Teen and Tween

Would you tag-team and take a driving safety course with your child?

That's the recommendation the state of Virginia is making. It's piloting a project that would require parents and teens to take a drivers' safety class together, before taking part in a licensing ceremony before a judge, because the state believes the joint training will help to reduce teen driving accidents.

While highway crashes are the leading cause of death for young Americans, parents play a big role in preventing fatal car crashes among teens, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. "I think too many parents — we're all guilty of doing as I say not as I do," NTSB chairwoman Deborah Hersman says.

The best tack for parents to improve teen driving: model good behavior, don't talk or text on the phone while driving, and restrict driving at night, NPR reports. "Giving kids better experience behind the wheel, more supervision, making sure that they don't have a lot of teen passengers in the car with them — if you've got four teenagers in the car, you're four times as likely to have a fatal crash — nighttime driving restrictions, portable electronic device restrictions," Hersman says, "those are the things that really help."

If you do one thing with your kids this weekend, it should be tuning into Cartoon Network's The Bully Effect on Sunday night. Having just previewed the half-hour documentary, I can attest that not only is it moving and eye-opening, but also, the takeaway will change the way that your kids think and act for the better.

Produced by CNN in partnership with Cartoon Network's ongoing Stop Bullying: Speak Up initiative, The Bully Effect chronicles the life of 14-year-old Alex Libby, who many of us were first introduced to in Lee Hirsch's 2012 film, Bully. Hirsch observed and empathized with the then-12-year-old teen, who was emotionally and physically bullied by his peers, and took a stand. Over the past year, not only has Libby's self-confidence skyrocketed, but he's also become an advocate against bullying, appearing on national television and even visiting the White House.

"For three years now through Stop Bullying: Speak Up, Cartoon Network has served to provide valuable resources and materials to help educate and empower kids to speak up whenever bullying occurs," says Cartoon Network President Stuart Snyder. "Our first documentary, Speak Up, illustrated what kids could do practically to help other kids who've experienced bullying. The Bully Effect takes that message one step further, demonstrating how powerful empathy and understanding can be in helping to turn someone's life around."

The documentary will air on Sunday, April 28 at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. EST. Immediately following each telecast, author and bullying-prevention expert Rosalind Wiseman will host online chat sessions at StopBullyingSpeakUp.com to answer questions from kids, parents, and educators. Tune in, and get the dialogue going in your own home.