It rarely starts with a slammed door. It starts with a shrug. A one-word answer. A teenager who used to tell you everything is now telling you nothing while telling a group chat everything. As a registered nurse, midwife, and mental health nurse, and as a mother, I have learned to watch for the quiet […]
Is Your Teenager Drifting Away Online? The 5 Warning Signs of the Communication Cascade Read More »
By Latifah Ajetunmobi | Parent & Teen Coach, Nurse, and Author. I’ve been wanting to write about this for a while. Today, at last, I can. The children of Oriire are home. After 56 days in captivity, the schoolchildren and teachers abducted from three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State have been
The Children of Oyo Are Home: A Lesson in Strength, Resilience and Love for Life Read More »
If you have ever said the words “get off that phone” and watched a door slam in response, this one is for you. Most parents I coach are not short of love. They are short of language. They know something needs to be said about screens, social media, and the hours their teenager spends in
14 Digital Wellbeing Conversation Starters That Actually Reach Your Teenager Read More »
Last Thursday, I read a news report and had to put my phone down. I sat in silence for a long time. Come closer. Let me tell you what I saw. The UK’s National Crime Agency announced that since October, they have identified more than 270 individuals linked to ONE online forum. Not a forum
There’s a version of your child you’ll never meet again. The one who climbed into your bed during thunderstorms. Who told you about every scraped knee, every playground betrayal, every small fear. That child trusted you with their whole inner world. And then, somewhere between 13 and 16, the doors started closing. Most parents panic
Why the Strategy That Worked at 13 Is Failing You at 16 (And Leaving Your Teen Exposed) Read More »
International Widows’ Day was marked two days ago, on the 23rd of June. But a widow’s dignity was never meant to be a one-day concern, and the way a family treats its widows says more about that family than any tradition it claims to keep. When I wrote Beyond the Goat Pen, I did not
Why Treating Widows Well Is the Foundation of Strong Families Read More »
You’ve tried taking the phone away. Maybe for an hour, maybe for the evening, maybe for a whole weekend after a particularly bad row. And maybe, like most parents, you found that it changed nothing except to make the atmosphere at home even worse. If confiscation worked, none of us would need anything else. The
Why Taking Your Teen’s Phone Away Doesn’t Work (And What To Do Instead) Read More »
Father’s Day 2026 falls on Sunday, 21 June, and across the globe many families will pause to say thank you. But behind every card and every hug is a story; we rarely tell the story of what fatherhood costs and how quietly most fathers pay it. The battles they fight in silence Many fathers carry
Father’s Day 2026: Honouring the Fathers Who Smile Through Their Battles Read More »
Refugee Week 2026 runs from 15 to 21 June, and this year it asks something of us all. The theme is Courage and it lands in a year when courage is in desperately short supply. As we mark the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the agreement that promised the displaced protection and dignity,
Refugee Week 2026: Why We Must See Refugees as Humans, Not Burdens Read More »
Your teenager checks their phone the moment they wake up. They get irritable when you ask them to put it down. They’ve drifted away from the hobbies they once loved. And every time, there’s a reasonable explanation: they’re tired, they’re growing up, their interests are changing. I know that script intimately. I’m a nurse, a
The Warning Signs of Teen Phone Addiction Most Parents Miss Read More »
