Teens & Parents

A Chatbot Can Keep Teens Talking. It Can't Help Them Become Themselves.

Common Sense Media rated ChatGPT for Teens an Unacceptable Risk for anyone under 18. Beyond the safety gaps, it flagged a chatbot that acts like a friend and does the homework, and both quietly take away what teens need to become themselves.

Before Choosing College or the Trades, Ask Who You're Becoming

The Atlantic's Annie Lowrey argues it may be time for young people to consider the trades, and the economics hold up. But swapping one safe-path script for another misses the question that matters most: what does this young person naturally solve for?

The Best Screen-Time Limit Is a Future Self

New research reported in The Wall Street Journal finds that short-form video weakens teens' sense of the future. The hopeful finding: teens who can picture their goals resist the scroll and recover from setbacks better. Limits help, but the most durable one is a teen who knows who they are becoming.

Identity and Family Were Never Meant to Compete

The Wall Street Journal reports that many experts see estrangement between adult children and parents rising. Some distance is necessary. But many estrangements begin years earlier, in homes where a child learned to edit who they were. Families that make room for identity early rarely have to choose later.

Human Skills Can't Be Taught Without Room to Be Human

University presidents agree that AI makes human skills like empathy, creativity and leadership more valuable than ever. But those skills cannot simply be taught. They grow on campuses that give students room to discover who they are and practice using it.

Room to Roam Is Not Enough. Kids Need Room to Be Themselves.

The Wall Street Journal's Meghan Cox Gurdon makes a warm case for giving children room to take risks and grow up. She is right. But independence builds confidence, while identity builds conviction. Parents give both when they step back and help kids discover who they are.

Agency Isn't Born. It's Earned in the Rooms We Create.

The Economist argues that an internal locus of control, the belief that your actions shape your outcomes, is the quality most worth wishing for your children. It is. But agency is not simply inherited or hired. It is earned in the homes, schools and workplaces that let people act and learn.

Raise the Individual, Not the Resume

The formula of good grades, the right activities and a steady career path no longer prepares children for the world they will lead. Parents who nurture individuality are shaping the workforce of the future.

Parents Were Handed the Same Script

When we help teenagers stop editing themselves, we eventually reach the adults who taught them to. Parents were handed the same script. Winning the teen while losing the parent changes nothing.

Students and Educators Need Permission to Be Individuals

The future of higher education depends less on the degree and more on the individual. Students and educators alike need personalized paths, the permission to question and the confidence to contribute.

The Exhausted Executive Was Once a Kid

The performance that exhausts leaders often began long before their first job. Connecting the boardroom to adolescence reveals why reclaiming identity in adulthood—and protecting it earlier—matters more than ever.