Drive: 9 Ways to Motivate Your Kids to Achieve [Paperback]

Janine Walker Caffrey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2008

The quality of drive provides the momentum for a person to dream and achieve, creating a unique, independent life. Without it, a person is like a rudderless boat, drifting around a flat lake. In Drive, nationally renowned educator Dr. Janine Caffrey shows how to inspire your children and develop this vital characteristic. How do I get my child excited about learning? To enroll in a good college? To move out of the house? To create his own life? Designed to assist parents, educators, and counselors to get kids of all ages off the couch and into the world, Drive outlines nine specific steps proven to beat boredom and foster self-motivation and resourcefulness. Filled with quizzes, anecdotes, and practical strategies, Drive helps parents turn “Generation Me” into “Generation Move.”

Editorial Reviews

Review

Kathie Lee on the "Today Show," 11/10/08
"Go out and get this book!"

"Newark Star-Ledger," 11/4/08
"[Caffrey's] advice is practical and precise."

About the Author

Janine Walker Caffrey, Ed. D., is the founder and head of The Renaissance Academy, a private K-12 school. She lives in Tampa, Florida.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (July 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738211605
• ISBN-13: 978-0738211602
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #290,054 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Janine Walker Caffrey is the author of Drive: 9 Ways to Motivate Your Kids to Achieve. She believes that parenting should be relatively simple, and a whole lot of fun! She learned how to develop drive through her experiences raising her own two children who are now highly driven adults. She holds a bachelor's degree in education, a master's in educational administration, and a doctorate in educational leadership. Her professional experience includes: ten years as a special education teacher in public schools; ten years as the education director for AMIKids, a leader in programming for troubled youth; and six years as the head of school for Renaissance Academy, a private school for the arts that she founded. She has also worked as a consultant for groups seeking to create new schools and taught curriculum and instruction at the University of South Florida. Dr. Caffrey enjoyed several years of working with the New York City Department of Education, where she developed new programs to improve graduation rates, and helped parents get involved in their children's education. She is currently the superintendent of schools in Perth Amboy, NJ. For more information about Dr. Caffrey, including video clips, go to www.JanineWalkerCaffrey.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for our times, September 1, 2008

By 

frank lee speaking - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drive: 9 Ways to Motivate Your Kids to Achieve (Paperback)

Finally, a resource that gets to the point! Parents will love it- kids will wonder what hit them. In a world of excess and overindulgence, Caffrey shows us how to become parents again. In a world lacking common sense, she demonstrates an abundance of it. It is refreshing to be reminded that we have a responsibility to raise independent young men and women who will feel the need to make contributions to the world because they have a sense of pride, not entitlement!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful for Parents of Younger Kids Too, July 12, 2009

By 

CrimsonGirl "homeschooling mom" (S.F. Bay Area, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Drive: 9 Ways to Motivate Your Kids to Achieve (Paperback)

I almost didn't read "Drive" because of the front cover where it indicates the book is geared towards parents of children in middle school & up. My oldest is only 6 3/4 at the moment so I've got a ways to go before she gets to middle school. But I'm very glad that I decided to take a chance on "Drive" because it's one of the best parenting books I've read in a while.

The book is a quick read but chock full of sound advice. Dr. Caffrey offers specific suggestions for each developmental stage. Her goal is to help us be what she calls a "pathfinder parent" who plays an active role in our child's life but without crossing the line into overly involved "helicopter" parenting.

Highly recommended for all parents!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical Tips to Prevent Parents' Nightmares, April 11, 2009

By 

Story Circle Book Reviews - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drive: 9 Ways to Motivate Your Kids to Achieve (Paperback)

Is your child still a couch potato in your living room at the age of thirty? Janine Walker Caffrey shows how to reverse mistakes so that he develops the drive to get up, get going, and get a real life. Starting with three Driving Tests designed for parents of middle school children, college students, or adults, a set of questions to determine your child's drive level and guide your child back on track.

We keep our children in a plastic bubble trying to protect them from harm, bullies, predators and other dangers. Although we think they are safe, our actions prevent them from learning self-reliance and motivation. We program them to stay busy during their waking hours when they really need free time to find out what interests them and naturally inspires them to drive for more.

Chapters arranged by suggestions for keeping kids moving help parents control without becoming helicopter parents. Taking away the plastic bubble of protection, allowing natural consequences, encouraging creativity, reducing comfort, delaying gratification and other topics lead parents toward putting their child in the driver's seat. This book provides practical ways to prevent every parent's nightmare of grown children camping out on the couch during the day, partying all night, and eating all the food without helping to keep the household running smoothly.

by Susan M. Andrus
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women