How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid

 

 

Calling All Parents...

Nearly every child will be offered drugs or alcohol before graduating high school. The good news is that a child who gets through age twenty-one without smoking, using illegal drugs or abusing alcohol is virtually certain never to do so … and kids who learn about drugs from their parents are much likelier to resist these temptations.

Based on nearly two decades of research at The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, Joseph A. Califano, Jr.’s book, How to Raise A Drug-Free Kid: The Straight Dope for Parents offers advice and information on how to prepare your child for their crucial decision-making moments and on many of the most daunting parenting topics, including:

  • When and how to talk to your kids about drugs and alcohol
  • How to respond when your kid asks, “Did you do drugs?”
  • How to know when your child is most at risk
  • Signs and symptoms of substance abuse
  • How to prepare your teen for the freedoms and perils of college

“An invaluable primer to help you help your children navigate the difficult and contradictory messages about drugs and alcohol.”
- Jamie Lee Curtis, mother, author of children’s books and actress

“Teens and college students are surrounded by drugs and alcohol, in school, at play, even at home. As a physician specializing in adolescents, I know that since they have to deal with this problem, then as a parent so do you. How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid provides the practical advice and information that every parent needs. If you read only one book, this is the one.”
- Ralph I. Lopez, MD, clinical professor of pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medical College and author of The Teen Health Book: A Parents’ Guide to Adolescent Health and Well-Being

“A must read for all parents to learn new ways to help their children grow up safe and drug free. Through its 9 facets of parental engagement, Joseph Califano’s How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid gives parents proven, practical ways to constructively engage in the lives of their children and to use their ‘Parent Power’ in order to be their child’s strongest positive influence.”
- Chuck Saylors, president, National PTA

“Numerous studies show both the influence parents can have on their teens’ behavior and the problems they have in exerting it. This wise, practical and well written book gives them the tools they need. I enthusiastically recommend it to parents.”
- Herbert D. Kleber, MD, professor of psychiatry and director, Division on Substance Abuse, Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute

Joseph A. Califano, Jr., father of five and grandfather of eight, is Founder and Chairman of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.  Califano held various United States government positions and served from 1977 to 1979 as U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, where he launched the nation’s anti-smoking campaign.