President Donald Trump revealed his ‘formula for good parenting’ as his 19-year-old son Barron wraps up his first year in college. 

‘I always said the same thing. I said: no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes. I also would say don’t get tattoos, but I don’t say it too strongly, because a lot of people have gotten tattoos, and that’s what they choose to do,’ Trump told The New York Post in a podcast interview released Wednesday.

Many of the president’s supporters at rallies sport tattoos as do some members of Trump’s Cabinet, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. 

The 78-year-old president has made a point of not drinking, as his older brother, Fred Trump Jr., suffered from alcoholism and died young, at age 42.

He boasted that his five children – Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka, Eric, Tiffany and Barron – were ‘born smart.’ 

‘Barron is great. He is very tall and good,’ the president said of his youngest, his only child with first lady Melania Trump. 

The president also revealed the sad reason why Barron was drawn to studying at New York University – he thought his late grandmother would live nearby.

‘He just wanted to be there,’ Trump said. ‘He wanted to be there because his grandmother was gonna stay and wait for him in an apartment near the school. And she passed away.’ 

Barron Trump is spotted leaving class at New York University last month. President Donald Trump said his ‘formula for good parenting’ was to tell his broad to avoid alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and even tattoos 

Melania’s mother Amalija Knavs died in January 2024 at the age of 78. 

‘She was fantastic. Melania’s mother was a fantastic woman. And Melania is a fantastic mother, by the way. She loves Baron,’ Trump said. ‘He’s very tall and he’s a good-looking guy.’ 

Barron started at NYU as a freshman later in the year. 

Trump said he warned his son ‘a little bit’ about ‘all the lefty professors’ at the school.

During the 2024 cycle, Barron, at that point 18, popped his head up more on the campaign trail. 

He attended his first Trump rally at his father’s Doral golf club in Miami in July – the rally the Republican nominee attended before the Butler, Pennsylvania event where he survived an assassination attempt. 

Barron also pushed his father to appear on particular podcasts, which likely helped the president increase his strength among the young male vote – a bloc Democrats usually overwhelmingly win. 

Trump lauded his other children in the interview too. 

President Donald Trump is photographed in the Oval Office on Tuesday. He gave an interview to the New York Post this week where he spoke about son Barron’s choice to go to NYU 

 ‘Eric has done a fantastic job,’ the president said. 

‘Ivanka, you know Ivanka? Yes. Very well. She’s so great,’ he continued. 

‘And Tiffany has done really well,’ he said. She went to a great law school and did very well. Always a good student.’

Eric Trump, and brother Donald Trump Jr., have been inking deals as the heads of the Trump Organization, while Ivanka has stepped back from the political limelight, after working in the first Trump administration. 

She did travel with her father over the weekend. 

Tiffany Trump had her first child, a son, in May. 

But it’s Donald Trump Jr. who is most often referenced when there’s talk of a Trump dynasty. 

Trump wasn’t sure if Don Jr. would ever run for president. 

‘I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know. I think all of them probably have a future in politics, frankly. And Don is very good. A good guy. He’s an outdoorsman,’ the president said.