Power Your Parenting: Moms With Teens

Are you teaching your teen to be themselves—or unintentionally pressuring them to become who you think they should be? As moms, we want our teens to be confident, authentic, and true to their values. But what happens when their values clash with ours? How do we help them fit in without losing themselves? And how do we stay true to ourselves while protecting our relationship with our teens? In this...

What if the very thing you think makes you a good mom—worrying about your teen—is actually getting in the way of the relationship you want with them? In this episode, I talk with licensed professional counselor and anxiety and OCD expert Jenna Overbaugh about the difference between normal parental concern and letting anxiety take over your parenting. Jenna explains why motherhood can be the perfec...

Are college applications creating more stress, anxiety, and conflict in your home than they need to? The college application process can feel overwhelming for both teens and parents. In this episode, I talk with Dr. Jill Constantino, author of The People’s Guide to College Applications: A Week-by-Week Approach to Writing, Connecting, and Getting In. Jill is a writer, college coach, former Harvard...

Are you raising your teen to follow directions—or are you helping them become someone others want to follow? In this episode of Power Your Parenting: Moms with Teens, I talk with Dr. Pam Manfredo-Curtis, author of The Origin of a Leader: Transforming Family Patterns into Leadership Power. Pam shares a fascinating idea: our earliest experiences at home shape how we communicate, handle conflict, bui...

Why are so many bright, capable boys becoming unmotivated, disengaged from school, and more interested in the virtual world than real life? In this eye-opening episode of Power Your Parenting: Moms with Teens, I talk with Dr. Leonard Sax about the newly released third edition of his bestselling book, Boys Adrift: The Six Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Y...

Do you spend a significant time worrying about all things, especially your kids. Anxiety is sneaky and gets inside your head. It convinces you that you are being a good mom if you worry and that you are a bad mom if you don't. It deceives you into thinking that worrying and obsessing is productive and will lead to problem solving. The truth is anxiety is exhausting and is a huge reason we can feel...

What if the rewards you’re using to motivate your teen are actually making them less motivated? In this episode of Power Your Parenting: Moms with Teens, I talk with Dr. Özgür Bolat, author of The Reward Trap: Why Rewards Backfire and the Real Science of Motivating Kids, about the surprising downside of using rewards to motivate our kids. Dr. Bolat is a distinguished education scientist, researche...

What if your teen’s defiance, withdrawal, lying, or disrespect isn’t actually the problem—but a signal that something deeper is going on beneath the surface? Geoffrey Owen is the founder of Biologically Aligned Parenting and author of The Parenting Assumption. Drawing on decades of observation, his background in theater, the influence of The Continuum Concept, and his own experience raising two da...

What if your teen’s extreme behavior isn’t proof that you’re failing as a mom—but a sign that you simply need different tools? When your teen is disrespectful, defiant, anxious, aggressive, using substances, or struggling emotionally, it’s easy to wonder, Where did I go wrong? In this episode of Power Your Parenting: Moms of Teens, I talk with Dr. Scott Sells, family therapist and author of the ne...

What if the secret to doing it all isn’t trying harder—but finally putting yourself back into the equation? In this episode of Power Your Parenting: Moms with Teens, Colleen O’Grady talks with Dr. Anne Welsh, psychologist, executive coach, working mother of four, and author of Ambitious Mother: From Surviving to Thriving in Your Career and at Home. Dr. Welsh understands firsthand the invisible pre...

Have you become so busy taking care of everyone else that you've forgotten how to take care of yourself? In this inspiring conversation, Colleen welcomes Cherie Ashana, author of The Sacred She Reset, to discuss why so many moms feel depleted, overwhelmed, and disconnected from themselves during midlife. Cherie shares her own story of burnout and how it led her to create a framework for helping wo...

How do we raise teens to be critical thinkers so they won't believe everything they read online? In this episode I have a conversation with Julie Bogart who recently published, Raising Critical Thinkers: A Parents Guide to Growing Wise Kids In the Digital Age.  Julie Bogart is the creator of the award-winning, innovative Brave Writer program, teaching writing and language arts to thousan...

Have you ever looked at your teen's angry outburst and wondered, "What's really going on underneath?" When our teens slam doors, snap at us, or seem completely irrational, it's easy to react to the behavior we see. But what if those explosive moments are actually covering fear, anxiety, embarrassment, or overwhelm? In this episode, clinical psychologist Dr. Lori Kaufman shares how parents can stop...

One of the biggest challenges your teen will face when they enter college is self-management. Managing what they eat, managing alcohol , managing stress, managing sleep , managing relationships, exercise and their time. Self- management is everything for the college student without it they don't have their health and they definitely won't make the grade.  Jill and Dave Henry met coaching high...

Is your teen really ready to drive—or are you handing them the keys before they've earned the responsibility? "Driving isn't a right—it's a privilege that has to be earned." Driving is one of the biggest milestones in a teenager's life—and one of the most dangerous. In this episode, Colleen O'Grady talks with personal injury attorney Brett Jarvis about how parents can prepare teens to become safe,...

Are you raising your child to avoid struggle—or to become resilient enough to overcome it? In this powerful conversation, Colleen sits down with clinical psychologist Dr. Jerry Weichman to discuss the mental health skills every parent and teen needs today. Drawing from nearly three decades of working with over 7,000 families—and his own experience growing up with a limb difference—Dr. Weichman sha...

Are you accidentally raising a teen who knows how to spend money—but not how to manage it? In this episode, Colleen O'Grady talks with real estate investor and financial educator Jonathan Greene about how parents can help teens develop healthy money habits, financial confidence, and long-term thinking. Jonathan shares lessons he learned from his father, practical ways to talk about money at any ag...

I’m excited to have Hunter Clarke Fields (AKA Mindful Mama) back with us today, to tell us about her new book, Raising Good Humans Every Day. Hunter shares some very practical tips to help us busy and often stressed moms to come back to calm. Make sure you stay to the end of the episode where she shares a wonderful meditation that you will want to listen to over and over again. Hunter Clarke-Field...

This is such an important conversation on how to raise our teens with agency so that they have the skills to set boundaries, and know what they want and know what they don't want. This conversation about consent explores all the nuances of a true consent. We address what moms can do to reduce the shame factor so our teens will be honest with us. Dr. Laura McGuire is an internationally recognized c...

Have you ever felt your heart break watching your daughter come home devastated by friendship drama—and wondered if helping might actually make things worse? In this episode of Power Your Parenting Moms with Teens, Colleen O’Grady sits down with friendship expert and author Shari Gazitt to unpack the emotional world of girl drama, exclusion, group chats, and friendship struggles. Together, they ex...

Have you ever looked at your adult child and wondered, “How did we get here—and how do I love them without losing myself in fear, grief, or control?” In this powerful episode of Power Your Parenting Moms with Teens, Colleen O’Grady sits down with bestselling author and parenting expert Jim Burns to talk about one of the most painful and confusing seasons of parenting: when an adult child begins to...

Do you ever feel like you’re carrying the entire mental load of your family while trying to hold together your work, your home, your relationships, and yourself? In this episode of Power Your Parenting Moms with Teens, Colleen O’Grady talks with Sarah Armstrong about the reality of modern motherhood, the invisible pressure moms carry, and how to move from merely surviving to actually thriving. Sar...

Welcome back to another episode of Power Your Parenting Moms with Teens. Have you ever wondered if some of the same mental toughness strategies used to train Navy SEALs could actually help us raise more resilient, confident teens? In today’s episode, we explore how allowing our kids to struggle, problem-solve, and experience manageable stress can actually strengthen them for life. Our guest today...

Have you ever felt like your teen is more disconnected than ever—and you’re not quite sure how to reach them? In this episode we're talking about something so many moms are feeling but may not fully understand—this sense of disconnection with our teens. It can feel like you’re trying, but something just isn’t landing. In today’s world—post-pandemic, with screens, stress, and shifting social norms—...

In this eye-opening episode, Colleen O’Grady sits down with Dr. Maree Davies, cognitive psychology expert and author of Teaching Critical Thinking to Teenagers: How Kids Can Be Street Smart About AI, Algorithms, Fake News, and Social Media. Together they explore why critical thinking is one of the most essential life skills for today’s teens—and how parents can help develop it at home. Dr. Davies...