• My 12-year-old is pushing for more independence, and I'm learning to adjust.
• We've set clear rules and boundaries to balance freedom with safety.
• I'm letting go gradually, even when it feels uncomfortable.

Over the last couple of years, my 12-year-old has started pushing for greater independence. In the past couple of months, he's pushed harder than ever.

I expected it. He's entering adolescence, and, developmentally, it's normal for him to want to explore without his mom always around.

Even though it was expected, it still came as a shock to my system. How have I got a child who is old enough to do anything without me?

With his push for independence, have come a myriad of sit-down conversations about what he wants, what we are comfortable with, and what we deem safe and age-appropriate.

It's early days, but together with my husband, who very helpfully has always worked with young people, we've developed a plan that works for right now — a mix of guidelines, rules, and boundaries.

Walking home from school

For the last two years, our son has walked home from school. This was his first taste of independence. Before this started, I walked the route behind him, watching how he moved on the sidewalks and studying to make sure he safely crossed a couple of busy streets.

He did this for two years without a phone. I knew if he wasn't home by 3:55 p.m., then I'd go out looking for him.

This 10-minute walk was the springboard to further independence. If we could trust that he was road-safe and responsible, we could give him more independence later on.

Walking to the convenience store

Having built our trust by walking home from school, we then allowed him to walk to the convenience store down the road to either buy us things like milk and bread or to use his own money to get himself a treat.

This gave him yet another taste of freedom. When friends came over, we'd ask their parents for permission to walk to the shop. This gave them something to do together and got them off screens.

Wandering around the park

There is a lovely park a 10 minutes' walk down the road from our house. He used to walk through this park on his way home from school, so I knew he felt comfortable in it and knew his way around.

He often asks if he and his friends can go cycling, walking, or scootering around the park, and we've said a resounding yes.

In a world where technology dominates, I love that he wants to explore outside with his friends.

There are risks, as with any location, but I am willing to let him take them. We mitigate these risks by ensuring he has his phone and by downloading an app that lets us track his location in case of an emergency.

If he does get injured, he knows how to call me and how to ring emergency services.

There are things we can't do and places he can't go

While we have allowed him more freedom recently, I limit what he can do based on what I know about a particular area and the risks it presents.

At times, I can sense he feels resentment when his friends are allowed to do things he isn't. We remind him that all families are different.

Instead of just saying a blanket "no," we once again reconvene and explain why we, as his parents, have made this decision.

There are plenty of freedoms he'll be allowed in the coming years, but these will come with his maturity and our increased trust in his ability to make wise, safe decisions.

I feel like we're walking into a minefield that every other parent of a teenager who has gone before us has already walked in. And yet it feels like we are the first ones. We're just doing the best we know how, one conversation at a time.

• To invest in real estate without having to fork over a big down payment, some investors are using the BRRRR method.
• It involves buying a property with potential, renovating it, and renting it out.
• Then, investors can use a cash-out refinance to help fund their next purchase.

Real estate investing can be an effective way to build wealth, but it's not as simple as selecting an index fund, contributing money, and letting it grow.

Successful real estate investing requires time, strategy, and money — often a significant amount, especially for investors looking to build multi-property portfolios.

To scale without having to save for a new down payment and closing costs for each deal, some investors use a strategy known as "buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat," or BRRRR.

The approach involves buying a property with potential, renovating it, and renting it out. Once rented, the next step is to refinance, allowing investors to pull out their original investment, plus any equity they've built, to help fund their next purchase. Banks typically lend up to 70% to 75% of a property's value in a cash-out refinance.

Scaling quickly by recycling capital

When buying an investment property, "you're really looking at at least 20% down," Pieter Louw told Business Insider. He and his childhood friend, Connor Swofford, used the BRRRR strategy to scale from zero to 24 units in 12 months. "Even with a $300,000 or $400,000 property, with closing costs, you have to come up with 60 to 80 grand, which is not very scalable."

Their first deal was a duplex with a carriage house in Buffalo. Two of the three units were ready to rent, while the third required renovations. They said they bought it for $295,000, put about $40,000 into it, and by the time they refinanced, it appraised for $430,000.

"That really kick-started us," said Louw.

They've financed their deals with hard money loans (short-term loans secured by a "hard" asset, such as real estate), sometimes layering in private money for the down payment or renovations. Working with hard money lenders allows them to move faster than traditional banks, though it does come with risk, Swofford said: "It's a big balloon payment, you have to personally guarantee the loan, and there's a bit more paperwork and harder compliance hurdles to clear."

Thanks to Louw's construction background, they can confidently predict their rehab costs and timeline, which is critical for a successful BRRRR.

"The two biggest things are making sure that your construction budget is reasonably accurate," said Louw, "and knowing your purchase price and what the value would be afterward: the ARV."

Carolyn Yu has used the BRRRR method to scale to five properties in two years.

Her strategy centers on buying below market value, improving the property, allowing it to appreciate, and then tapping into the built-up equity to help finance another purchase.

"My strategy is basically to use every property to fund the next one," said the 27-year-old investor seeking early retirement.

A slower, more flexible version of BRRRR

There's more than one way to execute a BRRRR. Financially independent investor Dion McNeeley has experimented with a "live-in BRRRR," and Mike Newton, a Washington State trooper who owns more than 20 rental units, uses what he calls a "slow BRRRR" strategy to reduce risk.

"One of the main concerns with the BRRRR strategy is, what if I don't get the appraisal I want? What if I don't get it remodeled as quickly as I thought I would?" said Newton. "All of a sudden, as I take longer, it now costs me way more money."

His "slow BRRRR" strategy works like so: First, he secures private money from individual investors in his local real estate community. There's nothing unique about that step; the key is how he structures the loans. He sets up a five-year interest-only loan term. For example, on a 2025 triplex purchase, he borrowed $60,000 at 10% interest, meaning he owed the lender $6,000 per year, or about $500 a month, with no principal payments.

He'll eventually pay the loan back in a lump sum after he rehabs and refinances the property, but he has plenty of time to do so. He includes a clause that allows him to extend the loan for up to three additional years if the appraisal doesn't meet a specified threshold. He also includes a no prepayment penalty clause.

"If we had some crazy recession or the value didn't come back, I can wait longer and continue to cash flow," he said. "Even though 10% is not a great interest rate, if you're not paying any principal, the actual payment I'm making of $500 a month is less than what a principal and interest payment would be."

When the timing is right, he refinances, pays back the private lender, and moves on to the next deal.

Why some investors are shifting to BRRRR now

For Louisville-based investors Mike Gorius and Kevin Hart, BRRRR is becoming more attractive as market conditions change.

The business partners have primarily focused on house flipping since they started buying real estate together in 2019, but they're leaning more heavily into BRRRR projects in 2026.

A cooling market has made quick resale profits harder to rely on.

They know the strategy isn't risk-free. You still have to make sure your numbers work, and you can hit the value you're expecting, Hart said.

"From the get-go, you still have the risk of rehab and the risk of running correct costs to make sure that you can actually get a good appraisal."

However, compared to flipping, BRRRR offers a more predictable exit.

"You're taking out the risk of the market," explained Hart. Instead of worrying about a flip sitting for months while you're paying interest, "you know that at the end of the rehab you can get a tenant in there and you can immediately refinance with the bank."

It may not yield quick cash like a successful flip, but they're playing the long game.

• Many tech leaders say they're ditching screen time limits, though some still use them.
• Instead, they're focused on how their kids are interacting with technology, prioritizing creativity.
• Short-form video and social media remain major concerns for many parents.

These days, parenting means navigating a seemingly endless parade of decisions about technology. Can your toddler watch "Sesame Street" on an iPad? Does FaceTiming the grandparents count toward screen time? Should your teen have access to social media just because "everyone else" seems to?

Parents are more cognizant than ever about the pitfalls — and potential — of technology, so it's natural to wonder how the people leading tech companies handle this with their own kids. Paypal cofounder Peter Thiel and Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel have both said they limit their young children (all 8 or under) to an hour and a half of screen time per week. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said that he wants his kids to use screens for communication, not passive consumption.

It turns out, tech leaders, for the most part, are like the rest of us: trying to balance screen-free time and critical thinking skills, while also giving their kids access to the world that technology can unlock.

Here's how seven tech leaders are handling technology decisions for their families.

Finding the middle

Kate Doerksen is the co-founder and CEO of Sage Haven, an app that helps parents monitor their kids' messaging. Her kids, who are 7 and 9, get an hour per day on their iPads or Nintendo Switch, plus additional time if the family is playing a video game together. She plans to delay smartphones and social media, but her daughter has an Apple Watch with messenger (which Doerksen monitors).

"Like most things in life, the right answer feels like it lies somewhere in the middle," Doerksen says. "It's not tech abstinence, and it's not unlimited, unfettered usage. It's moderate usage on non-addictive apps and games with boundaries."

Learning and creating

As the chief learning officer at the online education company Stride, Niyoka McCoy, sees tech as a normal part of life, but she's still intentional about how her children — who are 14 and 2 — use it.

"We believe technology should be a tool for learning and creativity first, and entertainment second," she says. Her kids don't have hard-and-fast screen time limits, but McCoy aims to avoid them passively consuming content.

"When kids spend too much time scrolling or watching instead of creating, learning, or building something meaningful," she says, "that is when technology stops being beneficial."

Focusing on well-being, not screen time

Three years ago, Hari Ravichandran's daughter, who was then 13, went through a tough time — one that he believes her access to a smartphone contributed to. He had given her a phone at 13, but now believes that was too young, so he decided to take the phone away and delay access until 15 or 16 for her as well as his three younger children.

"I knew we couldn't just send her back into the same digital environment that had amplified those issues," said Ravichandran, the founder and CEO of online security company Aura.

At the same time, "What I think is overblown is the idea that technology itself is the enemy," Ravichandran says. "Cutting it out completely doesn't solve the root problem and can actually limit kids' independence and digital literacy."

Today, he focuses on how technology impacts his children's mood, sleep, self-esteem, and overall well-being.

"For us, it's less about strict bans and more about awareness, accountability, and open dialogue," he says.

Making sure values align

Tim Sheehan, co-founder and CEO Greenlight — which provides debit cards for children and teens — gave his four kids access to smartphones at 12, and social media at 15. His kids now range in age from 17 to 26. When they were younger, he watched their tech consumption closely, knowing how impressionable they were.

"My goal is to make sure the outside influences in their lives support the values we're trying to instill," he says.

Limiting short-term video

Justice Eroline, chief technology officer at the software development firm BairesDev, has a blanket rule of 1 hour of screen time for his kids, who are 8, 10, and 12. Even within that, he pays close attention to the type of content they're watching.

"I don't allow short-form content for the kids as it affects their attention span," he says.

Ahu Chhapgar, chief technology officer at fintech company Paysafe and dad of two (ages 10 and 13), says short-form video worries him more than anything else.

"When kids get access to it, they almost enter a trance," he says. "That level of stimulus is not how the brain evolved to process information, and I do worry about long-term effects on attention and impulse control."

Allowing AI, and gaming

Unlike some parents, Eroline is much less concerned about gaming.

"Video games can teach kids a lot of different things: teamwork, reaction time, problem solving, grit, dealing with defeat," Eroline says. "The content of the video game might be questionable, but there are plenty that can work for different age ranges."

Chhapgar won't let his kids have access to smartphones until they're 14, and social media until they're 16, but he does encourage them to use ChatGPT for 20 minutes each day.

"No one has all the answers about AI yet," he says. "So I'd rather they explore, build, and experiment responsibly instead of just passively consuming technology."

Controlling the interaction

Nik Kale, principal engineer with Cisco Systems, makes sure that his 3-year-old isn't given a screen when she's upset.

"I don't want her building a dependency where the first response to discomfort is a device," he explains.

He also ensures that he or his wife — not an algorithm — are choosing what their daughter sees.

"I don't let automated systems make unsupervised decisions in my production environments at work," he says. "I'm not going to let one make unsupervised decisions about what my three-year-old's brain consumes either."

That, to him, is much more important than seemingly arbitrary screen time limits.

"Parents are adding up minutes like it's a toxicity dosage," he says, "when the real variable is whether a human or an algorithm is driving the experience."