This Is So Awkward
This is so awkward…but it doesn’t have to be. These days, puberty starts earlier, lasts longer, and happens with a cellphone in hand. The most trusted voices on puberty, Dr. Cara Natterson and Vanessa Kroll Bennett, are here to remove cringe from this stage of life – not just for kids going through it but also the adults who care about them. With science, guidance and humor, they cover all the physical, emotional, and social changes that happen between ages 8-18 and beyond. Watch the full episodes on Youtube!
Episodes
August 19, 2025 • 51 mins
Most of us would prefer to avoid conversations about big, hard topics with the kids in our lives. But we also know how critical it is for us to talk to them about uncomfortable things like sexual assault, miscarriage, and mental health struggles. Which is why we’re so happy to know Jessica Zucker, author of Normalize It, a psychologist, and a parent. She gracefully navigates the tricky balance of educating kids about the difficult ...
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August 15, 2025 • 56 mins
The skin erupts with surprises across the tween and teen years… and it’s not all acne! Stretchmarks happen when bodies grow out or up quickly. Keloids are 3-D scars. Ingrown hairs aren’t permanent like the other two, but they still present their own challenges and stressors. We dig into what causes each of these skin challenges and what (if anything) can be done about them.
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August 12, 2025 • 54 mins
It’s simultaneously wonderful and worrying to launch a kid. The most common denominator question is a version of this: Are they going to be ok when they leave us? We hope – and wonder – if we’ve taught them enough to be out in the world. Christina Geist spent her oldest child’s senior year of high school compiling those life lessons in Before You Fly Away. Her musings are as heartfelt as they are practical, whether you have a child...
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August 8, 2025 • 64 mins
We are rereleasing one of our most popular episodes addressing one of the biggest challenges for caregivers: How do we discipline kids with the goal of teaching them how to do better next time? Tina Payne Bryson, psychotherapist and our personal guru, gives us a clear and empathic pathway to instituting consequences in our families.
Show Notes:
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August 5, 2025 • 50 mins
It can be really hard to gauge what tweens + teens actually know about the biggest ticket topics. That’s because, in this age of information, they are pummeled with “facts” about sex, drugs, alcohol, nutrition, wellness, and so much more. It can seem like they have encyclopedic knowledge sometimes… until you get past the confident tone and actually listen to what they are saying. This episode will make you feel less alone (you are ...
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August 1, 2025 • 42 mins
In this Season 1 re-release: Our own puberty stories are seared into our brains and the temptation is to share those experiences, the good and the bad, with the kids in our lives. Except, kids need to have their own puberty journeys without carrying our puberty baggage on their shoulders. Adults need to find their own trusted adults with whom to share these memories and Cara and Vanessa do just that in this episode.
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July 29, 2025 • 51 mins
Parents know better, right? Maybe. While we may have brains mature enough to anticipate what’s coming down the road 5, 10, 20 years from now (and the lived experiences to back it up), we can’t force our kids to care about the things we deem important. This power struggle occurs throughout the tween + teen years, on everything from minor issues like wearing deodorant to major tensions like grades or substance use. How can we adults ...
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July 25, 2025 • 42 mins
We’re rereleasing one of the very first episodes we ever recorded because it’s also one of the best. Developmental psychologist, Dr. Aliza Pressman, joins us to discuss the ways to respond to the emotional ups and downs of parenting adolescents. Aliza’s practical and actionable advice boils down to this: What’s going on for our kids and how can we meet them in a kind and constructive way?
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July 22, 2025 • 53 mins
Setting boundaries takes practice: kids need to learn this skill and most adults need to evolve it. Practically speaking, boundary-setting starts with drawing lines on our kids’ behalf. In doing so, we show (more than tell) what is (and isn’t!) okay for strangers, family, and friends to do and say — from comments about body changes or clothing choices to judgments about life paths. The trick is to set boundaries while still encoura...
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July 18, 2025 • 52 mins
Dr. Hina Talib, adolescent medicine specialist, joins us for a deep dive on periods. We discuss menstruation as a vital sign, what’s considered normal for teen menstruation and what’s not, when to worry and when to seek advice from medical providers. We’ll cover everything from mittelschmerz (WHAT?!!!) to endometriosis, so tune in for accessible expert advice on all things periods!
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July 15, 2025 • 50 mins
Human connection is critical to wellbeing for people of all ages. But it's also a skill that can be taught and honed. We’re big believers in not glossing over conversations with kids about how to be a friend. How can you approach this conversation that feels all at once very basic and also can be very charged? Start by appreciating the cultural myths about friendship, then move into some of the more obvious tenets of being a friend...
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July 11, 2025 • 36 mins
We’re rereleasing this episode because a heartfelt listener question offered up a common parenting challenge: My teen daughter treats me so badly that I just want to pull away from her. Our advice starts with the science behind adolescent mood swings and then moves into setting limits in the heat of the moment and beyond.
Show Notes:
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July 8, 2025 • 51 mins
Successfully imparting information to kids is more art than science. Often it’s as much about tone and approach as it is about the content itself. Plus, there are so many variables that can impact how things go like temperament, personality, mood, stress and so on. We offer some of our favorite tenets that can help steer conversations to a place kids can hear what we’re saying, maybe even engage with us, and leave the door open to ...
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July 4, 2025 • 33 mins
We’re rereleasing this episode because it’s gotten even more important since we first recorded it. Move over sex and drugs, there’s a new hot topic to add to the list of the zillion talks you’ll have with the kids in your life: gambling. It’s time to start conversations about everything from online gambling sites to gaming platforms to fantasy sports leagues. Plus add the fact that kid-targeted phone-based apps offer lots of entry ...
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July 1, 2025 • 56 mins
There’s knowing your body parts and then there’s body literacy. It turns out, both are key to health and safety. If knowing your body parts is like having a map, being body literate is like being able to read a compass. We’re joined by Konika Ray Wong, a health educator and author of body books for kids down to age 4. She covers concepts like interoception and attunement (yes, big words!), central concepts for people who want to u...
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June 27, 2025 • 33 mins
Rereleasing this gem as part of our summer series. If you’re sending a kid away for part of the summer – or even if you’re just sending them off for the day – there are certain key conversations to have before getting too far into summer. We cover everything from body changes and clothing choices to tech use and trusted adults.
Show Notes:
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June 24, 2025 • 50 mins
The fine line between informing and oversharing is tricky to navigate, especially when it comes to topics like puberty, sex, and drugs. On the one hand, kids need information; on the other, we must take into account things like personality, communication style, and desire for privacy, not to mention set boundaries according to their developmental stage. So when does sharing information cross over into too much information? This epi...
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June 20, 2025 • 54 mins
We’re rereleasing this episode ahead of the summer months when body hair becomes a hairy issue ;) We cover everything you ever wanted to know: when and where hair grows as kids’ bodies change, the social and emotional implications of sprouting on different parts of the body, and how to handle conversations about keeping vs. getting rid of all this new hair.
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June 17, 2025 • 57 mins
Being a steady, calm parent to tweens and teens seems like an impossibility. But there’s decades of research and data supporting this style – not only is it achievable, it has lifelong positive impacts. Enter “lighthouse parenting” from Ken Ginsburg, a framing based on his deep experience as an adolescent medicine doctor and rooted in his optimism that raising teens is an opportunity not a burden.
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June 13, 2025 • 51 mins
As the weather warms up, acne becomes more front and center – literally. This episode covers: what causes acne, how warm weather affects kids’ skin (for better and for worse), and how to approach acne on the body at a time of year that calls for fewer and fewer clothes. A combo of science and guidance for addressing this tricky topic!
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