Saturday, March 26th, 2016
... it is important to consider how humans are capable of making their own “hell” on earth (i.e., feelings of isolation, powerlessness and worthlessness) by believing things that are not true, acting on them (thus disturbing the peace) and focusing on things that don’t really matter. This is the danger as the cyber realm becomes a single point of reference for life. Bullies, pedophiles and sex traffickers are counting on it...
Posted in Anxiety, Bullying, Children & Teens Problems & Pitfalls, Children's Health & Mental Health, Cyber Safety, Cyberbullying, Family, Mobile Phone Use and Children, Parent-child relationship, Parental control, Parenting, Relationship, Social Media, Substance abuse prevention, Teenagers, Wisdom | Comments Off on Teaching youth mindful use of social media: An app for the heart and mind
Saturday, March 19th, 2016
Daily offers compelling insight about the neuro development of the reward systems of the adolescent brain, the shame experiences of childhood, and the nature of addiction as an illness that can be successfully treated when we focus on the illness, which he posits is not about the drug. “Addiction is an illness resulting from affect dysregulation,” he said. “It is a pathological relationship to intoxication. So it does not matter which drug is involved.”
Posted in addiction, Anxiety, Bullying, Children & Teens Problems & Pitfalls, Children's Health & Mental Health, Cyber Safety, Faith, Happiness, Mobile Phone Use and Children, Parental control, Social Media, Substance Abuse & Addiction, Substance abuse prevention, Teen drug addiction, Teen Drug Use, Teenagers, Wisdom | Comments Off on Teen addiction to heroin and marijuana is one treatable disease
Sunday, February 28th, 2016
Every modern parent must consider that in their cyber realm, youth accessing and using drugs without direction of a physician may seem like such a normal thing to do – especially when responding to the amount of stress and peer pressure hyped in social media.
Posted in addiction, Anxiety, Children's Health & Mental Health, Cyber Safety, Depression, Internet Safety, Mobile Phone Use and Children, My two cents, Parent-child communication, Parental control, Parenting, Social Media, Substance Abuse & Addiction, Texting, Wisdom | Comments Off on 5 things every parent needs to know about today’s marijuana
Monday, January 18th, 2016
Cross Roads Church Next Generation Pastor, Dan Britton, has invited me to speak to parents of teens at the South Placer Teen Center about the challenge of parenting tech-savvy teens.
Posted in Boundaries, Children & Teens Problems & Pitfalls, Cyber Safety, Cyberbullying, Faith, Family, Fresh Start parenting, Mobile Phone Use and Children, Parent-child communication, Parental control, Parenting, Privacy, Relationship, Sexting, Social Media, Substance abuse prevention, Wisdom | Comments Off on Parenting tech-savvy teens information night
Saturday, December 5th, 2015
Bob Holmes is a one-man volley ball team who travels the country engaging teens to think radically differently about their value and their future in the face of enormous bullying pressure in their social networks to believe they are small and insignificant.
Posted in addiction, Children & Teens Problems & Pitfalls, Children's Health & Mental Health, Children's mental health, Cyber Safety, Faith, Family, Mobile Phone Use and Children, My two cents, Parental control, Parenting, Social Media, Substance Abuse & Addiction, Substance abuse prevention, Teen drug addiction, Texting, Wisdom, Youth Suicide | Comments Off on One-man volleyball team shows teens how to respond to the bully
Wednesday, November 25th, 2015
A Center for Disease Control study on Childhood Stress with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, explains there are three types of stress: positive, tolerable and toxic. Toxic stress is chronic and can lead to health issues. According to the report updated in May 2011: “Toxic stress results from adverse experiences that may be sustained over a long period of time. This kind of stress can disrupt early brain development, compromise the functioning of important biological systems, and lead to long-term health problems.” Along those lines, consider texting and social media as an example of chronic teen stress that can be like peer pressure on steroids and inspire high anxiety.
Theresa Thickens,
Posted in Anxiety, Children & Teens Problems & Pitfalls, Children's Health & Mental Health, Cyber Safety, Depression, Faith, Family, Internet Safety, Mobile Phone Use and Children, My two cents, Parent-child communication, Parenting, Social Media, Substance Abuse & Addiction, Teenagers, Wisdom | Comments Off on 6 tips to improve communication & reduce stress for tech-savvy teens
Monday, November 23rd, 2015
The concerns of this study are rooted in a simple truth: “When you stand for nothing, you fall for anything” (Alexander Hamilton).
Posted in Bullying, Children & Teens Problems & Pitfalls, Cyber Safety, Depression, Faith, Family, God's love, Internet Safety, Mobile Phone Use and Children, Parent-child communication, Parental control, Parenting, Sex and sexual exploitation, Sexting, Social Media, Substance Abuse & Addiction, Teenagers, The Fish 103.9FM Cyber Tues, Wisdom | Comments Off on 3 Cyber threats your child can be trained to avoid
Tuesday, November 10th, 2015
A recent article in the Setonian features the dangers of texting while walking on campus, including bumping into walls and other people, tripping and falling and walking into oncoming traffic. In this way, with the advent of mobile connectivity, I have learned that being present is something that we take for granted, as if it is some kind of an effortless thing when indeed it is not. And the more we experience the impact of mobile connectivity seemingly omnipresent in every device, room, gathering and relationship – well, it frankly, becomes more difficult to simply be present and give one another undivided attention, much less pay attention to our surroundings while traveling by foot or from behind the wheel.
Posted in addiction, Anxiety, Banana Moments Monthly Round Up, Children & Teens Problems & Pitfalls, Children's Health & Mental Health, Children's mental health, Cyber Safety, Discipline, Education, Faith, Family, Mobile Phone Use and Children, Parent-child communication, Parent-child relationship, Parental control, Parenting, Parenting adult children, Social Media, Substance Abuse & Addiction, Texting, Wisdom | Comments Off on Good advice for the modern family: ‘Wherever you are, be there’
Saturday, November 7th, 2015
A Center for Disease Control study on Childhood Stress with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, explains there are three types of stress: positive, tolerable and toxic. Toxic stress is chronic and can lead to health issues. According to the report updated in May 2011: “Toxic stress results from adverse experiences that may be sustained over a long period of time. This kind of stress can disrupt early brain development, compromise the functioning of important biological systems, and lead to long-term health problems.” Along those lines, consider texting and social media as an example of chronic teen stress that can be like peer pressure on steroids and inspire high anxiety.
Posted in Anxiety, Bullying, Children & Teens Problems & Pitfalls, Children's Health & Mental Health, Children's mental health, Cyber Safety, Cyberbullying, Depression, Faith, Internet Safety, Mobile Phone Use and Children, My two cents, Parenting, Sexting, Social Media, Substance Abuse & Addiction, Substance abuse prevention, Texting, Wisdom, Youth Suicide | Comments Off on Help teens to learn how to manage stress in the social network
Monday, October 19th, 2015
The most important thing parents can teach children in order to groom them for cyber-safe use of texting and social media is that they already have power and it must be defended. It is like the teacher saying, “You already have an ‘A’. Your assignment is to defend it.” The seminal question for the modern teen is, how much personal power will you surrender to the bully, the drug or the device?
Posted in addiction, Anxiety, Boundaries, Bullying, Children & Teens Problems & Pitfalls, Children's Health & Mental Health, Cyber Safety, Cyberbullying, Faith, Internet Safety, Mobile Phone Use and Children, Parent-child communication, Parental control, Parenting, Privacy, Sex and sexual exploitation, Sexting, Social Media, Substance Abuse & Addiction, Substance abuse prevention, Teenagers, Texting, The Fish 103.9FM Cyber Tues, Wisdom | Comments Off on Social media etiquette for teens