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Parenting teenagers untangled. 🏆 The audio hug for parents of teens and tweens.
Welcome to your weekly audio hug where no question is a bad question, and curiosity beats judgment every time.
I'm a former BBC Correspondent, and mum, on a mission to bring parents of tweens and teens stability, calm and humour. Most of all, I want to help us all get better at connecting with our teens so we can genuinely enjoy parenting them.
Each week, I take a topic, research it, and find you the best answers. Whether interviewing experts, chatting with my friend Susie, or getting the lowdown from my own teenagers.
Susie - friend, Mindfulness guru, and fellow parent in the trenches - brings her wisdom and personal stories to help us contemplate a different perspective.
No one has this parenting thing mastered—even parents or experts who seem like they do. Making mistakes isn’t failing, it’s learning. And good parenting? It’s a lifelong journey.
At the heart of it all, our kids just want to be loved for who they are, not just what they do so ditch perfection and choose connection.
💌 Do you have a question, a story, or just need to vent? Drop me a line at teenagersuntangled@gmail.com (total privacy, no judgment, promise).
What the Independent Podcasting Awards Said:
🗣️ “The advice in this podcast is universally helpful—not just for parents of teenagers.”
🎙️ “A great mix of personal stories and professional insight—refreshing, informative, and packed with extra resources.”
😂 “The chemistry between Rachel and Susie is fantastic. It’s like sitting down with smart, funny friends who actually get it.”
Join the conversation! Find me on Facebook & Instagram.
Want more from Susie? Check out her courses at www.amindful-life.co.uk
Episodes
150 episodes
Why Mothers Aren't Happy: Burnout, Mental Load and the Second Shift. 153
Women's happiness has been in decline since the 1970's despite increased freedoms and opportunities, says Dr Giselle Goodwin. I've you've ever felt burnout out and the sense that you're somehow failing at being a woman and a mother...
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Episode 153
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31:39
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Angry teenagers: How to parent tweens and teens through their anger - Vintage. 152
We all loose our cool sometimes. but teenagers can find it particularly challenging to stay calm or calm down when enraged. It takes self-awareness and skill, and a level of brain development that just isn't there for some of them.One l...
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Episode 152
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31:46
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How to Set Boundaries Boundaries That Actually Work With Teens: Vintage. 151
Featuring Mindfulness expert, Susie AsliHaving kids can seem like a non-stop obstacle course trying to get another living being to do things, whether for their own good or our own sanity.Getting the right balance between love and...
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Episode 151
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29:11
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Motivation: How to motivate a young person, teen or tween: Vintage. 150
We'd all love our children to breeze through school, enjoying a satisfying academic life, having lots of friends, and coming out at the end feeling a success. But what if you have a child that doesn't thrive in an academic environment? What if ...
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Episode 150
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45:33
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Alcohol. A Smart Parents' Guide to Helping Teens Take a Healthy Approach - 149
More than half of kids who've drunk alcohol under the age of 15 in the UK were offered it by their parents. Alcohol has been proven to cause seven types of cancer, according the World Cancer Research. According to other research, th...
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Episode 149
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22:36
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Vintage: How to talk so your teenager will listen, and teens wanting to sleep together. 148
Remember those years when your child followed you everywhere, and gazed at you with adoring eyes because you knew everything? Have they now turned into a teenager who simply grunts, or screams at you, when they occasionally emerge from their be...
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Episode 148
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26:39
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147: Puberty, toxic friendships, 'Pick me' girls - top tips for parenting teenagers from teenagers
It's a rare luxury to have both my girls available for half an hour to record an episode, and when I do I love to talk about listeners questions. Poor Amelia had a really bad cold, but she was still keen to help, so sorry about the sniffles.
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Season 3
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Episode 147
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37:41
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146: Support Your Teen Starting University: Including the thing that makes all the difference
Long term listener, Cathy, has asked us some very heartfelt and important questions about how to support her teen at university. It's an excellent topic for us to tackle since Susie currently has one at university, I have one about to go, and t...
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Episode 146
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41:44
145: How to stop a downward spiral before it happens with Dr Greg Walton 'One of psychology's greatest'
Wouldn't it be great if we knew when and how we parents and teachers can make a massive long-term difference by doing something relatively small? What if we could catch those moments that might set off either an upward or downward spiral, and h...
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Episode 145
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50:31
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144: First love, breakups & LGBTQ. How to support your teen.
First love can be immensely powerful; a profound and unforgetable journey that shapes who we are. It teaches us about intimacy, boundaries and heartbreak and as parents it challenges all of our skills and perceptions.In this episode my d...
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Episode 144
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50:47
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143: Underage sex, loneliness, puberty and finding hobbies. Support for you and your teen.
In this episode I asked Susie to come in and help me tackle some listener questions:QUESTION: After a recent chat with my 13 year old daughter, I'm extremely concerned that she thinks she is ready to have sex with her boyfriend. H...
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Episode 143
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38:31
142: Why school exam systems need to change and how to support our own kids now
The intense, content-heavy exam system in the UK kicks off at this time of year with GCSEs and A levels; high-stakes exams that can feel like a make-or-break moment for teenagers. I've already discussed with Susie how we can support...
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Episode 142
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34:49
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141: Success: What really shapes who we become and are parents that important?
What really shapes success — nature, nurture, luck? It's a perennial question. The Family Dynamic is a brilliant, captivating exploration of families in which all of the children became high-achievers. The award-winnin...
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Episode 141
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37:21
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140: Respect, artifical intelligence and toxic femininity - the teenage view
When I asked listeners for their questions one stood out as a worthy of almost an entire episode: 'What does it take to respect people around you, especially your parents?'There's so much that could be said on this topic that...
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Episode 140
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41:19
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139: Secondary school, friendship groups, and those awkward talks about porn and sexting
In this episode my teens, Phoebe and Amelia, joined me in the studio to help answer some questions emailed in by listeners, and sent to me on social media. We kick off by chatting about exploring their identity and what they think i...
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Episode 139
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31:36
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138: How to get your teenager out of their bedroom - even one who's into gaming.
So many parents feel a deep loss when their teenager begins to separate from them; staying in their room and behaving as if the person they used to adore is the most embarassing thing they have ever witnessed. In today's episode I b...
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Episode 138
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49:43
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137: Identity formation - the main job of a teenager?
In psychology, the term "identity" is most commonly used to describe the distinctive qualities or traits that make an individual unique. Identities are strongly associated with self-esteem, and individuality and - for a teenager - forming their...
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Episode 137
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47:02
136: Are education and hard work less important now than parents?
I grew up believing in a meritocracy; with hard work - and government funding of my university education - I eventually escaped a difficult home and poor schooling to succeed in journalism. But times have moved on, and the reality ...
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Episode 136
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40:10
135: Adolescence: Help for parents with the core themes. How to discuss and connect with our kids
The mini-series, Adolescence, is a global hit, topping Netflix charts in 71 countries and amassing 24.3 million views in its first four days. It's sparked a global conversation about parenting, masculinity, and the impact of social ...
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Episode 135
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52:56
133: How to plan ahead for an empty nest that's full of possibility
Empty nest syndrome is real, and can be very painful to navigate. I've already discussed it with Susie, including ideas for how we can manage our feelings in a positive way to help us move on. https://www.teenagersuntangled.com...
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Episode 133
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37:34
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132: Work: What we parents can do to help our kids end up with a meaningful role in society.
Another day another newspaper headline that says young people aren't working.According to the Financial Times newspaper, 13.4 per cent of people in the United Kingdon in the 16 to 24 age group were not in employment education or training...
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Episode 132
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36:49
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131: Accepting our kids for who they are, not what our culture tells us they should be.
Parenting is a hard enough, but doing it in a culture that is different from the one we grew up in creates an extra layer of challenges to navigate. When it's our kids who have the greatest connection to that new culture it can be their demands...
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Episode 131
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40:47
130: Worries about skin care obsessions? The social media 'Sephora' kid craze from a teen perspective
Most teens go through a phase of being hyper-focused on looking good; whether it's clothes, bodybuilding, skin-care or makeup. What can seem like an obsession could be a normal part of the process, so when should we start to worry and how shoul...
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Episode 130
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38:49
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129: Parenting stages: Coaching and mentoring teens and young adults
Before I had kids I literally had no real idea of what I should expect. I think that's partly why I have spent the years as a mother panicking and reading everything; having learnt that I was wrong about how complicated the job is. ...
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Episode 129
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40:28
128: Life skills: How to supercharge them with a working holiday.
Sponsored by JENZAPositively life changing is how I would sum up the time I spent working abroad during my gap year. I met people with a completely different world view, different language, and learnt to navigate many challenges alone. I...
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Episode 128
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27:31
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