I'm a Recovering Alcoholic. I'm Afraid My Kids Will End Up Like Me.
How To! with Mike Pesca
Peach Fish Projects
4.3 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 June 2021
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Lee is worried that one day soon her 25-year-old adopted daughter, who is pregnant and struggling with a drug addiction, will show up on her doorstep with a baby in tow. How will she be able to explain the situation to her other daughter, who's only 6 years old? And how can she prepare her for the day she'll confront drugs and alcohol herself? On this episode of How To!, we bring on Jessica Lahey, a teacher and the author of The Addiction Inoculation: Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence. As a recovering alcoholic herself—and the mother of two kids—Jess knows firsthand how hard it is to talk to your kids about substance use in an effective way, especially when addiction runs in the family. "If you tell kids drugs and alcohol are just bad, they know we're hedging or lying because people wouldn't do drugs and alcohol if they were all bad," Jess says. "So a very important part of substance use prevention is being really honest and giving kids real information about consequences."
If you liked this episode, check out: "How To Kick a Meth Habit."
Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone, I'm Susie Weiss, and I've noticed there's just simply not enough podcasts in the world. So I'm launching my own. Let's go. Let's go, baby. Second Thought is a weekly show about pop culture. The stuff everyone's been binging, arguing about, obsessing over. Here's the thing about heated rivalry. I mean, even the most devoted swifties, I think we can agree, not our best work. We'll be hosting thoughtful conversations with culture's most important figures. Talk about genius. |
| 0:22.6 | Talk about generational talent. |
| 0:23.7 | Coming to headphones near you on |
| 0:25.0 | April 17th with a first guess you won't want to miss. Available wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:30.2 | A lot of people say to me in the end, are you actually saying that you expect kids not to drink |
| 0:36.3 | until they're 21? And I am absolutely parenting with a |
| 0:40.4 | stance of no, not until it is legal for you for my younger son. It's because I learned that he will be |
| 0:47.2 | less likely to suffer through what I suffered through with substance use disorder. Is it an unpopular |
| 0:53.7 | stance? Absolutely. I'm all right |
| 0:56.0 | with being a little bit uncool. I'm kind of used to it by now. Welcome to how to. I'm |
| 1:02.6 | science writer David Epstein. A recent Atlantic cover story highlighted an alarming statistic |
| 1:08.6 | that alcohol-related deaths in America doubled over the past 20 years. |
| 1:13.8 | Most of those deaths were middle-aged and elderly people. That means there's a lot of work to do for |
| 1:18.7 | the adults in the room. But even more frightening, the biggest increase in the alcohol-related |
| 1:23.3 | death rate, it was among younger people. Now, it's inevitable that young people are going to come across drugs and alcohol, right? |
| 1:30.0 | But our listener this week is worried that the world of unhealthy substance use is getting |
| 1:35.0 | way too close for comfort. |
| 1:37.1 | Hi, my name is Lee, and I am a working mom of two. |
| 1:41.7 | My oldest daughter, and I adopted when she was 16 years old, and she's 25 now. |
| 1:49.0 | And then my youngest, Jane, just turned six. |
| 1:54.1 | Lee's older adopted daughter, Anne, has been struggling with drugs and alcohol, and moreover, with |
| 1:59.7 | mental health issues, for years now. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Peach Fish Projects, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Peach Fish Projects and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.