Along with the joy of parenthood, with every child comes a piercing vulnerability. It is at once sublime and terrifying

I didn't cause it. I can't control it. I can't cure it.

I am becoming used to an overwhelming, grinding mixture of anger and worry.

Along with the joy of parenthood, with every child comes a piercing vulnerability. It is at once sublime and terrifying

Anyone who has lived through it, or those who are now living through it, knows that caring about an addict is as complex and fraught and debilitating as addiction itself.

This stigma associated with drug use--the belief that bad kids use, good kids don't, and those with full-blown addiction are weak, dissolute, and pathetic--has contributed to the escalation of use and has hampered treatment more than any single other factor.

Here's a note to the parents of addicted children: Choose your music carefully...There are millions of treacherous moments.