“When you approach a dead body, there is a void there, and I’d never sensed that before, and that’s when my world was destroyed,” Air Force veteran and airline pilot Chris Didier told The Washington Post. His son seemed asleep at his desk.

Topics: parenting, teenagers, teens, social media, fentanyl

The story was tragic. A former Virginia police officer drove nearly 3,000 miles to Riverside, California, to kidnap a teenage girl he had met online through “catfishing,” a type of online deception in which someone pretends to be someone else, especially to pursue fraudulent online romances.

Topics: parenting, teenagers, teens, social media, valor

“But Mom, everybody else has one!”

And of course, the classic parental response to this is, “If everyone else was jumping off the Empire State Building, does that mean you have to?”

Topics: parenting, teenagers, teens, social media, smartphone

For years, parents have campaigned to get social media sites to help them keep their kids safe online. In order to stave off government action, some of these platforms have moved to offer safety features they say will help protect kids.

Topics: parenting, teenagers, teens, social media

As marijuana use becomes more common across the country, and more
jurisdictions legalize the recreational use of cannabis, the inherent dangers of the
drugs are too often minimized.

Topics: parenting, teenagers, children, teens, social media, drugs

The teen years are times of turbulence when their bodies are changing radically, and their brains are pulling them away from the security of the family they’ve known their whole lives in preparation for living life as an independent adult.

Topics: parenting, teenagers, children, teens, social media, drugs

If only our kids knew what we know as adults:

• You have to work hard to achieve your goals.
• You can’t let yourself be distracted.
• You can’t solve your problems by hiding them in drugs or alcohol.

Topics: parenting, teenagers, gaming, children, teens, social media

Ryan Last, 17, a straight-A student and Boy Scout in San Jose, California, killed himself last February because he was “absolutely terrified,” his mother, Pauline Stuart, told CNN. In his suicide note, he described how embarrassed he was for himself and his family.

Topics: gaming, social media, sextortion

In the olden days, perhaps in your grandparents’ time, family meals were a given. The kids may have had play practice or a sporting event, but in general, the entire family gathered for dinner six to seven nights a week.

Topics: social media, drug trend, emojis

Topics: social media, drug trend, emojis