My 14 year old has been sneaking monster and Celsius energy drinks. I know he’s hiding from me because I’ve lectured him on how dangerous they are and so he knows it’s not something I want to see him doing. I’ve went over my health concerns in depth but teens rarely consider long term consequences as I’m sure you all are familiar with. He is also hyper fixed on sodas, sugar in general. I never even buy any of that stuff but he has his own money now and every day he’s buying pop, energy drinks, candy etc. I’m not opposed to moderation when it comes to sugar but it’s become an obsession with him. I am trying to get creative and thinking about creating a budgeting program for him so he only has access to a certain amount of funds a week and he has to keep track of his spending. I think it’s also a learning lesson in budgeting at the same time as showing him how much he’s spending on those items.
I’m trying not to cross the line of being too controlling but I’m also very concerned as my family has such a long history of addiction. He’s my late sister’s child who I adopted 6 years ago when she passed and she was very similar when we were growing up, and she died as a result of addiction. I’m not saying he will be the same but I’m seeing a lot of similarities.