery compartments can hold drugs and some gaming consoles and controllers have places that are big enough to contain drugs. Power strips and electrical outlets are also considered to be good hiding places. Articles of diversion: Beverage cans, and personal care items, such as lipstick, tubes of mascara, or sanitary napkins, can trick anyone into thinking they are something else.

The trash

Homemade bongs such a hole in an apple, a soda can, or an empty toilet paper roll can be thrown away after getting high. Foil, empty candy bags, discarded gum wrappers may be used to conceal their drugs.

Pipes or parts

Tubes or pieces of metal can be used to make a makeshift bong or hookah.

Car

Teens have numerous nooks and crannies in their vehicles to hide their drugs, alcohol, and paraphernalia. The most obvious place to examine is the air. If you smell smoke, alcohol, a skunk, or something that is meant to mask those smells such as Lysol, a candle, perfume, or cologne, you may have found your answer. Your next step - to have the talk with them.

Stonewater Adolescent Recovery Center provides a clinically structured protocol with withdrawal management that is designed to specifically accommodate the needs of teenagers. We first help to remove the toxic chemicals out of the body and then move onto the treatment of the whole person.

Call us today to start living in recovery: 662-598-4214