Life with Teens and Tweens: Bringing the Connection and Sanity Back into your Home

If you have tweens or teens, your house just might be one of the more emotionally-charged and unpredictable homes on your block.

You might also feel like whatever connection you used to have with them is gone.

Maybe you catch glimpses of it, in fleeting moments when their softer or lighter side comes out. But that’s it.

Sometimes that’s the worst part of it all, worse than the fighting, the outrage, or overwhelm. The feeling that you lost them and might never get them back.

If that’s you, you are definitely not alone.

What parents often don’t see is that there’s a bigger picture.

And in that bigger picture, the extreme emotions and behavior and the relationship strain is not only a universal tween and teen thing, it’s a universal human thing.

We do all of those things when we lose our bearings too, only the volume and intensity is a little lower. I’ll bet we did one of those very things last week.

Fortunately, tweens and teens are not just small versions of adults. This is not how they’ll be when they’re older. Their chemistry will calm down and they’ll naturally develop more maturity, self-awareness, and overall will feel more stable and secure within themselves.

A majority of adults, myself included, had emotions like rage, hatred, depression, anxiety and insecurity in clinical, diagnose-able amounts.

Tweens and teens grow and change at a rate that's faster and more intense than any other phase in their lives besides infancy. All that chaos and instability wreaks havoc on their moods, emotions, and psychology.

So try not to panic.

For most parents, simply getting some insight into the emotion and behavior of this age group can bring enough perspective to calm everything down on your side of the equation. A little bit of understanding helps parents react and escalate much much less. And that can calm down the whole house.

In today’s video I bring some of that perspective and understanding to you.

I hope it helps.

To watch, click here or below.

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Teens & Young Adults: Finding Confidence in Yourself and in Life without ‘Having It All Figured Out"

So many young people feel pressured and rushed, like the clock is ticking and they need to figure out what they're doing, who they are, and what to do with their lives.

As a result, I see a lot of teens and young adults weighed down by worry, anxiety, and intrusive thoughts that can overtake and consume them on a daily basis.

Fortunately, human beings don't actually need all the answers to have more confidence and to feel comfortable in their own skin no matter how messy or broken things feel. Join me as I talk about the potential to bring a different feeling to your life without having to change yourself, change your life, or figure anything out.

This webinar is designed for teens, young adults, as well as parents, practitioners, and people that work with young people.

Click the play button to watch below.

The Heart of Parenting

For this webinar I teamed up with my former business partner of 20 years, Dr. George Pransky, the founder of Pransky and Associates.

I wanted to share George's 30 years of clinical experience working with teens and parents with all of you.

But what REALLY made me want to present with George is this: in his personal life, he had to get his parenting s*hit together to handle the hairy business of parenting his own two kids.

I was one of them.

When I was little, I was a happy and easygoing kid. Until I wasn't.

I became unrecognizable almost overnight when my teen years hit.

I was surly, reactive, moody, and unpredictable. I spent two years toggling between irritation, hate, and self-loathing. Those were my only three settings.

And even though George was a psychologist and an overall good guy, I had zero interest in his help.

I didn't even want to be talked to or looked at.

And eventually, even as my emotions leveled out, yet another layer of challenge showed up. I became willful, stubborn, and hell-bent on doing things exactly my way.

Even if they played it cool, I could tell when my parents didn't like some of the things I was doing. And that made all those things more compelling. I was resistant and contrary to any ideas that came from adults.

And yet the one constant George brought to the table was his ability to parent me in a way that promoted mutual respect, open communication, and a strong connection.

George did so many things right in handling all the curve-balls I threw his way.

So today I want to share what he learned for himself out of his own necessity. Because it's also the essence of what I've had to do in parenting my own kids.

While George and I share several decades of experience coaching teens and parents, nothing forces you to find the essence of parenting like your own kids. That's what this recording is about.

So what we share here is not only what empowers our ability to help our clients, but it's what's ultimately helped me handle the curve-balls my kids continue to throw my way.

And thanks to karma, I've been put to the test as a mom far beyond what I dished out.

Not only is that connection between George and I still there today, but we spent 20 years as business partners. Perhaps that's what strikes me most.

When my kids are grown and gone, I'll be happy if they still like me, let alone want to be business partners.

So for me, the potential in the realm of parenting is always hopeful, no matter what kind of kid you have or how clumsy you are. Click the play button below to watch.

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