026: Villain to Mentor - Becoming the Person Your Teen Turns to Instead of Fights Against with Joey Mascio

You’ve heard people say it …You may have said something similar yourself …

It’s a negative judgment on teens, especially parenting teens.

“Oh, just look out for when they’re teenagers!”

“Teens are just moody…just confrontational…just tough to parent.”

Etc. Etc. Etc.

I’ve said it too, and I feel regret!

Turns out, most of the time, I puffy-heart-love parenting teens. They’re spectacular! They’re inquisitive! They’re deep thinkers!

And they’re a joy to be around.

Parenting teens is not without its challenges, but what in life is?

Joey Mascio has been an actor and a middle school teacher, not much difference there. :)

Today he joins us to inspire us to be our teens' mentors, not a villain, and I know your mind will be challenged (in a good way). We discuss:

• Why parents and teens have such trouble understanding each other (spoiler: it’s not the teen’s fault)
• Whether parenting was more difficult for our parents or now, and one (reversible) reason WHY that’s so
• The way you’ll talk to your teen once you start thinking about your teen the right way
• Why teens have trouble starting conversations
• The 3 things teens NEED to be successful (and how parents can use those elements to do better at our job and build our teens' confidence)
• How teens can go from a sidekick mentality to a hero mentality
• The importance of failure and telling our own imperfect stories

I feel like that only scratches the surface - if you’re a parent of a teen or will be someday, get the foundations right with the strategies in this interview!

Resources We Mention for Mentoring Teens

• Register for free for #LifeSkillsNow Summer Camp Season 3!
• Helping kids thrive in spite of screens
• Helping teens build a healthy relationship with screens
• Find Joey online
• Follow him on Instagram
• Get a free month of his app: Sidekick to Hero

Visit raisinghealthyfamilies.com/teens to get on the waitlist for Teens Cook Real Food!

Get your four free life skills workshops now!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
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• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!