SuperTalks by SuperAcademy

In this episode of SuperTalks, Lauren sits down with Kara Kalin for an honest conversation about one of the biggest challenges of the tween years: the pressure to fit in, and what it quietly costs our girls.

Kara is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, Certified EMDR Therapist and Founder of ShiftChange. Kara works closely with youth and their families, helping them understand what's really happening underneath the surface. As she puts it, when a child is struggling, the answer often isn't fixing her. It's understanding her.

Together, we explore why the tween years can feel like such troubled waters. Friendships suddenly become everything, emotions feel bigger, and girls start adjusting who they are to be accepted. They unpack the difference between fitting in and belonging, how to spot when a girl is shrinking herself, and why so many of us learned to do the same thing as adults. We also talk about emotional safety: what it actually feels like for a child, and how parents can create it at home. That includes staying steady when your daughter pushes you away, supporting big feelings without rushing to fix them, and knowing how to repair when you get it wrong.

Then we get practical. Kara walks through real scenarios parents face, from friends who won't sit with her and missed birthday invites to "I hate how I look" and "I hate you." She shares how to respond with curiosity, not lectures.

Discover IRL Workshops:⁠ https://mysuperacademy.com/collections/superworkshops⁠

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Follow Kara: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/karakalin.shiftchange/⁠

What if confidence isn't something kids need before they do hard things - but something they build by doing them?

In this SuperSession, Lauren guides parents and kids through Brave Stories, an activity from SuperAcademy's SuperWorkshops designed to help young people recognize the courage and strengths they already have.

Together, you'll each think of a moment when you did something brave - big or small - and explore what you were afraid of, what helped you move through it and what the experience taught you about yourself.

Then comes the really powerful part: seeing the strength hidden inside each other's stories.

Because bravery doesn't mean you weren't scared. It means you did something even though you were scared - and every time you do, you collect another little piece of evidence that says: I can do hard things.

Grab your kid, press play and find your Brave Stories together.

Be brave. Collect the proof. Let the confidence follow.

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Discover IRL Workshops: https://mysuperacademy.com/pages/superacademy-workshops

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Who is teaching our kids who to be?

In this episode of SuperTalks, Lauren sits down with entrepreneur, content creator and mom Erin Sousa for an honest conversation about social media, identity and what it means to raise kids in a world where they're constantly being shown what beauty, popularity, success and even happiness are supposed to look like.

As someone who has built a career and community through social media, Erin knows firsthand the incredible opportunities these platforms can create, but becoming a mom has also made her think differently about what happens when kids enter these spaces before they understand how they're designed to influence them.

Follow Erin: @erincsousa

Together, Lauren and Erin unpack algorithms, comparison, filters, influencers, AI-generated content and the attention economy, including what parents may not realize is happening behind the screen. They also get practical about media literacy: teaching kids that popularity doesn't equal truth, recognizing when they're being influenced or sold to, questioning what's real and understanding that their attention has value.

But this isn't a conversation about making social media the villain or scaring parents away from technology.

It's about helping kids build a strong enough sense of identity that the outside world doesn't get to define it for them.

Lauren and Erin share practical ways families can start doing that long before the first social media account, by building identity, creating a rich offline life, modelling healthy habits, keeping communication open and giving kids the tools to question what they see instead of simply absorbing it.

Because we can't control everything our kids will see online. But we can strengthen the person who's doing the seeing.

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Discover IRL Workshops: https://mysuperacademy.com/pages/superacademy-workshops

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_superacademy

SuperSessions are where listening turns into doing.

This is an activity-based session for parent and child.

In the very first SuperSession, Lauren guides parents and kids through a simple activity designed to help them discover the strengths that make them uniquely them.

Grab a piece of paper (or your Notes app!) and follow along as you identify your own strengths, then see yourself through the eyes of someone who knows and loves you. Together, you'll choose a "Super Strength" to lean into and take on a family challenge to keep the conversation going all week.

This activity comes directly from SuperAcademy's signature SuperWorkshops and is designed to help kids build confidence from the inside out, not by focusing only on what they're good at, but by recognizing who they are.

Because confidence doesn't come from trying to be someone else. It grows when kids learn to recognize, trust and celebrate the strengths they already have.

Grab your kid, press play and discover your strengths together.

Join the SuperAcademy World and sign up to our newsletter: eepurl.com/jhcvEc

Discover IRL Workshops: https://mysuperacademy.com/pages/superacademy-workshops

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_superacademy

Welcome to the very first episode of SuperTalks!

Host and SuperAcademy founder Lauren MacKinnon shares the personal story that sparked a big question: Why are we waiting until adulthood to help people rediscover who they are?

After 20 years in corporate leadership and coaching executives, Lauren realized the questions successful adults were asking themselves weren't so different from the ones kids are asking: Who am I? What am I good at? Where do I belong?

In this episode, Lauren shares why she created SuperAcademy and SuperTalks - and why helping kids develop confidence, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, communication and a strong sense of identity may be some of the most important work we can do in a rapidly changing world.

Throughout the season, SuperTalks will bring parents conversations with experts, leaders, entrepreneurs, changemakers and kids themselves, exploring everything from friendship and resilience to AI, social media, leadership and the future of childhood.

You'll also hear SuperSessions - short, guided episodes inspired by SuperAcademy's SuperWorkshops that parents and kids can participate in together, turning big ideas into meaningful conversations at home.

This isn't about raising perfect kids. It's about raising humans who know who they are.

Welcome to SuperTalks.