Monitoring is an effective way you can help your teen or tween stay drug-free, and an important thing to do — even if you don't suspect your teen is using drugs. The idea of "monitoring" your tween or teen may sound sinister, but it's actually a very simple idea that leads to great things: You know where your child is at all times (especially after school), you know his friends, and you know his plans and activities. By staying in-the-know about your child's daily schedule, you're taking an important step in keeping your child drug-free. Kids who are not regularly monitored are four times more likely to use drugs.

Because monitoring conflicts with your child's desire to be independent, he is likely to resist your attempts to find out the details of his daily whereabouts. Don't let this deter you from your goal. He may accept the idea more easily if you present it as a means of ensuring safety or interest in who he is and what he likes to do, rather than as a means of control. You need to be prepared for your child's resistance — because the rewards of monitoring are proven.

The most important time of day to monitor is after school from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Kids are at the greatest risk for abusing drugs during these hours. Call your child's school to find out about adult-supervised activities he can take part in during these hours. Encourage him to get involved with youth groups, art or music programs, organized sports, community service, or academic clubs. Follow up with your child to make sure he is actually going to the program he has chosen.

"Parents need to know what their kids are doing," says Anthony Biglan, Ph.D., a senior scientist at the Oregon Research Institute. "They can discourage behaviors that lead to drug use." Kids who are not regularly monitored by their parents are four times more likely to use drugs.

We won't mince words here: Although monitoring is one of the best ways to keep your kids off drugs, it isn't always easy. "If a child readily talks about what's going on, then monitoring happens naturally during the course of events," says Biglan. "If it doesn't happen naturally, parents need to make some rules to facilitate monitoring." That means:

• Know where your child or teen is at all times. Make sure he/she knows you're asking out of love, not because of a lack of trust.
• Personally know all of your teen's friends. Having your teen point out their friends from down the block just doesn't cut it. Know their faces and their voices. Interact with them whenever possible--without actually forcing them to play scrabble with you.
• Find out your kid's plan for the next day. Looking for something to discuss during dinner? This is a great one. "So…what're you up to tomorrow?" Easy. Right?
• Limit the time your child spends without adult supervision. The after-school hours of 3 to 6 are the most dangerous time for tweens or teens to be on their own. The potential for peer pressure or boredom leading to an after-school drug use habit are huge. If you or another adult you trust can't be home for your teen, find out about after-school programs they can get involved with.

According to Biglan, monitoring becomes critically important when kids reach middle school. Because kids go from class to class during middle school or junior high, they don't develop the close relationships they had during their earlier school years. Also, kids at this age are extremely sensitive to the beliefs of their classmates so peer pressure becomes a major contributing factor in their behaviors. Of course, monitoring doesn't mean you have to go through your child's dresser drawers. "Kids need an increasing amount of privacy as they get older and that's ok," says Biglan. But the balance between monitoring and privacy can shift if signs of drug use show up. Remember, says Biglan, "when it's time to intervene, kids' privacy issues take a backseat."