Want to keep your kids off drugs? The place to start is with your own medicine cabinet. So say a growing number of health practitioners that are viewing the recent proliferation of medications being targeted at kids with alarm and urging parents to turn first to common-sense home remedies or natural alternatives when possible. “We tend to be a nation of pill-takers, who turn to medication whenever we need relief for anything,” says Dana Point, California, pediatrician Robert Sears, co-author of the new book, The portable pediatrician, “If we can increase the use of our skills as parents in using time-tested home remedies to help our kids feel better, we can rely less on pills.” One in four children under 10 and one-third of adolescents ages 10 to 19 take at least one prescription medication on an ongoing basis, according to the report. The number of minors taking drugs for respiratory problems is up 42 percent since 2001 and those medicated for the chronic heartburn of gastroeso...