Talking To Teens: Expert Tips for Parenting Teenagers

Gabe Karp, author of  Don’t Get Mad at Penguins ,  joins us to talk about how we can handle conflict with our teens in healthy ways, stay calm during heated arguments and help teens develop critical communication skills. Full show notes We all have conflicts with our kids. Whether it’s over something big like their college major  or something as small as what they’ll eat for breakfast, disagreemen...

Kimberly Wolf, author of Talk with Her , joins us to talk about the challenges facing dads when it comes to raising teen daughters. Plus, what to do when teens rebel against what we believe in, and how we can create safe spaces for our kids to be vulnerable. Full show notes Raising a girl in today’s society comes with so many challenges. Young women are juggling puberty, sexuality, academics, frie...

Anthony Lynch, author of No Limits ,  comes on the show to explain how the right mindset can help teens reach their full potential. Plus, how teens can find their purpose and passion. Full show notes Kids tend to have big dreams…but are constantly told to be more “realistic.” When they say they want to be an astronaut, pop star, or professional athlete, we might lightly suggest they pick a safer o...

Jamie Ducharme, author of Big Vape , demystifies the vaping industry and explains how teens have been lured into vape addictions. Plus, she shares some tips for relaying  to teens the truth about e-cigarettes and vapes. Full show notes When most of us first heard about vaping, we were told it was a way for smokers to put down a cigarette and try something a little healthier. We probably didn’t thi...

Charlotte Markey joins us to discuss why market-driven media is toxic for teen body image, and how we can strike up important conversations about  body positivity with our teens. Full show notes ­­For kids growing up in the social media age, comparison is a constant struggle. Teens are bombarded 24/7 by influencers who post pictures of their unrealistic lives and seemingly perfect bodies–making te...

Neuroscientists Ted Brodkin and Ashley Pallathra share tips for finding harmony and connection with our teens and with ourselves. We discuss attunement, meditation, conflict resolution and more! Full show notes The hectic life of parenthood can make it hard to take care of your body and mind! When you’re waking up at 5 AM, trying to prep lunch for everyone before dropping them off and barely makin...

Mark Herschberg joins us to talk about the kinds of skills they don’t teach in school, like negotiation, planning, compromise and collaboration! We’re discussing how teens can develop these skills to find career success. Full show notes What makes a person successful in the real world? Is it their technical knowledge, their accounting abilities, or anything else they might learn in school?  While...

Jo Wimble Groves, author of Rise of the Girl , shines light on how we can encourage teen girls to chase their dreams. Plus, she shares how to help all teens to find their passions, take risks and learn from failure—no matter their gender. Full show notes Our hope is that kids will shoot for the stars, dream big, and believe they can do anything they put their mind to. We encourage them to be ambit...

Jennifer Morton, author of Moving Up Without Losing Your Way , joins us to discuss how young adults’ identities change as they leave the nest and find new communities beyond their hometowns. Full show notes When kids leave home, they embark on an entirely new adventure. New friends, mentors, classes and jobs can help them develop different perspectives and ideas. And while we want our kids to grow...

Fiona Murden, author of Mirror Thinking , explains the overlooked influences on teenager’s behavior and character development. We’ll discuss which adult role models matter, which are largely ignored, and peer and celebrity influence. Full show notes We know teens need role models…but what does that mean exactly? Are we as parents supposed to provide a perfect example? Are these role models suppose...

Magnus Resch, author of How to Become a Successful Artist , reveals the key to succeeding in the art world, and explains how your teen can get a head start on making all the right connections. Full show notes There’s nothing we want more than to see our teens to grow up happy and successful….with stable careers! So when they mention they might want to pursue acting or painting or playing the tromb...

Andrea Brand, author of Stop Sweating & Start Talking , shine slight on why sex talks are so essential, and what we can do to make them less awkward.  Full show notes For centuries, parents all over the world have been plagued by the sex talk. How could we possibly cover all the intricacies and complications of fornication with our teens? And even if we’re able to sit teens down for “the talk”...

Jonah Lehrer, author of Mystery , explains why the unknown is so tantalizing, we just can’t seem to resist. Turns out, we all could use a bit more uncertainty in our data-driven world, because curiosity is a powerful driving force in our lives. Full show notes As parents and people, we tend to seek out certainty. We keep our kids in the same schools so they can have consistent friends. We cook the...

Marcus Du Sautoy, mathematician and author of Thinking Better , shares how laziness and the wish for a shortcut can actually push our teens to come up with creative and time-saving innovations. Full show notes Hard work is essential to success…right? If we want teens to thrive they have to hustle, grind and work laboriously to achieve perfect SAT scores or a spot on the basketball team. We condemn...

Shane Trotter, author of Setting the Bar , sits down with us to discuss how our technology-obsessed, individualistic culture might be holding our teens back from reaching their full potential. Full show notes Times are changing—and so are teens. The introduction of technology to each aspect of everyday life has fundamentally altered the way teens act, think, and experience the world. Our education...

Zach Westerbeck, author of You're Not Alone , joins us this week to talk about how mental illness manifests in teens. He also shines a light on what we can do to help a teen that’s struggling with anxiety or depression. Full show notes Caring for teens with anxiety and depression can be incredibly difficult. No teen is the same, and living with mental illness is different for every family. Because...

Dr. Roni Cohen-Sandler, author of Anything But My Phone, Mom! , sheds light on how toxic tech use affects teens’ self-image. Plus, she doles out tricks for more productive tech talks with adolescents. Full show notes Have you ever tried taking your teen’s phone away? How did they respond? Did they scream? Cry? Bargain and beg for you to give it back? For many families, arguments over tech use are...

Christia Spears Brown, PhD, author of Unraveling Bias , explains how prejudice develops in children, even if we don’t teach it to them. In this episode, we’ll learn how to have conversations about equality in our own homes. Full show notes Talking about discrimination is pretty complicated and scary…so sometimes we just don’t! We hope that if we just don’t mention offensive stereotypes or racist n...

Mark Goulston, author of Just Listen , helps us break through our teenager’s barriers to have vulnerable conversations, solve conflict, and create more open lines of communication. Full show notes Having an open, communicative, connected relationship with your teen is awesome…but pretty difficult to achieve. Teens don’t exactly make it easy to get close to them–when we try to have heart-to-hearts,...

Chris and Holly Santillo, authors of Resilience Parenting , shed light on raising teens who persevere. They’re sharing how teens can balance independence and connectedness, and what we can do to model resiliency for our kids. Full show notes The road in front  of our teens is a rocky one. They’re heading into adulthood in the midst of a pandemic, trying to figure out what they want to do and who t...

Peter Docker, author of Leading From The Jumpseat , gives us pointers on how and when to let go of the urge to control our teens. Plus, he shares what we can do to stay cool when teens press our buttons. Full show notes It can be alarming when  teens are suddenly staying out late, dating, and getting behind the wheel. It’s easy to see them as the tiny toddler they once were, when barely able to ev...

Dr Anna Lembke, author of Dopamine Nation , shares insight into the pain-pleasure circuitry in the brain and how it affects our ability to become addicted to painful things and numb to pleasurable ones—and how we can do a ‘reset’ to get back a sensitivity for both. Full show notes What do you do when your teen suddenly seems to be in a rut? It might be that they barely eat, lock themselves in thei...

Dexter Dias, author of The Ten Types of Human , offers insight on the personality “apps” that drive human behavior. Plus, how to instill compassion and help your teen avoid burning out their kindness! Full show notes When we’re bombarded with some of the terrifying stuff on the news these days, we might find ourselves wishing there were more compassionate people in the world. Luckily, If we can ra...

Alex J. Packer, author of Slaying Digital Dragons , joins us for a look at technology’s effects on our physical, mental, and social health, and how we can control our own tech use, and not let it control us! Full show notes For parents, technology can be quite the headache. We want kids to stay connected to the world, but is their iphone distracting them from school? Is all the time spent on socia...

Dan Sheeks, author of First to a Million , gives us a run-down of what early financial independence could look like for your teen and how they can get started on their journey. It’s not about making enough money to laze around all day—it’s about having more options. Full show notes Do you ever wish you learned smart financial planning earlier in life? Maybe if you’d just had some more information,...