This Is So Awkward

Telling kids to “suck it up” doesn’t translate into resilient, emotionally healthy kids. But in one of our recent viral videos on our @less.awkward Instagram account, many commenters still espouse that very approach – kids are soft these days; they have toughen up; you’re raising snowflakes; you’re kid isn’t going to be able to cope in the real world… This episode explores the research showing why suck it up parenting doesn’t work nearly as well as empathic parenting.  Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code AWKWARD to receive UP TO $300 off air purifiers Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns To celebrate Phyla’s exciting new launch, we’re offering 25% off your first order. Go to phyla.com and enter the code "puberty" at checkout. IG Reel referenced in episode  Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a tremendous list of stressors bearing down on teen girls – body image struggles, mental health issues, and academic pressures just to name a few. The key to supporting them is finding ways into connection and conversation. Licensed Clinical Social Worker Cathy Cassani Adams leverages decades of clinical, academic, and personal experience to advise adults on how to reach teen girls. Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code AWKWARD to receive UP TO $300 off air purifiers Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns To celebrate Phyla’s exciting new launch, we’re offering 25% off your first order. Go to phyla.com and enter the code "puberty" at checkout. Restoring Our Girls Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ask a bunch of 6th graders to define “popularity,” and you’ll get as many answers as kids. It’s hard to define – for tweens, teens, and even adults – but popularity can have powerful impacts on friendships and well-being. This episode explores the types of popularity: being well-liked vs powerful. We cover the connection between popularity and social control, intimidation, even bullying. While the topic might transport us back to our middle school days, popularity in both its good and bad forms persists well into adulthood. Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code AWKWARD to receive UP TO $300 off air purifiers Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns To celebrate Phyla’s exciting new launch, we’re offering 25% off your first order. Go to phyla.com and enter the code "puberty" at checkout. Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She grew up in the rural south, not knowing that her period pain – so intense it sidelined her each month – wasn’t typical. It was only when Dr. Loretta Duggan was in her training in Family and Adolescent Medicine that she put a name on it and got treatment. Now she runs a practice in her home state of Georgia, providing care to adolescents and young adults with joyful delivery of health information and open lines of communication. Our wide ranging conversation covers everything from menstrual health as a vital sign to hormonal therapy to STI prevention, it all boils down to this: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code AWKWARD to receive UP TO $300 off air purifiers Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns To celebrate Phyla’s exciting new launch, we’re offering 25% off your first order. Go to phyla.com and enter the code "puberty" at checkout. Get $25 off any Gabb smartphone GABB.com/AWKWARD HER Health Dr. Loretta Duggan Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Australia has just banned social media for kids under the age of 16. This prompts so MANY many questions including: What counts as social media? How will the ban work? Who’s responsible for implementation? Should we have a similar ban in the US? And perhaps most importantly, we explore what is the data (if any) sitting at the root of the ban, including what would be the ideal basis on which to write and enact laws.  Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code AWKWARD to receive UP TO $300 off air purifiers Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns To celebrate Phyla’s exciting new launch, we’re offering 25% off your first order. Go to phyla.com and enter the code "puberty" at checkout. Get $25 off any Gabb smartphone GABB.com/AWKWARD Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule ("COPPA") | Federal Trade Commission US state age assurance laws for social media – AVPA What Jonathan Haidt Gets Right… and Wrong Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last few decades, cultural conversations around sexism have gotten more – not less – complicated. From social media and pervasive beauty culture to slut shaming and toxic masculinity, there’s a lot to manage for kids and adults supporting them. Jo-Ann Finkelstein, clinical psychologist and author of Sex & Sensibility, offers framework and guidance for all of these complex topics. Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code AWKWARD to receive UP TO $300 off air purifiers Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns To celebrate Phyla’s exciting new launch, we’re offering 25% off your first order. Go to phyla.com and enter the code "puberty" at checkout. Get $25 off any Gabb smartphone GABB.com/AWKWARD Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Consent conversations can – and should – start early. So early that they begin around topics that have absolutely nothing to do with sex. We offer ways to apply the lessons of consent to a bunch of different topics in kids’ lives and start a conversation that will happen many different times in many different ways throughout a kid’s life. Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code AWKWARD to receive UP TO $300 off air purifiers Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns Get $25 off any Gabb smartphone GABB.com/AWKWARD BLACK FRIDAY DEAL: visit PhylaBiotics.com and get 60% off their serum, and the entire 3-step system for only $48. Use the code PUBERTY60. Tea and Consent Video Cycling Through Consent Video Teens and the Law with Jonathan Cristall, Esq. Advice from Famous Sex Educator Shafia Zaloom Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our two mothers have, between them, more than 100 years of parenting experience. They share it all – including lots of lessons learned while raising the two of us and what they love most about being grandparents. And if you’re wondering, the answer is yes, we absolutely ask them about how they talked to us about puberty, sex, teenagers, and all the rest of it. Enjoy this love-filled episode!  Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code AWKWARD to receive UP TO $300 off air purifiers Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns Get $25 off any Gabb smartphone GABB.com/AWKWARD BLACK FRIDAY DEAL: visit PhylaBiotics.com and get 60% off their serum, and the entire 3-step system for only $48. Use the code PUBERTY60. Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kid’s organizational skills (or lack thereof) can be a huge source of tension and frustration for adults. But executive functioning are skills that can be learned over time – we just have to be patient with brains in progress and dominant limbic systems. And certain challenges, like procrastination, are actually much more complex than they initially seem. Psychologist and executive functioning expert, Dr. Tori Cordiano, joins us back on the podcast. Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code AWKWARD to receive UP TO $300 off air purifiers Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns BLACK FRIDAY DEAL: visit PhylaBiotics.com and get 60% off their serum, and the entire 3-step system for only $48. Use the code PUBERTY60. Get $25 off any Gabb smartphone GABB.com/AWKWARD Dr. Tori Cordiano  Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to college, getting in is only the beginning. The much longer journey includes twists and turns about handling independence, making new friends, managing academic rigor, experiencing loneliness, facing rejection, and finding community. We’re joined by college-life guru and social media megastar Harlan Cohen, who shares his heartfelt guidance for supporting kids through these bumpy times. Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code AWKWARD to receive UP TO $300 off air purifiers Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns Get 25% off your first order of Phyla, when you visit PhylaBiotics.com and use the code PUBERTY at checkout! Get $25 off any Gabb smartphone GABB.com/AWKWARD Year 13 For Parents on Facebook Best First Year Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fearmongering works for clickbait, but don’t rely on it to pave the way to a great relationship with your kids. There are so many reasons to choose joy over fear, starting with the impacts of non-stop stress causing the body to release cortisol round the clock. This is especially true when toeing into tricky topics. This episode starts with a rant – because any more negativity coming from the world of news will undo us! – and then moves to why + how we opt to make these conversations fun.  Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns Get 25% off your first order of Phyla, when you visit PhylaBiotics.com and use the code PUBERTY at checkout! Get $25 off any Gabb smartphone GABB.com/AWKWARD What Teens Need to Know About Sex  Talking to Tweens About Sex What School Aged Kids Need to Know About Sex Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boys need – and deserve – all of the same conversations that girls get (and deserve!): they want to learn about their changing bodies, express their ideas, and make sense of their realities. Clinical psychologist Dr. Chris Miller offers a path forward based on 25 years of working with boys and their families. Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code AWKWARD to receive UP TO $300 off air purifiers Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns Get 25% off your first order of Phyla, when you visit PhylaBiotics.com and use the code PUBERTY at checkout! Get $25 off any Gabb smartphone GABB.com/AWKWARD Boys Institute for Growth (BIG) Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Should I let my kid play tackle football? That listener question raises a tangle of others, so we set out to address the big ones including: what is a concussion? How they should be treated? When do the prevention strategies or treatments cause their own issues? And why has concussion advice changed so much over time? Getting into conversation with kids about concussions does not have a one-size fits all answer, but this episode offers all the tools you need to help. Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns Get 25% off your first order of Phyla, when you visit PhylaBiotics.com and use the code PUBERTY at checkout! Get $25 off any Gabb smartphone GABB.com/AWKWARD Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s so much research swirling around! From substance use to gaming to porn, the overwhelming number of studies can make raising kids feel overwhelming. Dr. Yalda Uhls founded The Center for Scholars and Storytellers to help make sense of all of this data by bridging the gap between families and tech companies, content creators, and studios. Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns Get 25% off your first order of Phyla, when you visit PhylaBiotics.com and use the code PUBERTY at checkout! Get $25 off any Gabb smartphone GABB.com/AWKWARD  Center for Scholars and Storytellers Media Moms and Digital Dads: A Fact Not Fear Approach to Parenting in the Digital Age  Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lying is normal – literally everyone does it – but it peaks during adolescence. Sometimes they’re little white lies, sometimes they’re big, scary lies. To help us understand how to handle all of them – and the difference between consequences, discipline, and punishment – child development specialist and parenting guru Betsy Brown Braun guides us through. Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns Get 25% off your first order of Phyla, when you visit PhylaBiotics.com and use the code PUBERTY at checkout! Get $25 off any Gabb smartphone GABB.com/AWKWARD  Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our favorite otolaryngologist, Dr. Nina Shapiro, dropped in to cover all that can go wrong with tween + teen ears, noses, and throats. We talk about everything from piercings to pimples, bloody noses to snoring, and HPV to Herpes. Fun times! Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns Get 25% off your first order of Phyla, when you visit PhylaBiotics.com and use the code PUBERTY at checkout! HYPE: A Doctor’s Guide To Medical Myths, Exaggerated Claims and Bad Advice: How to Tell What’s Real and What’s Not The Ultimate Kids’ Guide To Being Super Healthy Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we speak to kids in schools, we practice what we preach: we are in conversation with them. We learn from them as much as they learn from us. This episode is packed their advice for the adults in their lives. Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns Get 25% off your first order of Phyla, when you visit PhylaBiotics.com and use the code PUBERTY at checkout! Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For anyone who has ever wondered if that much blood is too much blood, this is the episode for you. Pediatric Hematologist, Dr. Kristina Haley, covers a range of bleeding issues from heavy periods and endless nose bloods to clotting disorders and anemia. She explains when it’s time to call in reinforcements. Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns Get 25% off your first order of Phyla, when you visit PhylaBiotics.com and use the code PUBERTY at checkout! Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/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: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns Get 25% off your first order of Phyla, when you visit PhylaBiotics.com and use the code PUBERTY at checkout! Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Click bait headlines change the health decisions we make on a daily basis. This started 20 years ago with press coverage demonizing hormone replacement therapy for women in menopause. Today there’s tons of buzz about the importance of HRT – much of this is thanks to the indefatigable work of Dr. Avrum Bluming. You don’t want to miss this episode! Show Notes: Join our LESS AWKWARD MEMBERSHIP  Get 10 FREE meals at HelloFresh.com/FREEAWKWARD Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns Get 25% off your first order of Phyla, when you visit PhylaBiotics.com and use the code PUBERTY at checkout! Order our book This Is So Awkward Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com Watch the full episode on Youtube! Produced by Peoples Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices