Ask Lisa: The Psychology of Parenting

By Dr. Lisa Damour/Good Trouble Productions

Kids & Family

What's Ask Lisa: The Psychology of Parenting about?

Raising kids can be a bumpy, stressful, and uncertain process – which is why Dr. Lisa Damour is here to help. The author of bestsellers Untangled, Under Pressure, and The Emotional Lives of Teenagers brings her sane, informed, and practical perspective to your timely and timeless parenting questions. Co-host and journalist Reena Ninan, a former White House and foreign correspondent, gets the answers parents need. In each episode, Dr. Lisa and Reena blend expert knowledge with their experience and struggles as parents themselves to tackle real-life questions sent in by listeners.

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146: What's the Best Way to...

11.28.2023

Dr. Lisa and Reena tackle the nuances of ADHD: what to look for, when to be concerned, and the overlap between ADHD and executive functioning challenges. Dr. Lisa unpacks how, ideally, an ADHD diagnosis is made and the treatment options ...

Ask Lisa: The Psychology of Parenting episodes:

11.28.2023 146: What's the Best Way to Help a Kid with ADHD? Dr. Lisa and Reena tackle the nuances of ADHD: what to look for, when to be concerned, and the overlap between ADHD and executive functioning challenges. Dr. Lisa unpacks how, ideally, an ADHD diagnosis is made and the treatment options ...
11.21.2023 145: Encore: My Kids Lose it When They Make Sports Mistakes. How Can I Help? Sports is not just about the final score. It’s an opportunity for kids to grow, to learn how to improve their skills, and to be a good teammate. But athletics today can be incredibly competitive, aggressive, and emotionally intense. Dr. ...
11.14.2023 144: How Much Should I Share About My Kids? Parents can feel worried when their teen first starts driving or riding around in friends’ cars. What can parents do to help teens stay safe behind the wheel? What rules should be put in place and how well do those ...
11.07.2023 143: How Do I Raise A Compassionate Child? With Dr. Traci Baxley Special guest professor Dr. Traci Baxley joins the Ask Lisa podcast. She is the author of Social Justice Parenting: How to Raise Compassionate, Anti-racist, Justice-minded Kids in an Unjust World. Dr. Baxley talks with Dr. Lisa and Reena about why ...
10.31.2023 142: Should My Teen Be In Cars with New Drivers? Parents can feel worried when their teen first starts driving or riding around in friends’ cars. What can parents do to help teens stay safe behind the wheel? What rules should be put in place and how well do those ...
10.24.2023 141: How Do Stop Riding My Kid's Emotional Roller Coaster? A parent writes in about a middle schooler's intense emotional swings which leave the parent feeling uncertain about how to respond. Dr. Lisa and Reena dive into the psychology of these rollercoaster emotions, discuss whether this behavior is typical at ...
10.17.2023 140: Can I Talk My Teen Out of a Toxic Romance? A mother writes in asking how to protect her teen from a controlling and degrading relationship. Dr. Lisa and Reena discuss the nature of unhealthy relationships and how and when adults should intervene. Reena asks how parents can recognize the ...
10.10.2023 139: This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained with Dr. Cara Natterson and Vanessa Bennett So what’s really happening when kids go through puberty? Dr. Cara Natterson and Vanessa Bennett join the Ask Lisa podcast to talk about their new book This is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained. The conversation takes a deep dive into ...
10.03.2023 138: Should Our Teen Stay Home Alone When We Leave Town? Parents who need to be out of town for the weekend worry their 16-year-old son will throw a party while they’re away. They want to trust him but can’t shake the feeling that something is brewing. What should parents know ...
09.26.2023 137: How Do I Parent a Teen with a Chronic Health Condition? Dr. Lisa and Reena tackle two letters about the challenges of parenting teens with chronic health conditions. The first letter centers on addressing a teen’s sense of feeling “different” and asks what parents can do to prevent social isolation. The ...
09.19.2023 136: Should I Allow My Tween To Wear Crop Tops? A parent feels uncomfortable when her preteen daughter wears crop tops. She worries about the attention her daughter might receive, but also wonders if she's the one who's out of touch. Dr. Lisa and Reena address the complexities of setting ...
09.12.2023 135: How Do I Combat My Kid's Perfectionism? What causes kids to struggle with perfectionism? Dr. Lisa explains why young people sometimes hold themselves to unsustainable standards and how adults can help them to set realistic goals. Reena asks how parents can counter the harmful self-talk that often ...
09.05.2023 134: My Son and His Friends Use Slurs. Can I Stop This? A mother writes in about the fact that her teen son and his friends - who come from a mix of racial, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds - "jokingly" use slurs. Does she have the power to stop this? Dr. Lisa ...
08.29.2023 133: A Conversation with U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy visits the Ask Lisa Podcast to talk about the public health crisis you might not know about: loneliness. He joins co-hosts Dr. Lisa and Reena for a wide-ranging conversation on parenting, being a Dad, ...
08.22.2023 132: Never Enough: Confronting Toxic Achievement Culture (with author Jennifer Wallace) Season four of the Ask Lisa podcast kicks off with a special guest, author and journalist Jennifer Breheny Wallace, who discusses her brand new book: “Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic - And What We Can Do About It.” ...
08.15.2023 131: Encore: How Do I Help My Disorganized High School Kid? Getting kids ready for the new school year can be a hard transition from summer. In this encore episode we look at helping teens manage their responsibilities during and after high school. Staying organized isn’t just about getting into college ...
08.08.2023 130: Encore: Should I Kick my Kid Off TikTok? When should parents limit - or even forbid - the use of TikTok? Dr. Lisa and Reena take a deep dive into the upsides and downsides of social media and how the norms kids encounter in online environments can influence ...
08.01.2023 129: Encore: My Kid Was Dumped by Her Friends. How Can I Help? Why do kids suddenly turn on friends and ice them out of a group? It’s something Dr. Lisa says she's been hearing about more often in recent months as kids need shared interests to hold their groups together, and that ...
07.25.2023 128: Encore: Should I Track my Teen's Location? It’s easy to track kids using cell phone technology. But is it a good idea to do so? Today's technology allows us to know a lot more about our kids than our parents ever knew about us. While parents might ...
07.18.2023 127: Encore: How Much Gaming is Too Much? What are the signs of a gaming addiction? It’s easy in the summer to have lax rules and allow more gaming and screen time. But when does gaming cross the line into being too much? A mom writes in worried ...
07.11.2023 126: Encore: Raising an Athlete? Advice from an Olympic Mom Three time Olympian and Mom of three, Lauren Regula explains how we can all better manage the stresses of school sports. What do you really need to know when raising an athlete. I was surprised by the one question she ...
07.04.2023 125: Encore: How Do We Talk to Kids About Justice? Special Guest Preet Bharara How can we help our kids understand justice and fairness? Special Guest Preet Bharara, a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, joins the Ask Lisa Podcast to discuss his children’s book, Justice Is… A Guide for ...
06.23.2023 124: Encore: How and When Do I Give My Kid a Phone? What’s the right age to give a kid a smartphone? There’s no simple answer to this question, but guidelines we can bear in mind when kids - at increasingly young ages - ask for one. In this encore episode Dr. ...
06.13.2023 123: Here's To Summer! Schools out! Now what? Dr. Lisa and Reena take a look back at the highlights of Season Three - from key topics to informative guests to the launch of Lisa’s new book, The Emotional Lives of Teenagers. Their conversation covers ...
06.06.2023 122: How Much Structure Should Kids Have in the Summer? While summer is a great time to be more laid back, a parent writes in asking whether kids should really have less structure in the summer. Dr. Lisa and Reena talk through key questions parents face once the school year ...
05.30.2023 121: Encore: Should I Bribe My Kid? It can be hard to get your kids to be self-starters. How do we motivate kids to do the things they don't want to do? Dr. Lisa explains that there are times in parenting when offering encouragement and reminders just ...
05.23.2023 120: My Teen Is into Sports Betting. Help! With online betting now legal in most states, sports coverage is increasingly saturated with commentary focussed on betting and ads for gambling apps. Teens are noticing - and some of them are getting in on the action. It's increasingly easy ...
05.16.2023 119: How Do I Get My Son to Stop Picking on His Little Sister? Why are kids mean to their siblings? Dr. Lisa unpacks the dynamics behind sibling conflict and takes us inside the mind of older siblings. The conversation addresses why the onset of puberty makes it hard for kids to control their ...
05.09.2023 118: My Daughter Is Cutting Herself. What Should I Do? Why do young people engage in self-harm? A mother writes in asking for advice on how to respond when her daughter cuts herself. Dr. Lisa unpacks why adolescents sometimes hurt themselves to manage distress and Reena asks about the connection ...
05.02.2023 117: My College-Bound Kid Is "Soiling the Nest." Help! What’s the best way for parents to respond when their high school senior wants to spend every waking minute with friends? A mom writes in asking if it's okay to require her teen to spend time with the family before ...
04.25.2023 116: Should I Kick My Kid Off TikTok? When should parents limit - or even forbid - the use of TikTok? Dr. Lisa and Reena take a deep dive into the upsides and downsides of social media and how the norms kids encounter in online environments can influence ...
04.18.2023 115: How Do I Parent a Young Adult (and Deal with my Own Parents)? Guest: Laurence Steinberg, PhD Dr. Lisa and Reena welcome special guest Dr. Laurence Steinberg, Professor of Psychology at Temple University, to celebrate the publication of his latest book You And Your Adult Child: How To Grow Together In Challenging Times. Dr. Steinberg unpacks key ...
04.11.2023 114: Should My Kid Take a Gap Year? Does it always make sense for students to enroll in college immediately after high school? Dr. Lisa and Reena discuss when and why parents might want to think seriously about having a teen take a gap year. They weigh the ...
04.04.2023 113: How Do I Help My Kid Deal with Unfairness? From not getting into a desired college to not making a team - how do we help kids process unfairness? A dad writes in asking for help when his high school junior loses the National Honors Society presidency to a ...
03.28.2023 112: How Much Gaming is Too Much? How do you know if your child has a gaming addiction? A mom writes in worried about her son who used gaming to connect with friends during the pandemic but now games alone while his friends spend time together in ...
03.21.2023 111: What Kind of Therapy is Right for My Kid? Parents seeking professional support for their kids often run into a confusing array of therapies to choose from. In this episode, Dr. Lisa provides a neutral guide on the various options - DBT, CBT, talk therapy, somatic therapy, play therapy, ...
03.14.2023 110: What Is Real Self-Care for Parents? Special Guest and Author: Pooja Lakshmin, MD What’s the difference between real and faux self-care? Dr. Pooja Lakshmin helps us rethink what it means to care for ourselves and answers listeners' questions related to her new book, Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, ...
03.07.2023 109: Encore: Why Are Our Kids So Mean To Us? How should you respond when your kids are mean to you? What’s age appropriate behavior and what should not be tolerated? Dr. Lisa and Reena unpack why kids lash out and what’s behind the outbursts. How do you know when ...
02.28.2023 108: How Do I Help My Disorganized High School Kid? Preparing for life after high school is about more than just getting into college - it’s also about having the ability to operate independently. A parent writes in worried about a charming, but disorganized, son. Dr. Lisa explains what executive ...
02.21.2023 107: Lisa's New Book! The Emotional Lives of Teenagers Dr. Lisa’s new book The Emotional Lives of Teenagers is officially out today in print and audio book. In this episode Lisa and Reena discuss Lisa’s new book and the research behind it. Lisa explains why she felt passionate about ...
02.14.2023 106: Should I Give the Sex Talk if I Think I'm Already Too Late? Parents should view sexual development as a facet of overall healthy development, but that's not always easy to do. Dr. Lisa and Reena unpack the concept of “the sex talk" and Lisa explains that, instead of a single sit-down, conversations ...
02.07.2023 105: My Kid Complains Constantly. How Do I Get Him to Stop? How should a parent respond to a kid who seems to complain all the time? Dr. Lisa explains why complaints, though often tedious to listen to, can actually play an important role in healthy development. Reena points out that parents ...
01.31.2023 104: How Do I Support My LGBTQ+ Daughter? A teen confides to her mother that she is gay but doesn’t want her dad to know. Her mother writes the Ask Lisa podcast with several questions: How can parents best support teens who identify as LGBTQ+? Is it right ...
01.24.2023 103: How Do I Talk My Teen Out of Vaping? Vaping has become a growing concern for many parents of tweens and teens. What can adults do to steer kids clear of it, and what should we do to help kids who find themselves hooked on nicotine? Dr. Lisa discusses ...
01.17.2023 102: Encore: My Son Messed Up. Can I Keep Him from Being Canceled? A parent writes in that her teen sent a group text to his classmates that contained racial and homophobic slurs about another kid. He thought he was being funny, but quickly realized that his classmates didn't agree. The boy and ...
01.10.2023 101: How Do I Get My Teen Sons to Talk to Me? Is it normal for my teen son to not want to talk to me? That’s the question we tackle this week. Dr. Lisa explains that it can feel like a personal rejection when teens pull away from their parents, but ...
01.03.2023 100: How Can Parents Find Joy and Energy in the New Year? We all want to start the New Year feeling our best, but that's a tall order for the many parents who feel mentally and physically exhausted. In response to a question from a parent asking how she can feel less ...
12.27.2022 99: Encore: How Do I Keep My Kids Grounded in a Materialistic World? The holidays can usher in a focus on spending and consumerism. How do we instill healthy values in our kids, make sure that they appreciate what really matters in life, and keep them from becoming preoccupied with wealth or material ...
12.13.2022 98: My Friends' Kids Are Excluding My Kid. What Should I Do? Having friendships with families where the kids and adults love hanging out can be wonderful. But what happens when the kids’ relationships sour or they drift in different directions? Dr. Lisa helps parents navigate the tricky conversations they may need ...
12.06.2022 97: Should I Track My Teen's Location? Today's technology allows us to know a lot more about our kids than our parents ever knew about us. So...is it a good idea to track your teen's location? While parents might track their teens for supervision and safety reasons, ...

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