This Is So Awkward

Every kid will knowingly disobey a rule – sometimes many rules – but occasionally the reason is completely understandable. Like the time (last week) when Vanessa’s kid downloaded Snapchat against her explicit wishes… Show Notes: Subscribe to The Awkward Roller Coaster Newsletter Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are a million things we tell kids to keep them safe and as they grow up, the conversations evolve. But there are 5 specific topics – narrower conversations, if you will – that adults need to cover with teens before they head out the door for the night. Show Notes: OOMSHORTS Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Period underwear brand Thinx recently settled a class-action suit alleging their underwear contained PFAS, a family of thousands of chemicals found in everything from fabrics to take-out containers. PFAS add functionality, but they’re not particularly healthy (for humans or the earth). The suit against Thinx aimed at the claim that their products are sustainable, organic and non-toxic. We answered tons of questions about what to do with period underwear. Show Notes: The Vajenda from Dr. Jen Gunter The Awkward Rollercoaster Our PUBERTY PORTAL Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Evolving relationships – and budding romantic ones – are a big part of puberty and adolescence. This incredible conversation with Ebele Onyema from the OneLove Foundation, dives deep into how to identify unhealthy versus healthy ones, and steps to take when there’s reason for concern. We encourage adults and teens to listen. Show Notes: https://www.joinonelove.org/ Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Technology and social media have become increasingly intertwined. Researchers and authors Carrie James and Emily Weinstein, go deep into what they know about how tech affects adolescent social interactions and vice versa, and what teens wish adults understood about their digital existence. Show Notes: Behind Their Screens Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While it’s tempting – and often-time fair – to demonize the role of technology in the lives of teens, there are lots of positives, too. In fact, at times the pros outweigh the cons. Hear all the data and insights from Carrie James and Emily Weinstein, authors of Behind Their Screens. Show Notes: Behind Their Screens Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Common Sense Media released data from a study of 1300 teens (ages 13-17) collected in September 2022. Finally updated information about teens and their pornography consumption! Common Sense did an outstanding job collecting and presenting it. We hit the highlights and offer advice about how this data changes the way we talk to kids about porn. Show Notes: Common Sense Media Report on Teens and Pornography New York Times Article on Common Sense Media Report LA Puberty Workshop on January 28th www.myoomla.com Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sometimes kids share concerns about their friends. The question becomes: what to do with that information? The path through figuring out when something needs to be shared beyond you – with another parent, for instance – can be tricky, especially when the kid who shared in the first place interprets this as a violation of their trust and confidentiality. Show Notes: Los Angeles Puberty Workshop Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We loved this listener question! How to handle large age spans – sometimes they’re as big as 18 months – between the youngest and oldest kid in a grade, especially when the wide range of physical and emotional development adds to already complex social challenges. Show Notes: Los Angeles Puberty Workshop Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s not uncommon to hear the same questions about race that we hear about sex: How do we bring it up? What if we bungle the conversation? When is the right time? Is it ever too early to begin? Journalist and author of Bringing Up Race: How to Raise a Kind Child in a Prejudiced World Uju Asika answers all of this and more is a deeply moving conversation about race and kids. Show Notes: Bringing Up Race: How to Raise a Kind Child in a Prejudiced World Babes about Town blog Los Angeles Puberty Workshop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We hear this all the time: How do I get my quiet kid to talk? In short, it’s an art not a science. There are, though, tried and true tips and tricks for drawing out the silent kid in your house. Show Notes: Los Angeles Puberty Workshop Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’re not big believers in New Year’s resolutions, but we ARE big believers in resolving to make change. This episode is about learning lessons from the past year and harnessing that wisdom as we head into the new year! Show Notes: Los Angeles Puberty Workshop Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kids’ friendships are a huge source of stress for both the kids themselves and their adults. The number one worry we hear from the latter is this: do they have enough friends? Spoiler alert! They only need one. This episode offers advice for helping kids build new friendships, one or many. Show Notes: Los Angeles Puberty Workshop on January 28th Dionne Warwick - That’s What Friends Are For Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Between what they eat and how much, not to mention who’s doing the prep and cleanup, food can be a battle between kids and adults. Stacie Billis to the rescue! The co-host of the podcast Didn’t I just Feed You draws on her culinary chops and her child development background to dish out realistic and practical ways to get our tweens + teens fed. Show Notes: Didn’t I Just Feed You Instagram Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It would be nice if kids intuitively understood the value of money, where to keep it, how to budget and save, and how to check their bank balances. But these are all skills that need to be taught step by step, creating building blocks for more sophisticated conversations about financial literacy. In response to questions about how to start, we share some basic first steps. Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

High school romances today share lots of similarities with decades past, with emotional and physical connection still at the heart of these first relationships. But when things like technology, social media, and hook-up culture are layered on top, high school romance has a distinctly “modern” vibe. Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A great question from a listener! And one that *lots* of people have… but feel awkward about asking. Bedwetting can extend well into the tween and even teen years. So we dive into the medical and psychological reasons, plus the fixes. Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Becky Kennedy is the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Good Inside and a social media parenting whisperer. Listen as she shares simple but deeply resonant advice about how to frame – and deal with – challenging behaviors in tweens and teens. Show Notes: www.goodinside.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People ask us ALL THE TIME about shoplifting: the adults are generally shocked, despite this being an incredibly common phenomena among adolescents. A listener recently asked about how to handle shoplifting and its downstream moral quandaries. Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For today’s tweens and teens, youth sports specialization reigns supreme, a new “normal” that presents enormous physical, emotional and financial challenges for kids and their families. We get into all the pros and cons, from helping kids fulfill their potential and achieve their goals to keeping them safe and healthy. Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sometimes buying gifts for tweens + teens can feel like a no-win situation. So we’re doing a verbal gift guide with lots of suggestions about the whole gift-giving process with kids. And maybe a gift idea or two ;) Show Notes: OOMSHORTS Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Note to adults: this episode addresses specific sexual acts. So often we hear from adults, “But how do I say it?!” Amy Lang, sex educator and author of Sex Talks with Tweens: What to Say and How to Say It has wonderful and realistic strategies for tricky conversations with adolescents. Show Notes: Sex Talks with Tweens: What to Say and How to Say It Website:www.birdsandbeesandkids.com Social Media: Instagram Facebook Podcast:Just Say This! Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Getting together with family and friends for the holidays can feel like a minefield with growing kids – unsolicited comments and awkward conversations abound. We walk through ways to prepare for and mitigate unwanted collateral damage this holiday season. Show Notes: Discount Code: 15% OFF at myoomla.com Code: PUBERTYPODCAST Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We posted a TikTok about wet dreams and within two days, it went viral. Thousands of people commented that we shouldn’t talk to kids about this topic, ever. Hear our reactions to random strangers’ reactions to our TikTok (we beg to differ!), our theories about what makes our content go viral (hint: it’s always the videos about male body parts) and how that translates to real life conversations (spoiler: better to talk about it!) Show Notes: The Puberty Podcast Episode on Erections & Nocturnal Emissions Link to SpillingthePubertea TikTok on Wet Dreams Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A listener asked how to handle crushes and dating among middle schoolers. But the question went both broad and deep – covering everything from screen limit setting to time management. In response, so did we! Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Aliza Pressman, host of Raising Good Humans Podcast, joins us on stage for a live podcast recording, packed with strategies and frameworks for managing unpredictable, complex adolescent mood swings. Show Notes: Raising Good Humans Podcast Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s not uncommon for things to be great between a parent and a kid, when suddenly the other shoe drops. We got a letter from a parent whose thriving kid was caught cheating. How to handle that one? Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Just the thought of puberty makes most people cringe, a sad (and amazing!) fact given that absolutely everyone goes through it. Complicating matters, the meaning of the word “puberty” has changed dramatically over the last few decades. So what is modern puberty? Why does it start earlier and last longer now? And how do we talk about it without cringing?! Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What to do when you discover nudes on your kids phone? Or sexting? Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As kids get older, the parenting community shifts dramatically. Gone are the days of baby groups and adult-supervised play dates. To fill the hole, Lisa Heffernan co-founded Grown & Flown, which has become the largest online community for parents of teens and young adults. Listen to her hard-earned wisdom. Show Notes: Grown and Flown College Admissions - 7 day free trial Grown and Flown Free Newsletter Grown and Flown Parents Facebook Group Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A listener sent in a question – via voice memo! – asking for advice: she’s a self-described introvert/nerd raising a highly social tween. So how can adults raise kids when those kids have unfamiliar temperaments? Show Notes: LIVE Puberty Podcast Recording at the JCC Manhattan Shop OOMSHORTS Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do you ever feel like you can’t understand what kids are talking about? Us too! “Talking” doesn’t even mean talking anymore. This episode is all about the new terminology and how to ask a kid to help you translate. Show Notes: LIVE Puberty Podcast Recording OOMSHORTS Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tons of listeners ask us to weigh in on when they should give their kids access to social media. We have opinions, but (spoiler alert), there’s no ONE way to approach this issue. There are lots of things to consider, though… Show Notes: Get your tickets to our Live Event: Mon, Oct 24th, 2022! Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Social media offers lots of positive avenues for providing science-based, inclusive health education, and young people flock to it. Danielle Bezalel, creator of SexEdwithDB, offers insightful guidance, educating the next generation. Show Notes: Sex Ed with DB www.sexedwithdb.com Follow Sex Ed with DB on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. OkaySo Planned Parenthood Advocates for Youth Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A listener wrote in with a question about when to talk about masturbation. This is a third rail topic for so many adults! Here’s our advice about when and how to begin the conversation. Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Part 2 of our series on anatomical body parts dives into the XY body, explaining and exploring all of the parts of male reproduction. Even the ones that don’t get a lot of play – epididymis anyone? Show Notes: OOMSHORTS Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sometimes we over apologize and sometimes we owe an apology but can’t seem to offer it up. This goes for every corner of our lives, including interaction with our kids. Vanessa kicks this episode off by owning a parenting fail for which she needed to apologize, BIG TIME. Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Knowing the names and functions of body parts keeps people healthy and safe. Words like vulva and vagina are not bad words – they are body parts just like elbow and knee. In addition to the external parts of an XX body, we discuss internal parts like the ovaries, fallopian tubes and uterus. Show Notes: https://myoomla.com/collections/oomshorts Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A listener asked for advice about getting her 6th grader to try an activity, any activity. Some parts of this conversation are non-negotiable – kids have to do something besides sit on their phones – other parts involve a two-way conversation, especially when that kid is trying to figure out what they might be interested in. Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Acts of service stretch far beyond a resume or a college application – giving back has been proven to enhance peoples’ social-emotional health. Natalie Silverstein, MPH, author of The Busy Teens Guide to Giving Back shares data, real life stories, and practical ways to help kids engage with their communities. Show Notes: Simple Acts Podcast Simple Acts Guide Simple Acts Instagram Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A listener wrote in asking for help balancing how to have open conversations with teaching privacy, especially when a subject is complicated or charged. How can we talk to kids about certain topics and ask them not to broadcast the conversation to everyone they know without conferring shame? Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Porn is everywhere, which is why kids are exposed – either accidentally or on purpose. It’s on all of us to have clear, calm conversations with them, which is why this episode offers several different ways in with kids of all ages. Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are adding a second episode each week inspired by listener questions called: WHAT NOW?! where we answer questions and offer next steps to the wild array of challenges that crop up during the decade of puberty. This week’s question: Is my 5-year old in puberty? Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There isn’t one path to raising a thriving kids, but there is a special sauce to help tweens and teens get there. Educational psychologist and author of Thrivers, Michele Borba, unpacks the strategies that best support and encourage kids. Show Notes Michele Borba, Ed. D. Thrivers Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Homework can be a massive source of conflict throughout the school years. Brian Platzer is an expert on how to minimize this: he’s a teacher, tutor and writer. His advice isn’t just realistic and actionable, it changes the dynamic for good! Show Notes: Twitter: @bplatzer IG: @brian.platzer Taking the Stress Out of Homework Teachers Who Tutor Brian Platzer’s article in The Atlantic Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last week, we dropped our kids off at college. This week, we share the excitement, grief, pride, terror, and all of the other emotions that went along with it. It was a journey, from crying on airplanes to remembering there are siblings still left at home. Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our two oldest children, now in college, get raw (and funny!) as they reflect back on conversations about puberty, telling us where we got it right and all the ways we didn’t. Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As kids head back to school, we chat with Dr. Jill Grimes, author of The Ultimate College Student Health Handbook who offers pearls for kids of all ages and the adults who love them. Show Notes The College Student Health Handbook by Dr. Jill Grimes The Campus Cure by Marsha Morris 525 Foundation Social handle: @JillGrimesMD Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An honest conversation with our interns about hook-up culture, situationships and friends with benefits. Yes, today’s sexual culture is just as confusing as it sounds. Show Notes: https://myoomla.com/pages/the-puberty-portal Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode will blow your mind. Dr. Yug Varma, microbiologist and entrepreneur, takes us on a journey through the wondrous microbiome of the skin, unmasking the causes of acne and offering up a completely new approach to treatment. Show Notes: Phyla Collection Production by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices