The drugs in the fridge

I talk to my kids obsessively about drugs and alcohol.  The older ones are 13, 10, and 9 and they seriously know probably more than kids their age normally would.  They definitely know more about drugs than I did growing up. Seeing the damage that my addiction had on our little family has permanently placed the awareness of its affects on their little minds I'm afraid.  That was years ago however, and another hub.  But it's for this reason that I am so obsessed about teaching them about the negative effects it can have on your life.  In all my little talks about drugs and alcohol though, I always focused on the more familiar, more obvious ones that they have heard of and ask about.  I never once thought to talk to them about the drugs in the refrigerator.

That was until I walked into the kitchen a few days ago and found my 10 year old getting air from the can of whip cream he had just emptied it of the whip cream.  In surprise and panic I hollered at him..."What the hell are you doing?"  He dropped the can because I had startled him.  He didn't realize that what he was doing was dangerous.  He actually thought he had just gotten busted emptying the whip cream.  I wasn't worried about that at all.  When I asked him what he was doing, he told me he wanted to see if the air in the can would give him the funny voice like the balloons do.  I couldn't believe I had never thought to touch on this subject with them.  Fortunately I caught him right as he had just pressed the nozzle and he didn't get enough of the chemicals to harm him.  When I explained to him what it was called and what could happen, his eyes were huge, and of course he ran to tell his brothers. 

That incident scared the crap out of me and I naturally got to wondering how many other little kids are doing this when their parents aren't watching.  How many other parents are like me and don't think about the life threatening cans of whip cream in the fridge.  It's a scary thought.  I made sure to talk to all 3 of my boys that afternoon about other drugs that they didn't, and even I didn't think about as being a drug.