About one in six kids in America lives in a blended family, and stepchildren are often one of the top stressors listed for second marriages.

After the pain of a divorce, you’ve fallen in love again, and the kids are threatening to ruin it.

What do you do?

How do you parent as a stepparent? How do you allow your kids to grieve what happened in the divorce? What if they openly tell you they don’t like your new love?

What do you do when they tell you they like the other house’s rules better?

If this is you, if you’ve ever thought life would be great if you didn’t have to deal with your step-kids, this episode is for you.

Incidentally, if you’re not a stepparent but you are a parent, these principles will help you too.

356. The Back-to-School Battle: Anxiety, Stress, and Avoidance by Joe Martino

**Please Note: Some podcast players were unable to load the full version of this episode, therefore I am reloading it here. **

If you haven't heard, child estrangement with adult parents is on the rise. A recent research article reported that nearly 30% of parents who are estranged from their children blame therapy. But, is that a good way to construct a study?

What does it mean for us today as we try to live and be fully human?

In today's episode, my wife joins the show and we discuss both the clinical side and the personal side.

Let's talk about parental/child estrangement and what that looks like in a healhty way. How much responsibility should therapy hold?

If you haven't heard, child estrangement with adult parents is on the rise. A recent research article reported that nearly 30% of parents who are estranged from their children blame therapy. But, is that a good way to construct a study?

What does it mean for us today as we try to live and be fully human?

In today's episode, my wife joins the show and we discuss both the clinical side and the personal side.

Let's talk about parental/child estrangement and what that looks like in a healhty way. How much responsibility should therapy hold?

Episode 355 is live.

Summer is almost over. For many that means it’s time to buy new spikes, water bottles and fall sports gear.

It’s time to send half of the family north for one game, while the other half goes south for a different game.

It’s time to either eat late at night at home or in a fast food joint.

It's time for life to speed up to chaos level (if it ever slowed down).

And it’s for a good cause. Youth sports can be incredible for kids. They can teach resilience, teamwork, discipline, perseverance, and how to win and lose well.

But none of those lessons are automatic.

In this episode, we look at what happens when youth sports stop being something kids do and become something adults build around them. We explore the hidden costs of the culture we've created around youth athletics.

We also look at research challenging the assumption that sports automatically build character and ask a more important question:

Who are our kids becoming through this experience?

Youth sports can help shape healthy, resilient adults. They can also teach anxiety, entitlement, blame, and that personal value depends on performance.

The difference may have less to do with the sport and more to do with the adults surrounding it.

Today's episode takes us all the way back to episode one as part of my somewhat sporadic summer review series.

We're revisiting one of the foundational ideas behind almost everything I do as a counselor, consultant, and in my own relationships: emotional security.

What is emotional security? Why does it matter? How does it change the way we handle conflict, build trust, and grow stronger relationships?

Whether you're trying to repair a struggling relationship, deepen a healthy one, or simply become a wiser, more emotionally mature person, this conversation lays the groundwork. It explores the philosophy that undergirds nearly everything I teach in couples therapy and throughout my work.

If you've ever felt stuck in your relationships or wanted to understand why some people seem to grow through life's challenges while others stay trapped by them, this is a great place to start.

You hear it regularly. I know I do.

“I don’t feel safe.”

And that can be important. Manipulation exists, Abuse, and real danger is out there.

But what if we've started using the language of safety to describe something else entirely? What if we actually confuse discomfort at being disagreed with or being held responsible for our actions with feeling unsafe?

In this episode, Joe explores the growing tendency to confuse emotional discomfort with actual danger, and why that distinction matters. Drawing on psychology, neuroscience, and years of counseling experience, he explains how avoiding discomfort can actually increase anxiety, shrink our lives, and keep us from becoming the people we're meant to be.

From parenting and marriage to leadership, faith, and everyday relationships, this conversation challenges us to ask a better question:

Am I truly unsafe, or am I simply being asked to do something difficult?

If you've ever avoided a hard conversation, struggled with criticism, or wondered why anxiety seems more common than ever, this episode is for you.

Courage comes when we learn to experience our fear and examine it for the proper response.

Summer is almost over. What do you want to do because you're afraid people will judge you? What are you afraid to try because you might fail? Life is so short. Make sure you live it.

If this resonates with you, this is what I talk about in today’s episode of the Joe Martino Show.

Today's episode deals with grief. How do we experience it? How do we live fully when we feel heartbroken and our world is falling apart around us? A friend of mine recently lost his son who was trying to save someone else. Twenty-four hours later, another friend lost her dad unexpectedly. Grief and sorrow is part of life and comes for us all.

Originally recorded and shared almost two years ago when our community experienced incredible loss, this episode continues our summer series of replays.

Today's episode is a replay of a previous episode on constructs. What are they? How do they help us? How do they potentially hurt us? If you've heard it before, may it serve as a fresh reminder. If you've never heard it before, may it bring you something to chew on and grow from.

From the original episode description: Constructs serve as the scaffolding of our understanding, akin to mental models, guiding us through the complexities of our existence. They aid us in deciphering the world’s intricacies, offering both clarity and confusion. However, to ensure our mental landscapes remain healthy and unbiased, we must periodically scrutinize our constructs for accuracy and impartiality. Join us in this episode as we explore the profound impact of constructs on our perception of the world and emotional well-being, uncovering the delicate balance between their benefits and pitfalls.