By my faith I understand patience to be one of the most kind and empowering ways to grow in love and cast out fear.

So while I understand people are not receptive to religious dogma, and I am not a theologian, the freedom to worship, or not worship God is central to this civil liberty of our free society. It is freedom of religion, not freedom from religion that makes individual liberty possible. (See Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, 1944). God does not make us worship him. It is a choice granted by Him. This free will also gives us and our children the realization that we can think for ourselves and improve our own lots (one family, neighborhood, and community at a time) because God’s grace is endless and His mercy is abundant for those who fix their minds on even just one mustard seed of faith.

I have come to truly appreciate the trust God has placed in humanity, that he would grant us the capacity to procreate – to bear children and be responsible for their upbringing and care. Through my motherhood journey, I have learned that we are all imperfect parents with imperfect children, and we have the power to make home a safe place to learn how to become better versions of ourselves. To become trustworthy citizens at …

... 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...

What do tech-savvy teens need from parents? They need parents to provide a safe place where they can talk about the real pressures and insecurities they face.

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.

Do you remember the first time you experienced shame as a child? I do. When I was about seven years old, a neighbor’s child brought out a Polaroid photo of his mother, taken by his father, and showed it to all of the children gathered on the sidewalk. He had found it in her underwear drawer.

The William Glasser Institute offers insights about human nature that has practical application for raising tech-savvy kids. Glasser’s Choice Theory describes how every individual has command and control over thoughts and actions, while feelings and the physiological responses (the senses and emotions) to life’s events and experiences individuals do not control -they just happen. This means that we can easily be deceived by the feelings inspired by experiences on and off line.

In the social network, trust is the currency, and there is always something new to learn about the latest social media apps, changes to the existing most popular social media apps, and the tactics of cyber thieves and criminals to gain our trust and then exploit us. And so it goes with viruses and malware which are scripts and codes and apps designed to exploit individuals by stealing identities from social media accounts and other personal data accounts including banking, and/or to torment through cyber bullying and stalking.

Growing up and parenting are deeply affected by cyber connectivity, as children are natural born users of technology which is constantly changing and requiring well-informed adaptation. And so there is much education required on the part of parents in order to provide the guidance kids need in their cyber social realms.