Middle Years with Bridget KerMorris
The middle school years can feel like the start of losing your child.
One day they’re chatty and affectionate. The next they’re rolling their eyes, questioning everything, and leaving you wondering, “Am I doing this all wrong?”
The truth is, middle school isn’t the end of your relationship. It’s the beginning of a new one.
Each week, middle school therapist, coach, and creator of Steady + Connected Parenting™, Bridget KerMorris answers a real question from a real parent. Together, you’ll move beyond quick parenting tips to understand what’s really happening underneath your child’s behavior, what’s getting activated inside of you, and how to lead your family with steadiness, warmth, and confidence.
Whether you’re navigating friendships, technology, ADHD, sibling conflict, identity, motivation, anxiety, or simply wondering how to stay connected to a child who suddenly seems impossible to reach, each episode offers practical tools, fresh perspective, and the kind of relational clarity™ that helps both parents and kids thrive.
Bridget is a Stanford-trained lawyer with thousands of hours of education and experience as a marriage and family therapist specializing in family systems, neurodivergence, and relational trauma. She’s also a mom of seven, currently parenting her fourth middle schooler, and the creator behind @bridget.parentcoach, where more than 100,000 parents turn each day for grounded, compassionate support.
Because your middle schooler isn’t asking for a perfect parent.
They’re asking,
“Do you like me?”
“Will you come back for me?”
This podcast will help you answer, “Yes.”
Middle Years with Bridget KerMorris
Latest Episodes
When Your Daughter Loses Her Friend Group (you can't fix it for her)
What do you do when your middle schooler loses her friend group and there is absolutely nothing you can do to make the lunch table go back to the way it was?In this episode of Middle Years, I answer a mom whose eighth-grade daughter has ...
Everyone Says My Kid Is So Resilient (here's why I bristle at that description)
Let me tell you who so often ends up sitting across from a trauma therapist twenty years later: a strong and resilient person. They're the kid who never made a fuss. The kid nobody worried about because she never gave anyone a reason to....
My Kid Says He's Not Lonely . . . So Why Am I Still Worried?
Your middle schooler says he’s not lonely.So why are you still worried?In this episode of Middle Years with Bridget KerMorris, I answer a mom whose 12-year-old son is well-liked at school, has ADHD, and rarely reaches out t...
I Feel Pretty Much Invisible to My Kid (here's how to spot their backward glance)
Your middle schooler says “leave me alone,” slams the door, or falls apart the second they see you. It can feel like rejection but what if it’s actually a hidden reach?In this episode of Middle Years with Bridget KerMorris, I’m sharing o...
With Friendships, Middle Schoolers Don't Always "Work It Out on Their Own" (and that's not a failing)
We tell middle schoolers to “work it out on their own” all the time.But what if that advice is leaving kids alone with relationship skills they haven’t actually learned yet?In this episode, I’m sharing a piece of my recent Social ...