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 and Under Pressure 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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121: Encore: Should I Bribe...

05.30.2023

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 ...

Ask Lisa: The Psychology of Parenting episodes:

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, ...
11.29.2022 96: How Do I Raise Financially Responsible Kids? Special Guest Bobbi Rebell Having conversations with our kids about money can be difficult. So how do we set them up for good financial health? Financial expert Bobbi Rebell, author of Launching Financial Grownups: Live Your Richest Life by Helping Your (Almost) Adult Kids ...
11.22.2022 95: Encore: Happy Holidays? Dealing with Difficult Relatives The holidays can be both joyful and stressful. Being in close quarters with relatives whose political or social views are completely different from yours can make this busy time of year even more challenging. Dr. Lisa offers a plan to ...
11.15.2022 94: My Clingy Teen Hates Going to School. How Do I Help? A parent writes in asking for help for their teen who feels intensely anxious about going to school and interacting with adults outside the home. Dr. Lisa explains that the need to stay close to home during the height of ...
11.08.2022 93: Should I Monitor My Kid’s Grades Online? Grades can be a source of family anxiety and stress, and online grading portals can make the situation both better and worse. A dad writes in asking how parents and kids can better manage online grades. Reena explains that she ...
11.01.2022 92: I’m Not Ready for My Kid to Be in Love. Help! How should we talk to our kids about what it means to fall in love? Parents know how good it can feel to make a strong connection and be on the receiving end of affection, but we also want to ...
10.25.2022 91: My Kid Hates Being A Late Bloomer. How Can I Help? How can we support kids who feel uncomfortable about the timing of puberty? A parent writes in asking what to say to a late bloomer who feels out of step with her peers. Dr. Lisa unpacks the research on what ...
10.18.2022 90: Should My Kid Play Violent Video Games? Do violent video games normalize violence? A parent whose son becomes more aggressive with his sisters after playing certain games writes in asking for advice. Is it best to pull the plug on games like Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto, ...
10.11.2022 89: How Do I Get My Teen To Take Charge of Her Life? How do we help teens take ownership of their lives, especially if they are feeling overwhelmed by all that adults are asking of them? Dr. Lisa explains how parents can move from nagging teens to seeing themselves as teachers who ...
10.04.2022 88: How Do I Get My Son to Give Up Pot? How do you help a teen who won't stop smoking marijuana? When does a family need to step in? A mom writes in asking for help for her son who has been caught smoking marijuana both at school and at ...
09.27.2022 87: Do I Really Have to Send My Tween to Sleepovers? A parent who hates sleepovers writes in to ask if they are really necessary. Dr. Lisa and Reena weigh the social costs of not allowing kids to host or attend sleepovers and what parents can do instead. They also address ...
09.20.2022 86: How Do I Pay For College Without Going Broke? Special Guest: Author Ron Lieber College can be incredibly expensive, so how should parents think about covering the cost? What do we say to our kids about what we can, or are willing, to pay? How do you make the most of 529 plans? Dr. ...
09.13.2022 85: My Kids Lose it When They Make Sports Mistakes. How Can I Help? When kids get stuck or fall apart while playing sports, what should parents do? Dr. Lisa offers strategies for when kids lose their cool, and explains a key change in thinking can help kids manage when they make mistakes. She ...
09.06.2022 84: How Do I Encourage My Tween to Drop a Bad Friendship? Friends are supposed to make you feel better, but what about when kids have "friends" who leave them feeling awful? How do you help tweens and teens identify when a friendship has become toxic and gracefully remove themselves without becoming ...
08.30.2022 83: How Do I Get My Teen to Take School Seriously? After more than two years of pandemic-related disruption, there's a lot riding on this school year. But what do you do if your kid doesn't seem to care about grades or how things are going academically? How can adults get ...
06.21.2022 The Danger Zone on Insta Join Dr. Lisa and Reena live with your parenting questions this Weds, June 22nd, 1pm EST on the @asklisapodcast Instagram live handle. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn @AskLisaPodcast, @Lisa.Damour, @ReenaNinan Check out Dr. Lisa’s website for more ...
06.07.2022 Summer Instagram Lives! Dr. Lisa and Reena have an update. Join them live with your parenting questions this Weds, June 8th, 1pm EST on the @asklisapodcast Instagram live handle. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn @AskLisaPodcast, @Lisa.Damour, @ReenaNinan Check out Dr. ...
05.24.2022 82: How Should Kids Spend Summer 2022? Dr. Lisa runs down the five things she believes parents should focus on in summer 2022. The pandemic narrowed kids' opportunities for growth, but there's now a lot adults can do to help children and teenagers catch up. Dr. Lisa ...
05.17.2022 81: Why Is Our Kid Being 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 hormones ...
05.10.2022 80: Should I Push My Child Out of the Nest? How much should we shield our kids from risk? And how much should we go out of our way to make their lives more comfortable? Dr. Lisa explains the importance of fostering independence and encouraging our children to take safe ...
05.03.2022 79: What Do Parents Need to Know about Suicide? What causes a child or teenager to become suicidal? What steps can be taken to prevent suicide? Dr. Jonathan B. Singer co-author of Suicide in Schools: A Practitioner's Guide to Multi-level Prevention, Assessment, Intervention, and Postvention joins the Ask Lisa ...
04.26.2022 78: My Daughter’s Nude Selfie Got Out. What Do We Do Now? A parent writes in asking how to pick up the pieces after her daughter shared a nude selfie with a boyfriend who then sent it to other boys at school. Dr. Lisa and Reena talk about how impulsive moments can ...
04.19.2022 77 Encore: I Hate Nagging My Kids. What Else Works? Getting kids to do things without hounding them can seem impossible. This week the Ask Lisa Podcast presents an encore episode on nagging. At what age should kids be expected to manage their responsibilities without constant reminders? Dr. Lisa explains ...
04.12.2022 76: How and When Do I Tell My Kids Their Grandma is Dying? How do you deal with grief and explain death to your kids? Knowing that you are losing a parent is difficult but how do you also help your kids process what will be coming? Dr. Lisa explains what kids need ...
04.05.2022 75: How Do I Help My Teen Deal With College Rejections? Not getting into desired colleges can be devastating for teens and their parents. How can you help your child move past what feels like a major life setback? Dr. Lisa provides language that might be helpful in navigating this delicate ...
03.29.2022 74: 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 ...

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