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Kids & Family

The In-Between Years with Dr. Sheryl

The In-Between Years with Dr. Sheryl is a podcast from Good Inside for parents or adults raising, caring for, or loving a tween or teen. Hosted by clinical psychologist and mom of three Dr. Sheryl Ziegler, this show explores what’s really happening during this intense and transformative stage of life — from big emotions and shifting friendships to dating, academic pressure, social media, identity, and body changes. Each episode slows things down and looks beneath the surface so you can respond instead of react — because your kid may be growing up, but that doesn’t mean they need you less. They need you differently.

**About Good Inside**
Good Inside helps parents raise confident, resilient kids. Founded by clinical psychologist and mom of three Dr. Becky, our unique approach helps families solve current challenges, and get ahead of future ones, by focusing on the child behind the behavior and the parent behind the parenting.

With an app, workshops, podcast, books, and GiGi — a proprietary chatbot trained in the Good Inside approach — members have 24/7 access to personalized, practical support for every age and stage of parenting. No question is too specific, no scenario too tricky to untangle. It’s real, sturdy guidance parents can lean on in the moment, helping them feel capable, grounded, and never alone.

goodinside.com

Latest Episodes:

Your Teenager Still Wants to Help You, They're Just Waiting to Be Asked Sep 30, 2026

Show notes

Michaeleen Doucleff is a science journalist. Which only partly explains why, a few years ago, she packed up her four-year-old and moved in with a Maya family in the Yucatan, an Inuit family in the Arctic, and a group of Hadza hunter-gatherers in Tanzania. She wanted to know why kids in those cultures grow up more capable, less anxious - and honestly, easier to live with - than ours. T

She wrote a NYT bestselling book about the experience, and what she learned, called Hunt, Gather, Parent.

The book mostly addresses the parenting of toddlers and young children, so Dr. Sheryl wanted to ask Dr. Doucleff whether and how any of this holds up when your kid is seventeen, driving your car, and rolling their eyes at you from across the kitchen?

They get into why an eye roll might be a better sign than you think. Why kids are wired to want to help long before we start assigning them chores. What actually happens to a kid's motivation the second you say "good job." And the difference between raising a kid who does the dishes and raising one who feels like a real, needed part of the family, at any age.

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Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Yoto: Get 15% off your order with the code DRSHERYL15 at YotoPlay.com. New customers only, ends October 31, offer valid on select products only. Terms apply.
Frida: Shop Frida for Kids at Walmart and Amazon today

Good Inside’s Dr. Becky and Dr. Sheryl have a new show on YouTube - Teens & Screens, a bi-weekly video series helping parents navigate today's biggest technology questions. Watch the first episode on youtube.com/@goodinside.

Follow Dr. Sheryl on Instagram

Learn more about Good Inside

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Who Are You When You're Not Someone's Mom? Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

Gretchen Rubin has done this twice: watched one daughter leave for college, and now she's doing it again with her younger one, no sibling left behind to soften the landing. The happiness researcher and #1 New York Times bestselling author joins Dr. Sheryl to make her case for retiring "empty nest" in favor of a phrase she's convinced changes what parents actually do next: open door. They get into what predicts a hard transition, why growth is the real engine of happiness, the line between a friendly acquaintance and an actual friend, and the one piece of advice Gretchen keeps coming back to: come back to yourself. If your house is about to get quieter, or already has, this one's for you.

Looking for more support in the in-between years of parenting? Good Inside Teen gives you practical tools, scripts, and expert guidance for the moments that can feel most overwhelming with tweens and teens.

Thank you to Frida for making this episode possible! Shop Frida for Kids at Walmart and Amazon today.

Follow Dr. Sheryl on Instagram

Learn more about Good Inside

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Gloria Steinem's Message to Parents: Raise Your Sons Like Your Daughters Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

Gloria Steinem died this month at 92. Just a few weeks before she did, she sat down at home with Dr. Becky and repeated something she’s been saying for fifty years: we've raised our daughters to be more like sons, but not our sons to be more like daughters. Dr. Sheryl was also in Gloria’s living room that night, and she introduces this rare conversation about what it means for the boys and girls we're raising right now.

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Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Yoto: Get 15% off your order with the code DRSHERYL15 at YotoPlay.com. New customers only, ends October 31, offer valid on select products only. Terms apply.
Frida: Shop Frida for Kids at Walmart and Amazon today

Follow Dr. Sheryl on Instagram

Learn more about Good Inside

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Your Kid Doesn't Need Fixing. They Need Witnessing. Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

Somewhere around 12 or 13, most kids make a quiet decision about themselves: that they're likable, or too much, that they belong, or that they're better off not needing anyone. It usually happens over something small, like a friend who stopped texting back.

Psychologist Dr. Marisa Franco, author of Worth (and Platonic), sits down with Dr. Sheryl to talk about what's actually happening in that decision and what it takes to undo it. Dr. Franco breaks down the real difference between self-esteem and self-worth: one kind of high self-esteem pushes shame away and gets defensive the moment it surfaces, the other lets it in. Only one of them, her research suggests, actually predicts good relationships.

They get into why telling a kid "you're so great" can backfire (it can feel like being armored up for a harder fall), why unprocessed memories don't just record the past, they predict the future, and what to do instead: slow down, get curious, and let your kid feel witnessed instead of fixed. Dr. Franco also talks about her own therapy, why she now calls herself "secure-ish," and the phrase Dr. Sheryl coins mid-conversation that sums up the whole episode: confess to yourself first.

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Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Yoto: Get 15% off your order with the code DRSHERYL15 at YotoPlay.com. New customers only, ends October 31, offer valid on select products only. Terms apply.
Frida: Shop Frida for Kids at Walmart and Amazon today

Good Inside’s Dr. Becky and Dr. Sheryl have a new show on YouTube - Teens & Screens, a bi-weekly video series helping parents navigate today's biggest technology questions. Watch on youtube.com/@goodinside.

Follow Dr. Sheryl on Instagram

Learn more about Good Inside

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Play First, Ask Later: A Play Therapist on Getting Tweens to Actually Cooperate Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

Somewhere around 11, your kid stops playing “the floor is lava” with you. A lot of parents quietly stop trying to connect that way and never start again.

Dr. Kim Van Dusen isn't buying it. She's spent almost 25 years studying play, she's a licensed marriage and family therapist and registered play therapist, and she just wrote a book called Parenting Through Play. She's also a mom to a 12-year-old and a 9-year-old, so she's living the tween years right now, right alongside everyone listening.

In this conversation, Dr. Kim and Dr. Sheryl talk through what play actually looks like once your kid is too old for dolls and too self-conscious for a dance party. Kim explains why her daughter has a code emoji (a donut, specifically) that means "come get me, something's wrong," and why gamifying chores works better than any lecture. There's a story about a family chore race that gets done in 30 minutes flat, no bribe, no reward, just a timer and a little competition.

The idea underneath all of it: play isn't a reward you dole out after the hard stuff is done. Put it first, and the power struggles start to disappear.

If your "easy" kid has gone quiet on you, or your house has stopped feeling playful and you're not sure how it happened, this one's for you.

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Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Yoto: Get 15% off your order with the code DRSHERYL15 at YotoPlay.com. New customers only, ends October 31, offer valid on select products only. Terms apply.
Girl Scouts: If you have a daughter in kindergarten through 12th grade, visit girlscouts.org to learn more
Frida: Shop Frida for Kids at Walmart and Amazon today

Good Inside’s Dr. Becky and Dr. Sheryl have a new show on YouTube - Teens & Screens, a bi-weekly video series helping parents navigate today's biggest technology questions. Watch the series on youtube.com/@goodinside.

Follow Dr. Sheryl on Instagram

Learn more about Good Inside

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The New Puberty Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

Puberty is starting earlier—and for many parents, it’s arriving before they or their kids feel ready. In this episode, Dr. Becky sits down with Dr. Sheryl to unpack why puberty today looks so different for our kids than it did for us—and what caregivers can do to support them through it.

Together, they explore the emotional and physical shifts that are arriving sooner than expected, the impact of today’s culture on tweens, and practical tools for navigating this new stage with connection, clarity, and compassion.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Yoto: Get 15% off your order with the code DRSHERYL15 at YotoPlay.com. New customers only, ends October 31, offer valid on select products only. Terms apply.
Girl Scouts: If you have a daughter in kindergarten through 12th grade, visit girlscouts.org to learn more
Frida: Shop Frida for Kids at Walmart and Amazon today

Good Inside’s Dr. Becky and Dr. Sheryl have a new show on YouTube - Teens & Screens, a bi-weekly video series helping parents navigate today's biggest technology questions. Watch on youtube.com/@goodinside.

Follow Dr. Sheryl on Instagram

Learn more about Good Inside

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dr. Sheryl's College Drop-off Confessional Aug 19, 2026

Show notes

Two days before her daughter and oldest child leaves for college, Dr. Sheryl hits record and doesn't clean it up: the grief and the relief showing up in the same moment, the packing-list control spiral, the "boring on purpose" plan for the last 48 hours, and the line she's repeated to a thousand parents that suddenly means something different from the other side of the experience.

If you're in your own version of this countdown — bins taped up, closet half empty, a text you're waiting on — this episode is for you.

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Back to school brings big changes - new routines, new teachers, new challenges. Our Back To School program helps you prepare for day one, navigate tricky moments, and build your kid's resilience.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Yoto: Get 15% off your order with the code DRSHERYL15 at YotoPlay.com. New customers only, ends October 31, offer valid on select products only. Terms apply.
Girl Scouts: If you have a daughter in kindergarten through 12th grade, visit girlscouts.org to learn more

Good Inside’s Dr. Becky and Dr. Sheryl have a new show on YouTube - Teens & Screens, a bi-weekly video series helping parents navigate today's biggest technology questions. Watch the first episode on youtube.com/@goodinside.

Follow Dr. Sheryl on Instagram

Learn more about Good Inside

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When Your Kid Says "I'm Ugly," Here's What to Actually Say Aug 12, 2026

Show notes

Somewhere around 9 or 10, your kid starts watching their own body: how it looks, how it compares, whether it's keeping up. And most of us freeze, because nobody handed us a script for that moment.

Dr. Sheryl sits down with pediatrician Dr. Whitney Casares, author of My One of a Kind Body and the new Raising Body Confident Kids, for a conversation every parent of a tween needs. They get specific: the exact three-step self-compassion script Whitney uses when her own daughter climbs in the car saying "I'm ugly, look at my skin." Why "you're so beautiful" is the wrong reflex. How diet culture went from Special K commercials to an algorithm that feeds your kid more of it every scroll, and how Whitney quietly resets that algorithm behind the scenes. What to say when a grandparent comments on your kid's body at the dinner table. And the smallest, most doable practice for parents carrying their own body baggage: slowing down for one minute.

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Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Girl Scouts: If you have a daughter in kindergarten through 12th grade, visit girlscouts.org to learn more
Frida: Shop Frida for Kids at Walmart and Amazon today

Good Inside’s Dr. Becky and Dr. Sheryl have a new show on YouTube - Teens & Screens, a bi-weekly video series helping parents navigate today's biggest technology questions. Watch the first episode on youtube.com/@goodinside.

Follow Dr. Sheryl on Instagram

Learn more about Good Inside

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Your Kid Isn't Lazy. Their Brain Is Wired for Momentum. | Dr. Alex Reed on ADHD in the Teen Years Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

Middle school strips away the training wheels. Elementary school's one teacher becomes six. The hand-holding disappears. For a kid with ADHD, that's when a lot of quiet fear starts, both theirs and their parents'.

Sheryl sits down with Dr. Alex Reed, a clinical psychologist specializing in neurodevelopment, to talk about what ADHD actually looks like as kids move into the teen years, and why so many of them fall through the cracks. They get into the three ADHD subtypes, why hyperfocus (yes, the same kid who can't sit still for homework but plays video games for four hours straight) is actually a strength you can work with instead of against, and "body doubling," an evidence-based strategy that makes starting a hard task dramatically easier just by having someone do it alongside you.

They also get into who gets missed: girls who mask their struggle by overachieving until they burn out, and kids of color who are far more likely to be disciplined for the same behavior their white peers get evaluated for.

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Looking for more support in the in-between years of parenting? Good Inside Teen gives you practical tools, scripts, and expert guidance for the moments that can feel most overwhelming with tweens and teens.

Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Girl Scouts: If you have a daughter in kindergarten through 12th grade, visit girlscouts.org to learn more
Frida: Shop Frida for Kids at Walmart and Amazon today

Good Inside’s Dr. Becky and Dr. Sheryl have a new show on YouTube - Teens & Screens, a bi-weekly video series helping parents navigate today's biggest technology questions. Watch the first episode on youtube.com/@goodinside.

Follow Dr. Sheryl on Instagram

Learn more about Good Inside

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Middle School Isn't a Problem to Solve, It's a Skill Being Built Jul 29, 2026

Show notes

Phyllis Fagell has spent years inside a middle school as a counselor, and she's here to make the case that the silence, the friend-group churn, and the sudden need for privacy aren't warning signs. They're the work of growing up. Dr. Sheryl and Phyllis talk through why middle schoolers pull away from their parents (and why it's not rejection), the real numbers on how often friendships shift during these years, and the "superpowers," belonging, security, self-regulation, that actually predict resilience. Also: why the popular kids aren't as happy as you'd think.

Looking for more support in the in-between years of parenting? Good Inside Teen gives you practical tools, scripts, and expert guidance for the moments that can feel most overwhelming with tweens and teens.

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Thank you to our partners for making this episode possible:

Girl Scouts: If you have a daughter in kindergarten through 12th grade, visit girlscouts.org to learn more

Good Inside’s Dr. Becky and Dr. Sheryl have a new show on YouTube - Teens & Screens, a bi-weekly video series helping parents navigate today's biggest technology questions. Watch the first episode on youtube.com/@goodinside.

Follow Dr. Sheryl on Instagram

Learn more about Good Inside

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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