Breaking Down Puberty In Boys And Girls: 5 Expert Podcasts

One of my favorite things to do is talk to experts on my podcasts about various parenting topics. If you haven’t checked out my podcasts yet, you can go HERE to find an ongoing list of the ones I’ve done with knowledgeable people in the field. So many parenting issues are discussed at length, offering incredible wisdom and guidance for us all.

In this post, I’d like to highlight five podcasts about puberty in our boys and girls because I’ve learned through working with hundreds of moms that this is one of the most difficult challenges parents face in raising their tweens and teens. Their physical bodies are maturing and transforming, their hormones are out of control, and so are their mood swings. During these pivotal years, new emotional or mental health issues can surface as well.

If you have a tween or teen going through puberty right now, the following podcasts will offer important insights and advice in understanding this process. We all need help in parenting our kids through their pubescent years! Here are five podcasts about puberty in boys and girls and how to navigate this challenging season as parents!

How To Talk To Your Tween and Teen About Puberty / Interview with Michelle Mitchell

Talking about puberty can be so awkward! What do you say? Where do you start? How do you get your tween or teen to open up?

Michelle Mitchell has practical and insightful wisdom and the most wonderful way of sharing this information with us and our kids.

Michelle is an author, speaker, and advocate for families and parenting teenagers. She is the author of 2 new books, “A Girls Guide To Puberty” and “A Guys Guide to Puberty.” She is also a mother of two teenagers. And lives in Brisbane, Australia.

In this episode, we discuss:

What is normal when puberty hits, and how you can support your kids in positive ways.
What to say and not say when it comes to having important puberty conversations.
What to do if you’re kid says they don’t want to talk about puberty and the changes they are experiencing.
How to be that open, safe, and warm place your kids will want to talk to even when it’s awkward.
How to approach the puberty talk with a lightness and fun spirit versus fear and dread.
How important it is to listen when you are having these conversations.

Click HERE for the podcast!

In this episode, Dr. Sheryl Ziegler talks with me about the Social Emotional and Physical Changes Tween Girls Go Through and How You Can Be Prepared Before She Hits The Teen Years.

A few highlights:

Preteen behaviors – what to expect and what’s normal.
How to prepare your daughter for all of the social, emotional, and physical changes that she’s going through during puberty and what’s to come during the teen years.
How to have difficult and awkward conversations about puberty, etc. with her.
How to use the tween years (9,10,11, 12) as an opportunity to celebrate your daughter’s transition to womanhood.
Laying a strong foundation for a strong relationship with your daughter where she will feel like she can talk to you.

Click HERE for the podcast!

Navigating The Minefields Raising Adolescent Boys / Interview with Bethany Jett

We’re talking all about raising tween and teen boys with Bethany Jett, who is an absolute blast. You will love her sense of humor and honesty about her challenges and imperfections as a mom in the thick of raising three adolescent sons.

Bethany is an award-winning author, ghostwriter, and entrepreneur who has co-authored the leadership book with Victoria Duerstock: Navigating Minefields, a Young Man’s Blueprint for Success on Life’s Battlefield.

What You Will Learn:

We talk about the challenges of our sons pulling away, how to get them to open up and talk, and what it looks like to support them through all the emotions and transitions
How our role changes with our sons during the adolescent years and how to be intentional to meaningful connecting with they’re pulling away
How to support our sons based on their unique personalities to grow into healthy leaders
This interview is so refreshing and reassuring if you are raising an adolescent son or want to understand adolescent boys better or the mothers who love them.

Click HERE for the podcast!

Body Image: Helping Our Daughters To Love, Appreciate & Care For Their Bodies / Interview with Dr. Charlotte Markey

How many of us are dissatisfied with our bodies?

I grew up drinking Tab and wishing I looked like Farrah Fawcett. Maybe you wished you looked like Brooke Shields, Jennifer Anniston, or Madonna.

If we thought it was tough to accept and love our bodies and ourselves back, then imagine what it must be like for our girls today. It can be an ongoing challenge to appreciate our bodies and to support our daughters to do the same.

I’m talking with world-leading body image expert and psychology professor Dr. Charlotte Markey about helping our girls understand, accept, and appreciate their bodies and her latest book, The Body Image Book for Girls, Love Yourself and Grow Up Fearlessly.

We talk about the diet culture, some unhelpful things we do or say that can even be damaging to our girls, and how we can set a good example with our own eating and exercise habits and self-talk.

Click HERE for the podcast!

Cultivating A Positive Body Image In Our Boys / Interview with Dr. Charlotte Markey

Dr. Charlotte Markey is a world-leading expert in body image research, having studied all things body image, eating behavior, and weight management for her entire adult life. She is passionate about understanding what makes us feel good about our bodies and helping people to develop a healthy body image. Charlotte loves to share her body image wisdom with others and is an experienced book author, blogger, and professor at Rutgers University, Camden.

In our interview today, I talk with Dr. Markey about her book, “Being You: The Body Image Book for Boys.” We discuss the pressure boys feel to be athletic and muscular and the physical and mental impact this has on our boys. What can we do about it to raise our boys with a healthy self-image?

What you will learn:

The different concerns boys have than girls regarding their bodies.
Some of the common struggles and challenges boys have with their body image.
What pressures are boys under right now concerning their weight?
Myths about boys’ development.
What does body image really mean? And why is it important to talk about it with our boys?
What are some of the messages boys internalize that they aren’t necessarily talking about regarding their bodies?
What is the cause for the rise in body dissatisfaction in boys, from eating disorders to bulking up?
The rise in eating disorders in boys since the pandemic.
How to talk to your sons about their body image and self-acceptance.
Can moms just talk to their sons about this issue like fathers?