Do your teens need better communication skills—especially when they are wanting something from you? In this podcast I interview Laura Lyles Reagan who is a family sociologist with more than 30 years of experience in practical youth development and parenting coaching. She holds a Masters in Sociology specializing in interactionism and communication dynamics. She is the author of her new book, “How to Raise Respectful Parents” which is a teen’s guide to navigating adult culture by equipping teens ...
Feb 28, 2017•31 min
Do you feel like you worry about your teen 24/7? Does your son and daughter seem to always be stressed? Ready to dial down the worry and the stress! In this episode I interview Jodi Aman, who has been a psychotherapist for over 20 years. Jodi is also the author of You 1 Anxiety 0 Win your freedom back from fear and panic. Besides being a seasoned therapist, Jodi is also a mom of teens and can relate as a parent. Jodi answered these two questions. What tips do you have for moms struggling with th...
Jan 03, 2017•35 min
Has your daughter ever eaten a big bag of Cheetos and then fifteen minutes later run out of the room and screamed, “I’m so fat.” Monitoring teenage girls and their food choices can be tough for moms. You can tell your daughter is struggling with her body image and you try to calm her down and she gets angry. You try to hold your daughter accountable by asking her if she really wants that second Crave cupcake and well…she doesn’t say thank you mom. Moms know that a healthy diet is important and w...
Oct 10, 2016•39 min
Why do you need a long-term perspective when parenting a teenager? The answer comes from the final Chapter in my book, Dial Down the Drama: Reducing Conflict and Reconnecting with Your Teenage Daughter. It’s important to remember that we were once teenagers and we did a lot of crazy stuff too. Despite our secrets and mistakes we made it safely into adulthood. When you are mired down in the daily drama it is easy to lose perspective. We just want the stress, struggles, conflict, and attitudes to ...
Aug 04, 2016•21 min
“How to be your daughter’s (or son’s) dream maker” is a complicated question. Your daughter or son may not know what they want to be when they grow up. Your son is set to get a scholarship for baseball in college but he decides his... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 27, 2016•24 min
Have you ever felt like everyone in your family is driving your life? I had one mom tell me, “I feel like I’m my daughter’s personal assistant. I wish I had one!” This episode is the practical “how to’s” on how to recapture your life which comes from the eleventh chapter in my book Dial Down the Drama. The first episode of the Dial Down the Drama series was “Are you all Mothered Out?” We examined why mothers tend to let their own needs get bumped to the bottom of the never ending family to-do li...
Jul 25, 2016•25 min
What does your son or daughter need to thrive? This is an important question for both you and your teen. The answer is sometimes personal to your own taste, but often it is applicable to all of us. This is especially true for teens. One frequent mistake mom’s make, is becoming hyper-focused on the teen’s crises of the day, which causes us to miss important information. The episode today comes from the tenth chapter in my Dial Down the Drama Series. This gives you a proactive parenting strategy. ...
Jul 16, 2016•25 min
Let’s face it disciplining a defiant teen is challenging. Because parents often feel powerless when it’s two hours past curfew, we can be flooded with a whole array of emotions. At this point we are not thinking clearly. This is why it’s so easy to” lose it”, but “losing it” is not an effective discipline. We may be “letting them have it” but there will be no lesson learned, except how to lose control. It’s important to get back to the basics. What is the point of discipline and what makes it ef...
May 27, 2016•26 min
How Good Moms Become Drama Mamas is the title of Chapter 8 in my book Dial Down the Drama: Reducing Conflict and Reconnecting with Your Teenage Daughter. In the previous podcast (which comes from Chapter 7) I discuss why teens are hardwired for drama. However,... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 10, 2016•23 min
It’s easy to see why moms and teens can fight more during the month of May. Neha Gupta, Founder of Elite Private Tutors, gives us tips and tricks on surviving the month of May with our overwhelmed, stressed out teens with finals and how to... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 30, 2016•38 min
Have you ever had a “What was she thinking moment?” If you have then you are going to want to listen to this podcast and see why her dramatic flair ups and disrespect aren't personal. This is the seventh episode in my Dial Down the Drama series. It comes from the seventh chapter, Why Your Daughter is Hard-Wired for Drama. Scientists in the past have blamed crazy teenage behavior on raging hormones, but in the last ten years neuroscientists have discovered there is a lot more going on development...
Mar 20, 2016•24 min•Ep. 18
How to Like Your Daughter Again comes from the sixth chapter in Dial Down the Drama: Reducing Conflict and Reconnecting with Your Teenage Daughter. "Is it possible to have a healthy relationship with your teen?" "And what does that even look like?" This is the million dollar question. You don't want to be your teen's best friend but you don't want to be her enemy either. When you are in a daily battle with your daughter, it's easy to not like her very much. This is why so many moms believe they ...
Mar 01, 2016•24 min•Ep. 17
Today's episode comes from the fifth chapter in my new award-winning book Dial Down the Drama. It takes a lot of energy to protect, nurture, and guide your teenager. And this is only one facet of your life. This doesn't include the rest of your family, or your life. Moms are good at pouring out their good energy to their family but typically we are not good at replenishing this energy. It can feel selfish. But if we don't intentionally recharge our lives it starts to show to everyone around you....
Feb 28, 2016•22 min•Ep. 16
This episode comes from the fourth chapter in my book Dial Down the Drama: Reducing Conflict and Reconnecting to Your Teenage Daughter---A Guide for Mothers Everywhere. Today we are going to discuss why your clarity matters. Your clarity is huge. Without it you can't parent effectively or enjoy your life. See your teenage daughter (or son) is clear about what they want. They may not be clear about when their history project is due but they are clear about what they want to do the next weekend. O...
Feb 15, 2016•24 min•Ep. 15
This podcast comes from the third chapter in Dial Down the Drama: Why Moms and Daughter's Can't Get it Right All the Time,which was published at the end of October 2015. No mom or daughter can get it right all the time, but we feel the pressure to do so. This pressure drives us to do more and do it better. I call this the Pressure to be Perfect. Not only do we feel this pressure, but your daughter feels this pressure too. She feels pressure to have the perfect hair, body, friends, boyfriend, and...
Feb 08, 2016•25 min•Ep. 14
The podcast today comes from the second chapter of my upcoming book Dial Down the Drama. Today we are going to address fear and how this impacts you, your teen, and your parenting. There are no shortage of things that we can worry about. Will your son or daughter turn out okay? Will they make it into college? Will they turn out to be successful adults? And many of you have heard the saying, "keep them alive to 25," well that's not very comforting either. And then their are all the teenage issues...
Feb 01, 2016•25 min•Ep. 13
Are you feeling "All Mothered Out"?You are definitely not alone. This has become a cultural phenomenon for women. In this podcast you will learn why so many moms feel "All Mothered Out" and how you can turn that around. This is the first podcast in my Dial Down the Drama series. I can't believe it, but in less than three months my book, Dial Down the Drama: Reducing Conflict and Reconnecting to Your Teenage Daughter---A Guide for Mother's Everywherewill be published by Amacom. Because I can't wa...
Jan 21, 2016•25 min•Ep. 12
Does your daughter feel like you are the clothing police? Well you are not the only one. This is definitely one of the hot topics for mothers and daughters. (and not in a good way.) You give her constructive criticism. "That dress doesn't look good on you." You just want to protect her. "You can't go out wearing that shirt or that short skirt." Your daughter doesn't see your good intentions and goes ballistic. What she hears is "you think I'm fat," or "you think I'm ugly," or "you are trying to ...
Jan 18, 2016•36 min•Ep. 11
No parent wants to believe their middle school teen (or younger) is sexting. Maybe it's not your teen, but it's the teen culture. One thing that moms don't think about, is that your teen may not be an initiator of the sexting but could easily be the recipient. Sexting has become a huge cultural problem for teens. Here are some statistics from 2009 and the numbers are not getting any better. The percent of teenagers sending or posting sexually suggestive messages: 39% of all teenagers, 37% of tee...
Jan 04, 2016•39 min•Ep. 9
Not only is your teen impacted by hormones, so are many perimenopausal moms. In this episode I interview Dr. Anna Garrett who has been a clinical pharmacist for over 20 years. The goal of her business is to help women who are in the middle of midlife transition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 21, 2015•39 min•Ep. 8
Your son or daughter is swimming in a teen culture of drugs and alcohol. Because of this you can't help but worry. Today my dear friend Julia Wolf answers your questions about the impact of drugs and alcohol on your teen. Julia is a seasoned Licensed MFT and has a thriving private practice in the Houston area. Julia was the Director of Community and Behavioral Health at the Houston Council of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. "So what's the big deal if my teen drinks wine and beer with her friends. They a...
Dec 20, 2015•30 min•Ep. 7
I recently talked to a local church about why moms need to feel blessed to be a blessing. Moms frequently feel anything but blessed. They feel stressed, anxious, blah, resentful, and give up on feeling good. This is totally understandable. In fact our brains have a propensity to go to the negative. That's why you can have 55 good things happen in your life and one negative thing seems to erase all the good memories. This podcast gives you practical ways that you can not only know you are blessed...
Dec 17, 2015•30 min•Ep. 6
School is winding down, but the stress is amping up. Finals are around the corner and the pressure is on. It's easy to find yourself in a battle mode with your teen around studying and homework. When you add stress to the mix, it's easy for your teen to blow a gasket when you ask them a simple question like, "Do you have a test tomorrow?" Tests, homework, projects, and finals can be very stressful for moms. You know their grades matter. It's easy to feel like the burden of your child's future is...
Dec 14, 2015•37 min•Ep. 5
The greatest gift you can give your teenage son or daughter is to believe in them. The real question is--what do you believe about them? And what you believe, boils down to what you focus on. If you focus on their good qualities and you combine that with faith, you are going to believe good things. If you focus on their attitudes and mistakes it's going to land you in fear. When fear strikes it blinds you from the good qualities in your teen. Your sight get's restricted to the very thing you are...
Dec 07, 2015•22 min•Ep. 4
The teenage brain is under major reconstruction during the teenage years. There is a window of opportunity to "use it or lose it." What this means is that the brain is doing some major pruning of brain cells. If you use these brain cells these neural connections will stay. Experience is what causes these neurons to fire and wire together. If you don't use them you will lose them and they will wither away. The neurons that get used repeatedly by experience are wired together into the brain's elec...
Dec 01, 2015•21 min•Ep. 3
In this show you'll learn how I define the POWER in parenting, in contrast to the counterfeit of true power which is force. Many moms feel powerless instead of empowered in their parenting. One big reason for this is fear. When your teen is out of control you feel a mixture of fear, anger, and shame. Before you know it you are drawn into the drama vortex with your teen. This is when it's easy to default into using force. The problem is force is destructive to your teen and your relationship. It ...
Feb 27, 2014•27 min•Ep. 2
Welcome to the very first Power Your Parenting Moms with Teens Podcast. I am so happy that you are here listening to my very first show. This is a gathering place for moms to be encouraged, nurtured and inspired. Also, you’ll learn the latest in teen research and trends. and get practical parenting tips. You really can improve your relationship with your teen, and enjoy the teenage years. Todays show is going to be a little different than a typical show. I'm going to give you a quick introductio...
Feb 20, 2014•16 min•Ep. 1
