Guess what? Your teen’s not staying up late because they make poor choices. They’re not fighting to stay asleep in the morning because they’re lazy. It’s not their fault - it’s not a conscious decision. Just like other fallout from adolescent brain changes (you know, the ones that make them more prone to unpleasant emotions, more likely to do risky things like party and have unprotected sex, move away from you and towards their friends, etc.), their sleep patterns take a hit as well. And teens a...
Jun 27, 2023•41 min
Every Friday we're dropping a BONUS episode. Shorter but no less informative (maybe a little less formal). Today, we're asking the questions: Can helping someone else improve your teen’s mental health? What kind of driving are you modeling for your kids and teens? Is Junior college a good option for your kid? Find our FREE Parenting Guides Here "I just wanted to let you know that I'm so thankful for your podcast! ...I'm so happy I discovered it!" Speaking of Teens Listener ^If you feel the same ...
Jun 23, 2023•14 min
We just don’t know how much we don’t know when we’re trying to be the best parents we can be. So many of us learn later that we should have done things differently. That’s me. I should have done so many things differently. And that’s what drives me to help you learn now so you don’t have to correct course later. The mistakes I talk about in this week’s episode are those that lead to lots of unnecessary conflict and drama between you and your teen and exacerbate a teen or tween’s poor behavior. I...
Jun 20, 2023•38 min
Every Friday we're dropping a BONUS episode. Shorter but no less informative (maybe a little less formal). Join our Facebook Group for Free Support for Parents and others who care for Teens! Show Notes Find our FREE Parenting Guides Here "I just wanted to let you know that I'm so thankful for your podcast! ...I'm so happy I discovered it!" Speaking of Teens Listener ^If you feel the same way, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps people know the show is worth their time to lis...
Jun 16, 2023•12 min
Please note – although this episode is not about suicide, Our discussion does contain references to a relative’s suicide. Listen with care. This week’s episode is an interview with someone who has a very interesting story to tell and I’m honored she decided to tell it to me. If you’ve ever worried that your teen’s heading down the wrong path, hanging out with the wrong people, or making the wrong choices, this episode is going to give you such hope. And if you’ve never contemplated the mind-body...
Jun 13, 2023•1 hr 8 min
Every Friday we're dropping a BONUS episode. Shorter but no less informative (maybe a little less formal). Show Notes Find our FREE Parenting Guides Here "I just wanted to let you know that I'm so thankful for your podcast! ...I'm so happy I discovered it!" Speaking of Teens Listener ^If you feel the same way, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps people know the show is worth their time to listen. Tap here , to go to Apple podcasts, and scroll down until you see the STARS to ...
Jun 09, 2023•18 min
This week’s episode is a continuation from last week, episode 54: “Big Social Media”, The Surgeon General And Teen Mental Health. You may want to go back and have a listen to that episode first. We know that social media’s not all bad for our teens but it’s certainly easy to blame these platforms for the adolescent mental health crisis. Afterall, continuous scroll, targeted algorithms and the like make it all too easy for teens to mindlessly stare at their phones for hours on end. And so many te...
Jun 06, 2023•41 min
Every Friday we're dropping a BONUS episode. Shorter but no less informative (maybe a little less formal). Chroming and Death Ozempic and addiction Ozempic and teens Vape and Australia Vape and house fire Show Notes Find our FREE Parenting Guides Here "I just wanted to let you know that I'm so thankful for your podcast! ...I'm so happy I discovered it!" Speaking of Teens Listener ^If you feel the same way, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps people know the show is worth the...
Jun 02, 2023•12 min
This past week the Surgeon General’s Advisory about Social Media and Youth Mental Health has been all over the news. Mostly, people have hit the highlights and chimed in with their own opinion. But let’s dig a little deeper. Why are so many of our kids in a position of having to choose between their mental health and their social connection with peers? The Surgeon General’s Advisory highlights the most important science to date but still leaves parents without a lot of assistance or direction. C...
May 30, 2023•42 min
Every Friday we're dropping a BONUS episode. Shorter but no less informative (but a little less formal). Snopes.com PolitiFact.com The Clintons didn't kill Kenny Episode 40 - Andrew Tate. The Cult-Leader-Type Influencer Radicalizing Teens MediaWise Teen Fact Checking Network 13-year-old Attacked by Shark Uber for Teens Medpage Today - Profiteering off the Body Insecurity of Teens FDA - Tainted Body Building Products Prohibited Stimulants in Weight Loss Supplements FDA Warns of Selective Androgen...
May 26, 2023•16 min
Even if your teen has never suffered in the past and isn’t currently suffering from depression, you need to educate yourself on this very serious topic. Because the risk is so great and the statistics for teen depression and associated harms are currently so high, you simply can’t take a chance. Depression in teens can escalate way too fast and when we’re desperate, we tend to not make great decisions. We simply don’t have the luxury these days of assuming our kids are going to be okay. The risk...
May 23, 2023•38 min
Today, I have a "bonus episode" for you. Honestly, I'd rather it just be a surprise, but I think you can tell by the title what I'm talking about (and those are 3 separate topics, btw!) AP article about teens Veozah information Show Notes Find our FREE Parenting Guides Here "I just wanted to let you know that I'm so thankful for your podcast! ...I'm so happy I discovered it!" Speaking of Teens Listener ^If you feel the same way, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps people kno...
May 19, 2023•10 min
On this one-year anniversary episode of Speaking of Teens, I’ll share with you what it has taken me the better part of the last 4 years to extrapolate from the science: A 4-part framework that will help you avoid conflict with your teen, build a stronger relationship with them and positively influence their behavior. Back in 2017 and 2018 our family was struggling. Our son was experiencing horrible anxiety and major depression on top of ADHD and other learning issues. These issues then morphed i...
May 16, 2023•38 min
This episode discusses depression and suicide – listen with care. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources. Teens’ mental health has been in decline for years. The pandemic was then responsible for pushing the statistics into oblivion. The fact that teens and tweens in the US are experiencing records rates of depression and suicidality sh...
May 09, 2023•50 min
Some people think Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the best thing ever. It scares other people to death. Then there’s the rest of us who’ve been happily unaware of why we should feel either way. Well, join me this week for a foray into a topic that used to be reserved for dystopian and sci-fi movies: AI. After listening, you may have a little better idea of where you stand on the subject. If you haven’t played around yet with ChatGPT, it’s absolutely incredible. Equally incredible is that AI soft...
May 03, 2023•30 min
NOTE: I failed to mention in this episode that I have all sources detailed in the show notes (see link below) It seems everywhere you look lately, TikTok is in the news; exposés on the algorithm and sneaky search terms, the story of another teenager dying because of a TikTok challenge, investigative reports on data privacy, and the alleged threat to national security. TikTok’s CEO has made the rounds to defend the company; in front of Congress in March, at the TED2023 conference in Vancouver las...
Apr 25, 2023•37 min
It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of emotion in our lives. Our emotions give us direction, they tell us what’s important to us – they can even change our physiology and make us sick, not to mention to huge impact they have on our relationships, including those with our teenagers. Some of us are more aware of our emotions as we’re experiencing them, than others. But there’s a big difference in being aware of our emotions in the moment and understanding why that emotion cropped up to begin...
Apr 18, 2023•43 min
Experts agree that social media is to blame for the huge increase in the decline of teen girls’ mental health over the past few years. While boy’s mental health has also suffered, especially due to COVID, it’s the girls’ which has taken a nosedive. Cyberbullying, competition between peers and the constant barrage of unrealistic and sexualized images of influencers to compare themselves to. Sexualization of young girls and adolescents is a huge problem in our society and has been for decades. But...
Apr 11, 2023•38 min
Therapists and other professionals often use a style of communication with their patients, called motivational interviewing. The method uses open-ended questions and reflective listening to help people find their inner motivation for change. It was originally developed back in the 1980s to help patients who were ambivalent about addressing their substance use disorders. Since then, it has been used in many different professional settings. Dr. Emily Kline , a professor at Boston University School...
Apr 04, 2023•58 min
Does your teenager dream of making millions by playing video games? Streaming to millions of adoring fans and landing huge sponsorship deals? Do they play on an e-sports team or dream of going to a top e-sports college? No doubt our job as moms got a little harder when gaming became a “sport” or something you could make millions of dollars doing. The argument that they’re “practicing” or “working” when asked to shut down the game and go to bed has become all too common. And even if they don’t ha...
Mar 28, 2023•47 min
How does your teen or tween feel about the amount of homework they have? Are they staying up late to get it done and constantly playing catch up on the weekends and complaining because it takes time away from other activities or socializing? And how much time do you spend thinking about and talking to them about homework? For many families it's a major source of conflict, drama, and stress. This week, I’m talking to Christine Kaplan, LCSW, ADHD life coach , about the endless mountain of homework...
Mar 21, 2023•40 min
This week’s episode is the second part of the conversation we began last week in episode #42 with my guest, Kriya Lendzion , an addiction and prevention specialist and adolescent clinician. Last week we discussed how today’s substances are vastly different from those of our youth, why our kids try them to begin with (despite all our warnings), how easily they can become addicted and how we should try to keep them from using any addictive substance for as long as we can. In this week’s episode Kr...
Mar 14, 2023•44 min
One of the most significant and potentially troublesome issues we face as the parent of an adolescent is their potential use of substances (alcohol, nicotine, weed, party drugs, etc.) Depending on our background, our upbringing, our experiences with those substances, we can develop vastly different perspectives and attitudes about our kid’s potential use. Some parents see drinking or smoking weed as a harmless rite of passage. However, according to science, there’s nothing harmless about it and ...
Mar 07, 2023•40 min
Parenting the neurotypical teenager is not a job for the faint at heart, but when your teen has an ADHD diagnosis, it can feel downright daunting. In this week’s episode, although my guest, Dr. Mark Bertin , (a board certified developmental behavioral pediatrician, on the board of directors for the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders) specifically addresses parents of teens with ADHD, much of his wisdom applies to most parents of teens and tweens. As the parent of an adol...
Feb 28, 2023•49 min
This episode is marked explicit because of language contained in soundbites and quotes from Andrew Tate. I believe it’s absolutely necessary to hear the exact language to understand the totality of his dangerous message. Andrew Tate - or “Top-G” as his legions of fans call him - has also been called the "King of Toxic Masculinity” by those who are not as easily duped. Teachers know about him and his message because they deal with it daily from “radicalized” middle and high school boys. And many ...
Feb 21, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Lying. It’s always up there with “Cheating and Stealing”. And none of it sounds too good when we’re talking about our own teenager. No one wants to believe their kid could lie to them. And once it happens, it’s terribly hard to for us to trust them again. They may directly lie to us, conveniently leave out specific information, or even avoid our questions entirely by steering the conversation. Why is it that teenagers seem to lie so frequently and about so many different things? Is it rebellion?...
Feb 14, 2023•36 min
There’s never a shortage of news stories about someone in a position of power or authority who has physically, emotionally, or sexually abused a child or an adolescent in their care. We’ve seen it in schools, churches, sports organizations - anywhere adults are in charge of young people. And for all the high-profile cases, there are thousands more that perhaps involve fewer kids or a not-so-famous organization and still more than go unreported. When one of these stories come to light, our questi...
Feb 07, 2023•43 min
For many people food is a non-issue. They eat regular meals, snack when they feel the need, indulge now and then but don’t beat themselves up about it. But some people develop a strange relationship with food – often one that started in adolescence. It may start innocently enough – a fad diet, a decision to go “gluten free” or become a vegan. But, as we learn in our discussion with Dr. Marcia Herrin in today’s episode, for kids with a genetic predisposition for eating disorders, it doesn’t take ...
Jan 31, 2023•55 min
The broad range of violence that teenagers inflict on one another is staggering. Dating violence, sexual violence, bullying, cyberbullying, physical assaults, gun violence, suicide, verbal violence, hate speech and emotional abuse. Of course, the physical violence is most terrifying for parents. Middle schoolers carrying guns and knives. Fights breaking out at ballgames, parties and in the halls at school. What’s going on here? How is it that someone so young is capable of inflicting such harm o...
Jan 24, 2023•41 min
Self-compassion may not yet be a household term, but it turns out there’s some very persuasive research regarding the positive impact of this fairly simple practice. It appears to be a powerful way to combat “self-negativity”. And who among us tends to be the most self-critical, filled with self-doubt, and internalized negativity? That’s right, adolescents. Their brain is changing in such a way that makes them super self-conscious and prone to negative emotions. They also face enormous stress, w...
Jan 16, 2023•51 min
