How I Am Saving My Children

An email from an Appreciative Mom

Dear John:

I know that you don’t know me, but I just want to show you some appreciation. I am a subscriber of your 2x a week Critical Thinking Substack as well as your 2x a month Media Balance Newsletters.

We have three children, all teenagers. Even though we are paying to have them in a private school, we’re extremely concerned not only about what misinformation they are given in class, but also the influence of social media they are bombarded with on a daily basis (often through their peers).

Awhile back you suggested something that we’ve tried, and it seems to be working very well. Let me use as an example, our youngest son’s situation. Here’s an outline of what’s being done:

1 - My Husband and I are both subscribers.

2 - I signed my son up as a subscriber for both your Substack and Newsletter. (They are both free — TY — so I can afford that!)

3 - I asked him to read both, and to come to either his dad or me if he has any questions or concerns about what he has seen in either.

4 - I scheduled a 30 minute time later in the week, for he and I to have a formal discussion on at least two (2) of the Newsletter articles.

5 - Within a day of the Newsletter coming out, I pick one article and let him know. He picks a 2nd article that he reveals at the time of our get-together.

6 - At our scheduled get together (in a quiet place in our house, with minimal distractions), we spend about 15 minutes talking about each article. I asked him what he thinks about each one, and then listen.

7 - Through this process, I quickly found out about certain things at school where he was being given misinformation — and some were surprises. I might never have know about some of them otherwise.

8 - Our discussion gives me a much better idea about his thinking process — e.g., is he just accepting what he is told, or is he doing Critical Thinking?

The bottom line is that these weekly 30 minutes sessions have been extraordinarily invaluable. I not only have a stronger bond with my son, but I feel more confident that his K-12 education is not going off the rails. I also had similar positive experiences with his two older sisters, using almost the same process.

I would heartily endorse this idea for any child age 10 and up. If other parents have found that variations of the above work better, please let us know!

Thank you.

Mrs. JT

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To readers (from John): for more info and to sign up your teenage children (and you) for the Media Balance Newsletter see below…

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Here is other information from this scientist that you might find interesting:

Permission is granted to republish any of my Substack commentaries (with proper attribution). I’d appreciate an email notice.

I am now offering incentives for you to sign up new subscribers!

I also consider reader submissions on Critical Thinking on my topics of interest.

Check out the Archives of this Critical Thinking substack.

For those using RSS feeds, use https://criticallythinking.substack.com/feed

WiseEnergy.org: discusses the Science (or lack thereof) behind our energy options.

C19Science.info: covers the lack of genuine Science behind our COVID-19 policies.

Election-Integrity.info: multiple major reports on the election integrity issue.

Media Balance Newsletter: a free, twice-a-month newsletter that covers what the mainstream media does not do, on issues from COVID to climate, elections to education, renewables to religion, etc. Here are the Newsletter’s 2025 Archives. Please send me an email to get your free copy. When emailing me, please make sure to include your full name and the state where you live. (Of course, you can cancel the Media Balance Newsletter at any time - but why would you?

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