• In May 2023, Jennifer Kusch relocated to Dubai for a job opportunity.
• Her teen sons were initially against the move and said she was "ruining" their lives.
• But she says the experience of living abroad has brought them closer together.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jennifer Kusch, 47, who works in talent acquisition. Kusch moved from Idaho to Dubai with her kids in 2023. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Early last year, my company approached me about a job opportunity in Dubai.

At first, I said no. I had just bought a house in Idaho, where I was raising three kids. As a single mom, moving to the Middle East sounded hard, so I declined. But my boss at the time encouraged me to apply, and I thought, "Fine, why not?"

I got the job and was set to start in 30 days. My daughter was 18 then, and my sons were 15 and 13. When they came home from school, I read them the book "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss and then said, "Guys, we're moving to Dubai."

My daughter was about to graduate from high school but was excited about an adventure. My 15-year-old, on the other hand, said, "You're ruining my life. My people are here. This is where I belong." And my 13-year-old echoed his brother.

The job commitment was for two years. I said, "We're going to go for two years. We're going to see what happens."

I remember crying in my bedroom after thinking, "Oh my gosh, I'm doing this selfishly. I want to do this for my career. Am I ruining my kids' lives?"

But then I thought about how many other teenagers must have said the same thing to their parents.

And so I had another discussion with my children a week later and said, "I hope that you can look at this as an adventure."

It was a big move for all of us

I had traveled outside the US but never lived abroad or been to Dubai. I traveled to the city alone last April while my kids were finishing the academic year.

When I arrived in Dubai, I tested out the public transportation so I could teach my kids how to ride the bus, hop on the metro, or take a taxi.

I found a townhouse-style villa away from downtown Dubai and spent six weeks furnishing the place so that all the kids would have to do was unpack their suitcases. My company provided an allowance to "settle in." While it didn't cover rent, it helped me set up a home for my family. They also covered the flights and most of my kids' school fees.

When I was done, I flew back for my daughter's graduation. I decided to sell everything I owned — apart from my house — as I didn't want to have to pay loads of money for storage.

Although my initial commitment was for two years, I was on a local contract and could stay in Dubai as long as I had a job. It was a calculated risk, selling everything and anticipating my love for living abroad.

In May 2023, I flew with my kids to Dubai. We arrived at the beginning of summer when many expats tend to leave the city because of the heat. The high temperatures in Dubai between May and August range from around 100 to 105 °F.

That summer, my kids didn't have any friends. However, they had one another. I was grateful for that.

Before I went to work, I said, "While I'm gone, I want you guys to make your bucket list of things you would like to do in Dubai."

When I got home, our wall was full of sticky notes with things to do. We planned fun outings, like visiting Warner Bros. World in Abu Dhabi and having an Emirati dinner. When we were done, we would move the sticky notes on the wall from "to do" to "done."

So, instead of sulking and being sad inside, we were excited about what we could discover.

My kids have benefited from living in Dubai

My sons now attend a school with an American curriculum, but they are the only American students. It has allowed them to meet people from all over the world.

They also have independence here that they never had in the US. My 14-year-old son will get in a taxi and go wherever he wants. There's freedom and safety that they have not experienced before.

This has all contributed to why they now love Dubai. On Thanksgiving last year, my older son said, "I'm so grateful that you moved us here." That was music to my ears because I've watched them grow up a lot.

Nothing is the same here. But they've navigated it with resilience, agility, and grace.

The experience brought us closer together

It can be lonely to be an expat in a new place.

But having to rely on each other and experiencing new things together have made us closer. My kids enjoy my company, and I am so grateful for that.

I miss my family and friends, and I know they would like us to come home. At this point, however, I love Dubai and our quality of life here.

My daughter has since returned to the US for work, and my sons will soon leave the nest as well.

I don't know what the future holds, but for now, Dubai is home.

• Paul Chai is an Australian dad with two teenage sons — one is 18, and the other is 14.
• Chai says his younger son doesn't make friends quickly and Snapchat has helped.
• He's not convinced that a social media ban on young teenagers is what Australian parents want.

My 14-year-old son often rolls his eyes when I talk politics, but he has taken a keen interest in the topic lately, since Australia's government has decided to ban everyone in the country from accessing social media until they turn 16.

He got his own phone and started using social media earlier than I would have liked. It was 2021, he was 12, and Melbourne had been in lockdown for over six months. Melbourne's lockdown during the pandemic added up to 262 days, the longest cumulative lockdown in the world.

At the time, my wife and I decided that giving our son a phone seemed less harmful than months of isolation. Looking back, he has become quite attached to his device.

I recognize that social media can harm children. It can do the same to adults, to reputations, and to democracy. But what concerns me about my country's new policy, which was announced on November 21, is the lack of nuance and public discussion.

Losing the good with the bad

With his parents' help and guidance, my son now has what I consider a pretty healthy relationship with social media. He is online, but he also loves travel, gets out a lot with friends, runs in Parkrun, and plays drums in a couple of bands.

Online, he uses TikTok to discover new music, Snapchat to keep up with friends who live far away, and Signal to communicate with his grandparents who live abroad. He and I share a love of movies, and I enjoy how he is almost always ahead of me when it comes to the latest releases and entertainment news that he finds online.

We have a family group chat on WhatsApp that helps us manage our daily lives and allows us to share memes with each other.

My son is worried the ban will cut him off from far-flung friends. He has also talked about wanting to get his first job as soon as he turns 15 and wonders if he will face barriers to work communications. His older brother, who just turned 18, has been receiving his work shifts via social media chats for a few years.

Australia's government has said the social media ban will apply to Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, Instagram, and X. Certain chat-based social media, including Messenger Kids, WhatsApp, Kids Helpline, Google Classroom, and YouTube, will not be banned. A decision on other messaging apps — like Signal, Discord, and Google Chat — has not yet been made.

"We know social media is doing social harm," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in the November media release. "This is a landmark reform. We know some kids will find workarounds, but we're sending a message to social media companies to clean up their act," he continued.

The government has announced that tech companies have one year to stop minors from logging into their social media platforms or risk up to 49,500,000 Australian dollars, or $32,000,000, in fines.

Albanese also said that neither underage users nor their parents will face punishment for violations.

But what I worry about is that the ban will sweep away all the positives of my son's online life in an attempt to tackle the negatives.

In June, just a few months before the social media ban was passed, Australia's eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, suggested that a ban on social media for kids may not be a cure-all. "Social media may also provide a range of opportunities that are protective of mental health, such as inclusion, social connection and belonging," the commissioner said, per The Guardian.

Grant's statement reminded me of my own son using social media to build friendships. It also made me think of the under-16 LGBTQ+ Australians and rural communities who have formed friendships and found acceptance online.

Is this what parents want?

While I have read a lot about Australian parents supporting this ban, it was only recently that I came across someone who agreed with it.

A father I spoke to, who was in favor of the ban, has a teenage daughter. He told me that she's obsessed with her phone and has even threatened to self-harm if it were taken away from her. He said that a nationwide ban will help him wean her off her online addiction.

Within my community, most parents I've discussed this with have said they don't want the government to control their parenting any more than they do their bodies.

My son doesn't make friends quickly, and many of his current friendships have grown stronger online. I don't see it as a replacement for their IRL get-togethers but as a complement.

Many of us who grew up without social media tend to romanticize our childhoods. While I did a fair bit of running around the neighborhood with mates as a kid, I also remember spending hours on the phone talking to girlfriends when I was a teenager.

I also had pen pals in America with whom I would spend hours corresponding; in-person communication is not the only way to form strong bonds.

• Mark Cuban learns about new technologies and trends through his teenage kids.
• Knowing about social media also allows the billionaire to connect with them.
• Cuban recently left "Shark Tank" to spend more time with his kids.

Social media may feel like unchartered territory to some parents — but Mark Cuban is leaning in.

In an interview with People posted on Thursday, the entrepreneur shared eight rules that he follows in life — including this one parenting tip.

"Number one, follow the scroll," Cuban, 66, said. "Oh my goodness, I learned so much from my kids. I learned what 'skibidi' is," he said, referring to the Gen Alpha lingo. "Skibidi Toilet" is an animated YouTube series about singing and dancing toiletlike creatures that want to take over the world.

Social media is an integral part of their lives, he added. "I keep on learning from them because they are exposed to all these new technologies."

Referring to himself as a "tech guy," Cuban said he tries to understand how social media algorithms influence his kids' lives.

Knowing about social media also helps him connect with them.

"They're in the car, and I'm driving my son. I can look over at a stoplight and see him scrolling through his Instagram or TikTok and know exactly what he's interested in," he said.

"Trying to be able to connect to him, which, like for any parent, could be almost impossible, but it's just informative," he added.

Cuban has three kids, who are 14, 17, and 21.

In May 2020, he posted a video on Instagram of him dancing with his daughters. "Teaching me to dance 😂😂😂," he wrote in the caption.

Last November, Cuban announced that he would leave "Shark Tank" after Season 16, which premiered in October on ABC.

"I'm leaving just to spend more time with my kids — they're teenagers now," he told The Wrap in October. "We shoot in June and September, and just getting the opportunity now when they're getting out of school to be able to spend time directly with them, that's important. I'm tired of missing that."

Cuban is not alone in using social media as a tool of connection.

Nina McCollum recently wrote for Business Insider that she uses TikTok and Instagram to communicate with her teenage son. They watch social media content together and have discussions about them.

"Politics, religion, science, life choices, and risk-taking are just some of the discussions social content has sparked," she wrote. "None of this connection would be happening if we didn't communicate through these videos."

A few celebrity parents have resorted to other means of connection.

"Modern Family" actor, Julie Bowen, said she hangs out around the house so her three teen sons know where to find her if they need her.

"If you just kind of park it, make fake cookies in the kitchen no one's ever going to eat, they start coming in and out. You start having conversations with teenagers," Bowen said in an October episode of "The Three Questions with Andy Richter" podcast.

Molly Shannon, a "Saturday Night Live" alum, advised parents of teens to change their attitudes about parenting in an interview on "Today with Hoda and Jenn." She added that they should have empathy when interacting with their teens.

"Most of the time, they just want to be heard. I try to think of that," she said.

Cuban did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.