Hey Emma!

Emma is finally done with school for this school year. While it was a very tough year, she stuck it out and got really great grades. She had some challenges this year and some opportunities to grow. Now she is planning for the summer.

Emma and Dad took part in a 10 question challenge. But they approached it and interpreted the instructions completely differently. The results are very different sets of questions and quite a few laughs.

Check out our website at: growingwithgirls.com

In this episode, Hey Emma! talks about memories and why it may be difficult for teens to have vivid memories at this point in their lives. Emma talks about some good memories and some bad memories. Dad has quite a few memories to share as well.

Pets can be a wonderful addition to a family and they can be a lot of work. We talk about some of our favorite pets and some that didn't work out so well. Sure, they can be great for teaching responsibility or they can be a great way to find out your child isn't ready for a pet yet.

Valentine's Day can be filled with romance and is associated with love. But, it's origins are much less romantic. We discuss a brief history of Valentine's Day starting from its earliest origins. We finish up by discussing what it means to us today. We also discuss Emma's prospects for love.
Join us as we explore Valentine's Day.

Emma discusses her diagnosis of Tourettes Syndrome and how it affects her life and school. She discusses some ways she deals with it and other ways she doesn't deal with it but knows she should. If you've got a teen dealing with a health issue, this may help you both work to find a comfort level for you both.

Our own Emma has had a lot of change in her circles of friends. Over the years, her close friends have changed over many times. How to deal with the loss of friends due to moving, changing interests, and even death.

In the first Hey Emma! episode of 2019, we discuss setting New Years Resolutions versus setting goals. What kinds of goals/resolutions will you set in the New Year. Will you achieve them? What goals do Emma and her dad have for the new year and which ones are likely to be realized?

It's kind of rambling episode since this one was completely "off the cuff". Nothing was planned and Emma got hiccups in the beginning which lasted through a good portion of the podcast.

Fears can be helpful or harmful. They can be invigorating and they can prevent you from moving forward and growing. Let's take a look at fears from the teen mind and see if we can relate that to our own fears as parents.
Teenagers these days have a wide variety of fears that we never encountered when we went to school. Let's open our minds and learn what we can to help our kids become stronger at facing their fears.
Emma finally reveals a medical challenge she has been reluctant to share.

Emma's sister Leah joins us to discuss her favorite music styles and going to the theater. I apologize for how rough this episode is due to equipment failures. Leah was really looking forward to joining us on this podcast and we were able to get her to join us. She has a pretty significant speech impediment due to having Down Syndrome but once you tune your ear to what she's saying, she has some pretty thoughtful words. She's an amazing girl who has endured so much in her 18 years. I'm proud of her and so is Emma. Please join us in encouraging her to continue to develop her speech.