My eldest child was born the same year that the iPhone was released for the first time. It was such a hit! And while a lot of people thought it would turn out to be a dying fad, here we are with people addicted so much to their devices that they can’t stand in lines without looking at their phones or go to the restroom without swiping through Tik Toks or Instagram reels.

It’s crazy to think that most of our youth today don’t know a world without smart devices. 

A survey conducted in 2017 by Common Sense Media showed that by age 11, a majority (53%) of kids had their own smartphone, and by 12 more than two-thirds (69%) had one.

This means that kids are becoming exposed to a lot of information sooner than they’re ready for it to include pornography. 

As a matter of fact, the average child in the U.S. accidentally finds porn between the age of 7 and 8. 

1 in 10 parents knows the code to their child’s device and 50 percent of kids admit to having experienced bullying. 

So, I want you...

What were your beliefs about a bully when you were in school? I’ll be honest. Until I began doing research on bullying, I thought that kids who were bullies didn’t weren’t being parented well.

I know! Judgy!

I thought that they were just acting like either their parents or perhaps an older sibling or family member. A lot of people still think of bullies this way and you know, society overall tends to be very judgy about parents and kids.

I thought that bullies were just bad kids who loved making people like me miserable. 

But, no one ever had a conversation with me about bullying or bullies at all. 

The truth is that kids who bully are just kids who have not been taught how to deal with their emotions. Now, I’m not going to tell you that all kids who bully decide to target people for the same reason. 

There are many motivators for bullies to do what they do. But right now, I want to talk about what you should do if your child is a bully. 

Keep in mind that a child who bullies ...

How much do you know about cyberbullying?

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “cyberbullying” was first used in 1998 and is defined as “the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person. In other words, cyberbullying is the act of bullying anywhere online. Our use of the web leaves digital footprints that can be tracked by people who know how to follow a footprint. 

That’s why you might have heard of some celebrities getting canceled for having posted terrible things during the early age of the internet.

With time and the advancement of technology, cyberbullying has increased, but the protection laws for cyberbullying (as well as other forms of bullying) have not caught up with it. 

Cyberbullying is bullying online. The acts are repeated and aimed at shaming, slurring, angering, humiliating, or causing any negative distress to another person. Like bullying, cyberbullying has not been federally defined in the U.S. as well as in many other countries be...

The practice of eliminating repetitive “sorry” statements might not seem so harmful, or important, but hear me out. 

Research finds that women have a lower offense threshold, meaning that they tend to apologize significantly more than men.

This matters a lot because when women don’t say sorry at all or as much, they are perceived as too cold, not nice, b*!chy, or bossy. 

Always saying sorry is also used as a way to deflect tension and awkwardness and it is also used as a way to show uncertainty or self-doubt. 

Most importantly, when people overuse the word “sorry”, really apologies come off as insincere or meaningless. 

Eliminating this habit will help you become more assertive, develop a strong voice and increase your confidence. On a bigger scale, you will help change society’s view of what assertive women are like, and believe it or not, this helps us get closer to being treated equally.

So, here are some examples of how people overuse “sorry” and how you can reword the statem...

Your child might be exhibiting signs of bullying and you might miss them if you don't know what to look for.

I was speaking to a parent this past week who was feeling awful for not having listened to her child. 

You see, her child had been bullied for a while. She thought that her incidents were not that bad. Then, months later she found out that her child was experiencing extreme symptoms from her bullying experiences. 

Her child was having panic attacks, couldn’t sleep, and got physically sick often. Her child kept asking to stay home and then one day, her child just refused to go to school.  

After long talks and some therapy sessions, this mom found out that the bullying experiences had been very consistent over the course of a year. Furthermore, she found out that teachers had been part of the bullying as well. 

Sadly, this happens. That’s why it’s important for parents to ask as many questions as possible to find out what kids are really saying. 

There are keywords to liste...

It’s been a heavy week, hasn’t it? 

There were several shootings this week, but the one that’s been highlighted the most is the one in Uvalde, Texas.

I have to be honest. I have been avoiding reading or listening to a lot of it because my emotional bandwidth just can’t take it right now. That doesn’t mean I don’t care. I certainly do. But, I have to limit my consumption of things that I am aware will be too much to handle at the time.

One thing I've had to do regardless of how I feel is to check in with my kids to find out how they're doing. I know that the answers might not be ideal. I don’t expect them to feel like the world is an amazing place and that they will feel 100 percent safe and secure. 

But, I want to make sure that they know I am there for them and that they can ask me any questions. 

That’s the job of a parent, right? No matter what is going on, we never stop being there for our kids. 

So, I want to remind you to please talk with your children about what they’re fe...

I try to be as involved as possible in my children’s lives. I do not accept short answers when I ask them how their day has gone. I try to have conversations with them to know what’s really been going on in their lives, but it's not always so easy. 

They are in their teens and sometimes, sharing about their lives is NOT something they're interested in doing.

Try A Different Approach

Since kids can be really stubborn about opening up, I've had to learn when to leave them alone and when to get them to engage without them realizing that they're doing it. 

It has to be subtle and all about them!

For example, this morning, my younger child was very cranky and didn't want to talk. As I drove her to school, I asked her if she knew what was making her feel cranky. Of course, she gave me the usual teen answer, "I dunno". 

Since I didn't want her to go off to school feeling down, I started telling her that I imagine that if her favorite stuffed animal were to come alive as all the toys did...

I recently spoke with a woman who had just moved to the U.S. She’d visited here for years and even attended university stateside—but she was shocked to learn how much power parents can have in the public school system… and how often we don’t use it.

She said, “I’m surprised parents are allowed to ask the schools so many questions. And even more surprised that they don’t.”

That moment reminded me: the issue isn’t that parents don’t care—it’s that they often don’t know what they’re allowed to ask.

Let’s change that.

Below are the questions and action steps every parent—whether your child is in a public or private school—should know. You can take control of your child’s education. Here’s how.

🧠 What Every Parent Can Ask the School (And Should)

✅ 1. Request Meeting Minutes from Any Parent Group

You have the right to ask for meeting notes from:

• PTA/PTO (Parent-Teacher groups)
• ELAC (English Learner Advisory Committee)
• School Site Council (SSC)
• African American Committees, or ...