Today we are going to talk about all things empathy. Why should you care about empathy? In this episode we answer this question. Empathy is on the decline in our culture and we will look at why. How does social media and out digital world impact empathy? What can moms do to help increase empathy in teens? Can empathy be taught? Are middle school and high school students capable of empathy? What’s the evidence that people can learn to be more empathetic? What is the empathy advantage? We will exp...
Oct 26, 2020•47 min•Ep. 87
There's no way to escape stress right now with all that's going on. Parenting alone is stressful. The problem with stress is that it impacts more than your mind and your emotions. It impacts your body. Being in a constant state of stress response is not good for you or your family. This is more than being drained from all the drama, it impacts your biology too. It effects all the systems of your body including muscles, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, and the nervous and...
Oct 19, 2020•23 min•Ep. 86
In this episode we're going to talk about what you can do to build courage and confidence in your teens. We’ll talk about why it is important to instill leadership skills in your teen especially your daughter and how to do that. This includes from being a leader of an organization, to being a leader among her friends, or even self-leadership. We also talk about the importance of resilience in our teens and what moms can do. And why instilling an entrepreneurial mindset in your teen is so importa...
Oct 12, 2020•38 min•Ep. 85
You are going to really love this episode. I interview Marcia Smart who is going to make your life easier. We talk about meal planning and how this can help you dial down the drama around the dinner table. Marcia Smart is a food writer, recipe developer and culinary instructor based in Houston. She has taught cooking classes for 20 years and contributed articles and recipes to Cooking Light, Sunset, Parenting, The Houston Chronicle and others. On her blog, Smart in the Kitchen, Marcia shares sim...
Sep 28, 2020•38 min•Ep. 84
Teens are going to be curious, but it's not always positive. Parents can redirect teens toward healthy curiosity instead of unhealthy and sometimes dangerous curiosity. My guest today is Mike Alpert. Mike Alpert is the founder of Cogent Solutions, an educational consulting firm that designs professional development for teachers and administrators. Mike brings private sector experience to the field of education, where he used his MBA to become a project analyst at a wind energy firm before going ...
Sep 21, 2020•35 min•Ep. 83
What's going on with teens and e cigarettes? Dr. Kandi Walker answers this question. Dr. Walker is a Professor in the Department of Communication and part of the Christine Lee Brown Envirome Institute at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. For over 20 years her work has explored the intersection between health and interpersonal communication looking at how people perceive the social world surrounding health issues. Her research primarily focuses on health, family, and interpers...
Sep 14, 2020•42 min•Ep. 82
As you start a new semester, I want to encourage you--What You're Doing Matters! It's easy to feel like what you're doing does NOT matter, because it can feel like a thankless job, you're not getting the results you want, and you feel powerless to change your teen. The truth is what you’re doing matters. You have an impact on your teens. It would be impossible not to have an impact on your teens. A better question is, are you impacting them in a positive way or negative way. I discuss ways to ma...
Sep 07, 2020•22 min•Ep. 81
In this episode I interview Kari Kampakis. She is author of the new book Love Her Well: 10 Ways to Find Joy and Connection with Your Teenage Daughter. We dive into her book and explore ways to speak life and see the good in your teenage daughter and different ways to be your daughter's emotional coach, Kari ends her book with 50 prayers for your teenage daughter and she shares some of her top prayers. This episode is full of sage advice. Kari is a top parenting blogger and national speaker from ...
Aug 31, 2020•51 min•Ep. 80
Does your teen tend to say extreme generalizations like "everyone at school is so fake", "all the teachers are mean," or "I have no friends." These kind of statements can drive you crazy. You think your daughter is being so overdramatic or you think geez my son is so negative. Why does this bother you? Teens often speak in one extreme or the other. This can be called binary thinking, black and white thinking or all or nothing thinking. The problem is this type of thinking is hurtful to your teen...
Aug 24, 2020•26 min•Ep. 79
Has your teen ever said to you, "Why don't you trust me?" My guess is they have. This usually happens when you’ve questioned what your teen said, or you’ve said no to something he/she really wanted to do. When a teen says, "You don't trust me," it can be confusing for moms. In this episode we will explore why moms get confused when teens say, "You don't trust me!" We'll look at why teens say that and what they are really up too. Should we trust our teens? This is the big question. And on what ba...
Aug 17, 2020•19 min•Ep. 78
In this episode we explore the stories we tell ourselves and how they impact our lives and relationships. We have now lived in six months of uncertainty and this certainly has impacted us. And one huge way it impacts us is it shapes the stories we tell ourselves. Some of these stories we are aware of and many we are not aware of. The stories in the background of our mind can do the most damage to our energy, health and our vitality. We will explore some of these unconscious stories that we don't...
Aug 10, 2020•22 min•Ep. 77
Is there more for you? In the teenage years you focus on your son or daughters future. You want them to have every opportunity possible and you’d sacrifice everything to make that happen. You want them to get the internship in Spain. You want them to get into the best university. But at some point this sometimes quiet and other times really loud voice thinks, "What about me???" Are you tired of your corporate job? Do you regret quitting your career when you had kids, because you've been out of t...
Aug 03, 2020•44 min•Ep. 76
In this episode we talk about a surprising way to be a leader in your home. My good friend Sue Ludwig and I were talking about Dr. Jill Bolte Taylors quote, "Please take responsibility for the energy you bring into the space," and how this quote changed her business, family and her personal life. Sue Ludwig is the President and Founder of the National Association of Neonatal Therapists (NANT), an organization full of passionate neonatal therapists who aim to improve developmental outcomes for pr...
Jul 27, 2020•43 min•Ep. 75
What is the difference between a reactive parent and a responsive parent? Why does this matter? This distinction can change your life, your family and your relationship with your teen. If you want to create a secure attachment with your teen you want to be responsive and not reactive. You want to make sure you’re responding in healthy ways instead of reacting in ways that are detrimental to you and your teen. No parent signs up to be a reactive parent, it happens automatically. In this episode w...
Jul 20, 2020•24 min•Ep. 74
How do you safeguard your teens from Sexting? To answer this question I interview two experts. Heather Boynton who is a mother of four (three who are currently teens) and is a professor of Child Development at Clovis Community College where she teaches a variety of classes including child and adolescent development. AND Christy Monson who has an M.S. in Counseling Psychology and Marriage & Family Therapy from University of Nevada at Las Vegas. She established a successful counseling practice...
Jun 29, 2020•44 min•Ep. 73
In this episode we have a very special guest Dr. Anna Tanner. Dr. Anna Tanner, MD, FAAP, FSAHM, CEDS, is the Vice President of Medical Services for Veritas Collaborative, a national healthcare system for the treatment of eating disorders. She is a Board-Certified Pediatrician and Certified Eating Disorder Specialist who has spent over 20 years of her career working with complicated adolescent patients with a special emphasis on treating patients with eating disorders. I invited Dr. Tanner to be ...
Jun 15, 2020•43 min•Ep. 72
What is novelty? Anything that’s new, different, or unusual that gets our attention. Novelty happens naturally for our teens during a normal year with school activities, programs, dances and musicals, soccer games, graduation dances, parties and interacting with hundreds of teens in a day. Also novelty happens naturally in the summer with camps, vacations, work, mission trips, internships and foreign exchange programs. However, because we are still in the middle of a pandemic and many are still ...
Jun 08, 2020•25 min•Ep. 71
Summer is here! How do you feel? Are you excited, relieved, or more stressed? The moms I have talked to feel let down because many of their plans have been cancelled. Recently I talked to a couple that looked forward to going to Hawaii every other year and they had to cancel their trip this summer. Many of us have had our fun summer plans cancelled and therefore mom, dad and kids are disappointed. Instead of moms feeling relief about the summer, we're stressed and plagued with the question of wh...
Jun 01, 2020•27 min•Ep. 70
In this episode I have a vibrant conversation with my friend and colleague Megan McNealy. Megan believes well-being is the greatest asset we have. She knows this one personally. Twelve years ago Megan was super successful in her wealth management business, and yet her body was giving out on her. She had crippling rheumatoid arthritis, kidney disease, and kidney cancer. Megan was able to turn this around. Her formula for her recovery is in her award winning book Reinvent the Wheel: How Top Leader...
May 18, 2020•42 min•Ep. 69
In this episode I talk about how to get the most out of your relationship with your teen their junior and senior year in High School. When your teen is a junior or senior, what do you think it will be like? Are your expectations positive, (I look forward to having more quality time with my son and watching his soccer games) or is it negative (It's going to be a huge battle all year to get my daughter to take her school work seriously?) After listening to moms, expectations tend to default toward...
May 11, 2020•26 min•Ep. 68
In this episode I am bringing you another powerhouse guest to help your through this quarantine time with your teen. . .Diana Graber. Diana Graber is the author of “Raising Humans in a Digital World: Helping Kids Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology” (HarperCollins Leadership). She is the founder of Cyber Civics, an innovative digital literacy curriculum being taught in 44 US states and internationally, and Cyberwise, an information portal for digital parents. I interviewed Diana in the ...
Apr 27, 2020•32 min•Ep. 67
This episode addresses how to gently get back on track. In the beginning of the pandemic our adrenaline was buzzing and we reached for comfort food, drank lots of alcohol, and binge watched our shows. This all made sense when we were in the acute phase of the pandemic, but now six weeks in we have entered into a chronic phase. The numbing takes a toll on how we feel. We can feel blah, sleepy, irritable and default into the why bother syndrome because we have gotten off track. I have invited Eliz...
Apr 20, 2020•41 min
Hey moms I know none of you signed up to have your teens quarantined in your homes doing online school. This only adds more pressure on you. Are your teens procrastinating and not motivated? Are they spending way too much time on their phones? Are your seniors worried about getting to go to college in the fall? And what will college admissions look like next year? I wanted to bring in an expert that can help you with this. Neha Gupta is the founder of College Shortcuts, which is a leading colleg...
Apr 13, 2020•42 min•Ep. 65
In this episode we talk about How to Recover and Rebound Fast Part Two. Last episode I focused on how you can recover by paying attention to you (and not ignoring your needs), honoring your feelings, and asking for help and setting boundaries. Part one is designed to help you recover first, Part two helps you recover with your teen and family and rebound fast. Part one is answering the question "what just happened?" in you. Why did I get so triggered? Part two is answering these questions. What ...
Apr 06, 2020•27 min•Ep. 64
In this time when you are quarantined with your teens, and dealing with the daily bad news of covid-19, stock market, and the economy, you can see an increase in drama in your homes. I want to give you some tools on how to recover and rebound fast after drama. I want to help you dial down the drama and stress because high levels of this is going to weaken your immune system and hurt family relationships. What do you do after the big fight? Do you take intentional action to recover and rebound fa...
Mar 30, 2020•25 min•Ep. 63
This is an unprecedented time in our history. The definition of unprecedented means, "never done or known before." Our old life has been temporarily suspended. This week we enter into a whole new realm. Mom, soon Your inner alarm is going to go off and you are going to feel like, "Okay everyone needs to get out of the house and get back to school,NOW!" Your kids will feel the same way. They want to get back to what they typically do. Everyone in your family is going to feel restless and off kilt...
Mar 23, 2020•25 min•Ep. 62
Moms, I want to encourage you in this global crises. I know your life is up in the air and upside down and for this reason I wanted to give you eight practical ways to stay grounded and steady in these uncertain times. First, I want you to know that I am here for you. This is a very difficult and scary time for all of us, and especially hard on you moms. Your kids and teens are going to be home from school and quarantined in your homes for several weeks at least... And the hardest part is that w...
Mar 17, 2020•22 min•Ep. 61
This episode talks about the biggest drain to your energy, vitality, and your life. Fear...especially all the fear around your teen and parenting your teen. If you are a parent of a teenager; you can't escape fear. You are going to experience fear. The challenge is how to make the fear useful. Unbridled and unconscious fear can cripple you and drain you of all your energy, joy, and happiness. In order to not let fear dominate your life, you need a way to manage your fear. This starts with being ...
Mar 09, 2020•31 min•Ep. 60
We can't always go to a tropical island to escape stress. In this episode I give you 3 practical ways to dial down the stress by... being kind to yourself dialing down the drama being intentional instead of reactive, specifically about the way you think about your teen and how you spend time with them. This episode is full of tips and takeaways that can dial down your stress today. We live in a stressful culture. Stress has become the new normal. We need to be proactive to resist this trend, and...
Feb 17, 2020•34 min•Ep. 59
What you think about your teen greatly impacts you, your parenting and your teen. How you think about your teen is not hidden from your teen. It is very evident to them. You wear the delight, the joy or the fear, sadness or anger on your face. How you think about your teen comes out in your words. It comes out in your actions. It comes out in your questions. It comes out in your body language. How you think about your teen is the deep work of parenting. How do you think about your teen? If I ask...
Feb 10, 2020•28 min•Ep. 58
