Feeding The Mouth That Bites You: Parenting Teens Into Adulthood
Kenneth Wilgus, Cynthia Yanof
A weekly podcast on parenting teens and launching them into the world. Hosted by Cynthia Yanof with Dr. Ken Wilgus, author of the book "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You."
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 22, 2024 • 22min
Episode 187: When Planned Emancipation Doesn't Work
Parents some times complain that they "tried" planned emancipation and it "didn't work." Today we talk about the common reasons for planned emancipation not seeming to have the impact parents expected. This is all covered in the new edition of "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You."
You can preorder Dr. Ken's book "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You" here: https://a.co/d/hBnlbzI
Got questions or feedback? We want to hear from you!
podcast@feedingthemouth.com
Music provided by the great John David Kent - https://www.johndavidkent.com/
Oct 15, 2024 • 28min
Episode 186: Planned Emancipation - Second Edition
As we prepare for the release of the second edition of "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You," Jessica and Dr. Ken talk about the power of planned emancipation. This method is often mistaken for the practice of rewarding children's good behavior with more privileges. Planned emancipation, by contrast, recognizes the greater freedom that comes with just getting older. Parents who fearfully try to hang on to control end up weakening their influence on their adolescents.
You can preorder Dr. Ken's book "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You" here: https://a.co/d/hBnlbzI
Got questions or feedback? We want to hear from you!
podcast@feedingthemouth.com
Music provided by the great John David Kent - https://www.johndavidkent.com/
Oct 8, 2024 • 18min
Episode 185: Teaching Parents To Release The Burden of Parenting
In the second edition of "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You," Dr. Ken explains why he added an entire chapter on the issue of burdened parents. We discuss the difficulty of providing information for parents while avoiding the appearance of having an "inside scoop" to guarantee happy, successful teenagers.
You can preorder Dr. Ken's book "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You" here: https://a.co/d/hBnlbzI
Got questions or feedback? We want to hear from you!
podcast@feedingthemouth.com
Music provided by the great John David Kent - https://www.johndavidkent.com/
Oct 1, 2024 • 20min
Episode 184: Refocusing On Individuation - The Main Thing To Know About Teenagers
We're getting ready for the release of "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You" second edition. This gives Jessica and Dr. Ken the chance to clarify the most important themes that are unique to this approach to parenting adolescents. Today we review individuation which is the most important need that adolescents have by far. This need is so important that Dr. Ken even worries that if your teen doesn't seem to be pushing for autonomy that's not a good thing at all. Also, we take on common misperceptions like individuation is "just like when they were a 2 year old." WRONG!
You can preorder Dr. Ken's book "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You" here: https://a.co/d/hBnlbzI
Got questions or feedback? We want to hear from you!
podcast@feedingthemouth.com
Music provided by the great John David Kent - https://www.johndavidkent.com/
Sep 24, 2024 • 26min
Episode 183: When Parents Are Suffering
This was a tough episode. When parents are struggling with serious illness or other types of suffering, how should they handle their adolescent kids? Jessica talks about her own, recent diagnosis of multiple myeloma cancer and how it has impacted her adolescent and adult children. Dr. Ken talks about his wife's cancer battle 20 years ago when their children were young. There's a significant difference in how parents should deal with their kids when they are young vs. adolescents. In suffering, parents truly show their faith.
You can preorder Dr. Ken's book "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You" here: https://a.co/d/hBnlbzI
Got questions or feedback? We want to hear from you!
podcast@feedingthemouth.com
Music provided by the great John David Kent - https://www.johndavidkent.com/
Sep 17, 2024 • 26min
Episode 182: Inside Out 2
Today we talk about Pixar's big summer movie "Inside Out 2" in which the star, Riley, becomes a teenager. Although a really funny movie, Dr. Ken had a fair amount to complain about how we think about the inner life of teenagers. Jessica enjoyed it and so did her 13 year old daughter. Maybe Dr. Ken is just being a curmudgeon. You decide!
You can preorder Dr. Ken's book "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You" here: https://a.co/d/hBnlbzI
Got questions or feedback? We want to hear from you!
podcast@feedingthemouth.com
Music provided by the great John David Kent - https://www.johndavidkent.com/
Sep 10, 2024 • 31min
Episode 181: "The Anxious Generation"
Today we talk about Jonathan Haidt's new book, "The Anxious Generation." He is a social psychologist and co-author of the book "The Coddling Of The American Mind." This new book reviews massive amounts of research and delivers what Dr. Ken thinks is a "slam dunk" answer to the debate about whether smartphones are damaging to the lives of children and adolescents. We discuss the concerning data and how smartphones, social media and pornography have contributed to significant increases in adolescent levels of anxiety and depression. As you can guess, we also talk about effective ways to delay and limit smartphone access while still inviting your teenager into the discussion and maintaining a path to autonomy.
You can get "The Anxious Generation" book here: https://a.co/d/gvfk0JY
You can preorder Dr. Ken's book "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You" here: https://a.co/d/hBnlbzI
Got questions or feedback? We want to hear from you!
podcast@feedingthemouth.com
Music provided by the great John David Kent - https://www.johndavidkent.com/
Sep 3, 2024 • 35min
Episode 180: The Big Announcement: The Revised and Expanded, 2nd Edition of the Feeding Book Is Here!
The second edition of the "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You" book will drop on November 5th! Dr. Ken finally finished the work of updating and expanding the Planned Emancipation message. Listeners of this podcast will recognize the new material covered in the book since they are many of the topics we talked about on this podcast over that past four seasons including:
- anxiety and depression
- ADHD, Autism-spectrum disorders and neurodiversity
- brain science and trauma
- sexuality and gender identity
- single parents
- divorce and blended families
- adoption
- adult children at home
- grandparents and teenagers
Today we review how the new book is laid out and the new topics this second edition will cover. Of course, this new edition lays out the basic understanding of transitioning adolescents into full adulthood and all the "how-to's" that parents have relied on since publication of the first book.
We're glad to be back and are getting fired up about "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You" second edition!
Pre-order the book here: https://a.co/d/77bAlpm
Got questions or feedback? We want to hear from you!
podcast@feedingthemouth.com
Music provided by the great John David Kent - https://www.johndavidkent.com/
May 28, 2024 • 3min
Episode 179: We're Going On Break Plus A BIG Announcement!
We're taking the summer off after our fourth season! Plus... Dr. Ken has a big announcement that will interest all "Feeding The Mouth" parents when we get back. See you in the fall!
May 21, 2024 • 25min
Episode 178: Bad Therapy - Part Two
Today we finish up our discussion of Abigail Shrier's book, "Bad Therapy." We take on her more wide-ranging critiques of psychotherapy's influence on schools and parenting. Are schools overstepping when they start monitoring the mental health of their students? When did parenting become a specialized technique for the psychologically trained few. When did parents lose confidence in simply raising their children the same way their parents raised them? We take on these and other issues related to Abigail Shrier's book, "Bad Therapy."
Ms. Shrier's book can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CK524HQ7/
Got questions or feedback? We want to hear from you!
podcast@feedingthemouth.com
Get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1514762374/
Music provided by the great John David Kent - https://www.johndavidkent.com/


