If you’ve been following the news in the last few weeks, you’ve heard about the investigations into Facebook and Instagram, including their detrimental impact on pre-teens and teens.

Here’s another reason it’s so important that parents know what their kids are doing online.

Marijuana is now legal for recreational use by adults in 10 states and the District of Columbia, and for medical use in 34 others. Its growing acceptance may lull both parents and teens into thinking it’s a relatively harmless substance.

Many years of solid research have shown that when parents engage more deeply in their children’s lives, they are far less likely to turn to such unhealthy behaviors as smoking, drinking, or using drugs.

Teens have always had issues with self-esteem. The captain of the football team, the head cheerleader, and the “in” crowd were present long before social media came along.

Our kids have been through so much in the past 18 months; first being yanked from school, their teachers, and their classmates, then sheltered at home, worrying about a pandemic they didn’t understand, and now sent back to school with the coronavirus still raging.

In just over a decade, smartphones have become an essential part of our lives, especially for adolescents. According to the Pew Research Center, while 77 percent of American adults have a smartphone, that number soars to 95 percent among teens.

Oddly, though, a device that is universally thought to better connect people may be having the opposite effect, at least among teenagers. Several recent surveys (taken before the pandemic) seem to show that since 2012 loneliness, depression, and incidents of self-harm increased sharply among adolescents in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.

The research is finding a marked correlation between the rise of smartphone use and loneliness, a recognized predictor of depression and mental health issues.

It’s back-to-school time, and this year our kids are facing more than the usual first-day jitters. Last year they mostly had to learn at home, seeing friends only over Zoom or FaceTime. Now, the new school year is likely bringing new anxieties:

• They’re wondering whether they’ve fallen behind academically, in their favorite sport, or both.
• They’ve been worried about whether they or their parents will get COVID-19.
• The mask-up-in-school guidance has been confusing, to say the least.
• And they may be secretly afraid that they won’t know how to get along in person with their friends anymore.

Give them structure

Don’t assume that because things are getting back to normal that your kids will easily fall back into their old pre-pandemic lives without your guidance.

One way to help your child adjust to the new school year is by offering the comfort of family meals on a regular schedule. Use this time to talk together, to encourage them to share their concerns, and find solutions.

Our Family Table Time kits are an excellent resource that can help. For example, this month’s topics include organizational skills, back to school, fears and anxiety, and bullies and violence.

Sign up now to receive your first kit an

More than 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

We at Informed Families hear it so often: “I never suspected my child was abusing drugs.”