I was driving with my friend Gaia, who works as an in-house middle school therapist, as she breezed through some girl drama she helped some kids navigate that week. In the middle of her recap she said, almost offhand, “Well, you know...everything falls apart in seventh grade.” I looked at her and said, “Gaia, that is your book title!!!"

We all can relate to having felt that way.

Seventh grade shakes everything loose, and in this episode we want to understand why. We both remember how disorienting that year felt.

It is the middle of the middle, a stretch where identity shifts, friendships wobble, and everyone is trying to figure out who they are and where they belong.

We start by laughing through our own memories, the trends we chased, the identities we tried on, and the moments that still live in our minds. Beneath every meltdown or friendship crisis sit the same two questions, "Who am I and who am I connected to?"

Together we explore how parents can stay close when their child pulls away, how to let kids struggle in ways that build strength, and how to make sense of friend groups, independence, shifting interests, and the pressure kids feel to define themselves before they are ready.

If you have a middle schooler, if you remember the ache of that age, or if you want a clearer sense of what your child is stepping into, this conversation will hopefully help.

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