Send us Fan Mail What actually builds confidence in teens? In this episode of Parenting Shrink Wrapped, Sam and Melissa talk with Jasmyne Chandler, trauma-informed life coach and founder of Guided Passages, about why meaningful challenges, mentorship, nature, and rites of passage can be so powerful for teenagers. Jasmyne shares how her wilderness programs give teens opportunities to disconnect from technology, push themselves physically, reflect on who they are becoming, and experience being ...
Send us Fan Mail Parents are being encouraged to give their kids an analog childhood while relying more and more on AI, smartphones, and technology in their own daily lives. Is that hypocrisy, or simply the reality of raising kids in the middle of a massive technology experiment? In this episode of Parenting Shrink Wrapped, Sam and Melissa unpack the pressure, guilt, and judgment surrounding screen time and explore a more realistic middle ground. They talk about how online parenting trends ca...
Send us Fan Mail Do you have to hit rock bottom before you're allowed to question your relationship with alcohol? Absolutely not. In this episode of Parenting Shrink Wrapped, Sam Straub and Dr. Melissa Wellner sit down with gray area drinking coach, Maureen Benkovich, for a shame-free conversation about the space between casual drinking and alcohol dependency. Maureen shares her personal story of how alcohol gradually became intertwined with socializing, infertility, depression, stress, and h...
Send us Fan Mail Are the things we say about food unintentionally affecting how our kids feel about eating and their bodies? In this episode of Parenting Shrink Wrapped, Sam and Melissa are joined by Christiana Cortina, founder of Nutrida, for an important conversation about food, body image, diet culture, and preventing disordered eating in children and teens. Christiana explains why seemingly positive messages about “healthy” eating can sometimes create anxiety, guilt, shame, or rigid food ...
Send us Fan Mail What if some of the skills that make you a better leader at work could also make you a better parent at home? And what if parenting could make you a better leader, too? In this episode of Parenting Shrink Wrapped, Sam and Melissa sit down with executive coach, leadership expert, and Ambitious Dads founder, Jeff Hittner, to explore the surprising overlap between leadership and parenting. After interviewing more than 200 fathers, Jeff discovered that many dads care deeply about...