We're celebrating the little things

Hey Friends!

Summer finally showed up in the GTA this week. After what felt like the longest cold stretch in forever, the warmth came in hot and heavy this week, and it has changed the game. The mental health reset has been real.

This whole year has felt a little heavy in a similar way with a lot of news, a lot to keep up with, a lot of "wait, my kid is using what?" moments. So we are leaning hard into the small things this season. The backyard cleanup. The pool opening. The way the sun feels on our faces in the morning. This is also the school year we will have all seven of ours home — one of our oldest is off to university in the fall — so every backyard dinner, every loud kitchen, every "wait, where is everyone?" moment is going straight in the memory bank.

Speaking of things to keep up with, two big ones landed this week that are worth your time. Here is the rundown.

A Canadian terror group is targeting kids on Discord, Roblox, and Telegram. We need to talk about it.

This one is hard but important. We’ve shared about this in the past, but we feel its a message that needs repeating so every parent is aware.

In December 2025, the federal government officially listed the 764 Network as a terrorist entity because almost monthly, new criminals are being charged in relation to the group. It’s happening in Canada an across the US, in our communities, in our schools, and on our streets. This is not a far-away problem.

If you’ve never heard of it before, here is what 764 actually does. The RCMP says the network targets children and teens through gaming and chat platforms, specifically Discord, Telegram, Roblox, and Minecraft, to recruit, radicalize, and exploit. They go after the most vulnerable kids: kids dealing with depression, isolation, or eating disorders. They are skilled at building trust quickly, moving conversations into encrypted spaces parents cannot see, and then escalating to violence, self-harm, and the production of exploitation material. A researcher in this space said members of the group teach kids early on not to talk to parents, teachers, or anyone outside the group. That is the part that makes this so hard to spot.

Here’s what you can do:

First, know that your kid does not have to be in trouble to be a target. 764 is specifically hunting for kids who are already struggling, and the way you usually find out is by paying attention to behaviour, not by checking apps. The RCMP's warning signs include:

• a kid who used to talk openly about their online life and has suddenly gone quiet

• big mood shifts

• withdrawal from family and friends

• a sudden move to encrypted apps you cannot see

• physical signs like unusual skin covering or unexplained injuries.

If you see any of those signs, do not panic and do not interrogate. Just keep showing up, keep the door open, and pull in support. And if you have a concrete reason to believe your kid has been contacted or groomed by 764 or a group like it, report it to your local law enforcement unit. You are not overreacting.

Instagram Instants is live globally and it sends photos before users mean to

A few weeks back we flagged that Instagram was testing a new feature called Instants. It is now live globally. Instants is Instagram's new disappearing-photo feature, basically a Snapchat copy stitched into the Instagram inbox. You tap the new pile-of-photos icon in the bottom-right of your DMs, the camera opens, you take a photo. The moment your teen presses the shutter button, the photo is automatically sent to everyone on their Friends list with no confirmation option. So if a teen taps that button casually, the photo is out the door before they have time to think about what they just shared.

We have spent years telling parents that Snapchat is not a safe space for kids, and the disappearing-content design is exactly what makes it risky. When a kid believes a photo will vanish, they share things they would never share permanently and they do it impulsively, which is exactly how teen brains are wired. With Instants, Meta has taken that same risky design pattern and dropped it inside the app that nearly every teen in North America already has, by default. Kids who were never on Snapchat are now exposed to the same risky behaviour loop without ever downloading it. And reminder…this is the same Meta currently in court over harming children.

What you can do:

Sit with your teen this weekend and walk through Instants together so they know exactly how it works, especially that the photo sends the moment they press the button, and the default audience is their full friends list (those they follow and who follow them back).

If you want the feature hidden entirely, go to their profile, tap the three-line menu, scroll to Content Preferences, and toggle on "Hide Instants in Inbox." This won’t block the feature, but it will keep it out of sight.

And here is the bigger conversation to have, the same one we have been having about Snapchat for years: if a photo would embarrass them, hurt someone, or land them in trouble if it were permanent, treat it as permanent.

We know we just dropped two heavy stories on you. We get it. Some weeks we open the news and want to throw the phones in the pool. But the takeaway we keep coming back to is the same one we are sitting with personally right now: be the parent your kid comes to. With one of ours heading off to university in the fall, that one has felt especially loud lately.

Which is why this week's podcast hit us where we live. We sat down with Haley Jackman, a 19-year-old Canadian influencer who arrived at Western University with a growing platform and an unfiltered voice, and then lived through the version of university most teens cannot imagine. Most teens think university is where you magically become a fully formed adult. Haley learned it is more like being dropped into a jungle with a ring light and a comment section watching your every move. If you have a teen carving their own path, or you are a parent trying to understand the world your kid is about to step into, give this one a listen.

Now close the laptop. Go outside. The little things really are the big things.

Talk soon.

—Cat & Nat