Conversation starters from my father.

As a teenager, I failed my driver’s license test on three separate occasions – the most notable of which was when the test administrator instructed me to pull over and told me, “Any time someone almost gives me a heart attack during the test, I automatically fail them.”

He was over-reacting. The car I had turned in front of a few seconds prior didn’t even honk.

But because I couldn’t drive myself, my mother had to drop me off and pick me up at all kinds of places, including the basement of my Catholic high school for a fall dance.

“Hey!” my dad shouted as I was heading out the front door. “NO DRUGS!”

“I don’t even drink soda,” I told him.

“I’m talking drugs,” he said. “They’re everywhere and don’t you do them!”

When we got in the car, my mother said, “I wish they’d stop playing those ‘Talk to your kids about drinking’ commercials. He just doesn’t get it.”

It’s too bad my father didn’t have access to The Partnership for a Drug-Free America’s TimeToTalk campaign.

“Parents can find helpful information, including TimeToTalk's latest tip, Five Teachable Moments on www.TimeToTalk.org. Five Teachable Moments is a tip sheet for parents who are having trouble talking with their teen about the risks of drug and alcohol use,” reads the release.

Yelling, “No drugs!” out the screen door was not one of the five teachable moments. But maybe it should be because it worked.