Parenting can be challenging, but parenting tweens and teens is a straight-up Olympic sport. Luckily, my friend Michelle Icard is a parenting expert that specializes in getting tweens and teens to talk to us about… pretty much anything. In this episode, she shares her best communication strategies, her hot takes on overreaching and overreactive parenting, and why “Botox Brow” is your secret weapon for talking to your tweens and teens.

 

Michelle Icard has degrees in English and Education and has worked with parents, children, and teachers for more than 20 years, creating curriculum, books, and programs that help them better understand and navigate early adolescence. 

Michelle is the author of three books on this subject:

• 8 Setbacks That Can Make a Child a Success

• Fourteen Talks by Age Fourteen

• Middle School Makeover

 

Connect with Michelle:

• Website

• Facebook

• Instagram

• LinkedIn

 

Some key takeaways from this episode include:

• If you see your child is struggling or having behavioral issues, try Michelle’s 3-step approach: contain, resolve, and evolve. She walks through each step in the episode!

• Microchanges can make a huge difference for your kids, but you can’t force your kids to do them. Let them choose their own microsteps at their own pace, and be open for their questions without nudging them about it constantly.

• Practice what Michelle calls the “Botox Brow” when you’re having an important conversation with your kid. Our kids’ brains can easily misread emotions in our facial expressions, so keeping a neutral expression helps them feel safe to open up.

 

Wake Up to Your Life is an award-winning podcast hosted by Colleen Odegaard. On this show, you’ll hear from experts (and learn from my own hilarious stories) on how to rediscover yourself in a new season of life, no matter what that looks like for you. 

 

Connect with Colleen: 

• Instagram

• Facebook

• YouTube