Teenagers Untangled has been picked by The Times UK as one of the top podcasts for parents

Episodes

June 4, 2024

93: Values, and how being strong about our own can help teens navigate a society of desires. Listener email.

Send us a text Hermes was a Greek god able to move quickly and freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine, helped by his winged sandals. We mere mortals, on the other hand, are stuck here on Earth, and more likely...

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May 28, 2024

92: Exams, depression, work, national service, Sigma and Bigorexia, we cover it all in our May chat

Send us a text I scan the newspapers daily to keep an eye on what's going on that might be relevant to us parents. I usually share it on my Instagram and Facebook feeds, but it's also good to sit down with another, equally in...

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May 21, 2024

91: Failure to launch: What we can learn from struggling young adults about how to help our teens.

Send us a text We all love our kids and hope for the best, but we also worry about how well they'll navigate life once they're old enough to leave home. It's a fine balance between supporting them enough for them to feel love...

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May 14, 2024

90: Missing out: The pain of FOMO. Why it’s particularly bad for teens, and how to help your teen.

Send us a text Missing out can cause visceral pain; particularly for teenagers, but why is it so awful and can anything be done to help them with it? This episode was inspired by a parent whose daughter is at an expensive pri...

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May 7, 2024

89: Nagging: Reducing the friction using the magic of routine.

Send us a text Is it a constant battle to get your teens to do the right thing? Getting them to bed on time, eating healthily, keeping their screen time to an acceptable level are all problems that come up regularly. So when ...

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April 30, 2024

88: School: Angry kids, bad behaviour, and school avoidance. What can parents and teachers do?

Send us a text Nearly one in five teachers in England has been hit by a pupil this year , according to a BBC survey. But it's not just in England. Stricter school discipline is making a comeback to Australian classrooms in a ...

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April 23, 2024

87: Where’s my village? The stress of parenting in the ‘sandwich generation’.

Send us a text My aunt and uncle provide a huge amount of free childcare so that their son and daughter-in-law can work, but many say that's not been their experience. The Boomers have become notorious as a generation who are...

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April 16, 2024

86: Perfectionism: Help your teen, and yourself, overcome the need to be perfect.

Send us a text Nobody likes making mistakes, but some of us find it much harder than others. Whilst most of us look on with admiration at the kid who's prepared to keep working until they do things perfectly, underlying that ...

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April 9, 2024

85: Money: Giving teens and tweens an allowance. Two years on my daughter talks about how it’s impacted her.

Send us a text What we give our kids to spend, and when, is a perennial problem for all parents. Money is a really tricky topic in any relationship; behind it lurks power, responsibility, and freedom. When our kids hit their ...

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April 2, 2024

84: Fun: Having fun with our teens, and the bonding power of laughter.

Send us a text Many teenagers say their relationship with their parents is very stressful and they yearn to be able to get along better. They often feel that their parents are on their case all of the time and that they never...

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March 26, 2024

83: Resilience: Growing Resilience In Teens, or GRIT. An interview with Dr Louise Randall

Send us a text Grit is the ability to keep going toward a goal, even in spite of significant obstacles and distractions. It's a very apt name for the charity created by Dr Louise Randall, who was seeing many kids coming into ...

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March 19, 2024

82: Concentration, and the troubling effect of too many choices

Send us a text Does a goldfish have a longer attention span than us humans - as a Microsoft study found - or do we believe the latest study on concentration which says adults have actually increased in their ability to pay a...

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March 12, 2024

81: Eldest daughter 'syndrome' and the trouble with parentification.

Send us a text The hashtag #eldestdaughtersyndrome is reported to have had a whopping 24.7 million views on TikTok, and counting, but what is it and why is it getting so much attention? We look at the issues faced by the elde...

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March 5, 2024

80: Taking things personally, coping with adversity, teen love and changing our minds when we get new information.

Send us a text Sometimes it's good to talk about our own challenges. The occasional chat in which we discuss the sorts of things we've been facing can help to dispel any myths that other people have got things sorted, and can...

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Feb. 27, 2024

79: Manners: Parenting to help teens succeed in life by teaching the importance of good manners.

Send us a text Many teens roll their eyes if they hear people talking about manners. The concept sounds old fashioned - like something that should be relegated to the Victorian past - but often what they're thinking about is ...

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Feb. 20, 2024

78: Admitting our mistakes - talking to our kids about our own sex and drugs and rock and roll teen years.

Send us a text We've all got a past, but telling our kids about what happened in it is a tricky subject. Whether it's all about the fun - sex and drugs and rock and roll - or things that caused deep trauma, there's a good cha...

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Feb. 13, 2024

77: Standards: Setting high expectations without the pressure.

Send us a text One of the trickiest questions for parents is how to set expectations that help our kids thrive and grow without crushing them or making them feel low self-esteem or shame. If we don't set expectations we run t...

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Feb. 6, 2024

76: What should I say about my daughter posting bikini photos on social media?

Send us a text They're everywhere. Tabloid news feeds and social media are awash with photos of girls and women in bikinis, and why not? Women's bodies are beautiful and through antiquity the female form has been admired. Yet...

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Jan. 30, 2024

75: Diet: Does my teen need to lose weight? How to navigate diet culture with Elyse Resch

Send us a text Diets, and an obsession with weight, are so much a part of Western culture that it's hardly surprising our teens can struggle to understand how to eat well. When I researched the topic for episode 9, I discover...

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Jan. 23, 2024

74: Regrets? Things we parents would do differently

Send us a text My teen daughter has told me that the fact I am open about my own failings, and quick to apologise, makes it much easier to trust me and to feel safe admitting when she's gone wrong. It's so easy to look back a...

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Jan. 16, 2024

73: Unreliable parents: The absent or inconsistent parent who’s alcoholic. Also, supporting your teen back to school.

Send us a text When the other parent is inconsistent, or never turns up for your kid, it can be incredibly challenging for both of you. It's hard enough as it is, but can be even more challenging when they are abusing a subst...

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Jan. 9, 2024

72: Back to school, third places, manners and our favourite podcasts, shows, books and apps.

Send us a text We're back with the first fresh episode of 2024. What a good time to talk about some of the things we've been reading, listening to, and watching, along with some news stories. Let us know what you think. We're...

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Dec. 31, 2023

71: New year's resolutions. Love them or loathe them the question is how can we make them work for us?

Send us a text We've all done it; new year, new me. By January the 11th the lustre has rubbed off our shiny resolutions and we're back to our old habits. The reality is that making resolutions and getting them to stick is har...

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Dec. 26, 2023

70: Presents: Why is my teen so ungrateful?

Send us a text Christmas is marketed as a time of magic and joy, but when it comes to your teenagers does it feel more like a time of pressure to deliver expensive gifts - and disappointment? One of our regular listeners has ...

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