This Is So Awkward

Latest Episodes:

How to Teach Kids About Puberty May 13, 2025

Show notes

Teaching kids about their changing bodies is as much about the delivery as it is about the content. Kids thrive when information is delivered with joy in authentic and interactive ways, honoring their natural curiosity and quest for knowledge. Enter Melissa Pintor Carnagey founder of Sex Positive Families and author of the new book for kids Growing Into You.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns

Head to phyla.com and use code PUBERTY for 25% off your first order

Get 15% off, plus free shipping on your first set of sheets, at BollAndBranch.com slash AWKWARD.

New customers can enjoy this special offer of only $1.99 a meal at Everyplate. Go to everyplate.com/podcast and use code AWKWARD199 to get started.

Download the FREE Playbook for Getting Your Kid to Talk

Order our book This Is So Awkward

Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com

To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com

To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com

Watch the full episode on Youtube!

Produced by Peoples Media

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Healthy Relationship Info We Wish We Had Been Taught May 09, 2025

Show notes

Educating kids about healthy relationships is a modern phenomenon we can get behind. It makes us cringe to look back on the harmful relationship, sex, and gender tropes we were taught back in the day. This episode takes that hindsight and flips it, offering tools to help kids build their own healthy relationships.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns

Head to phyla.com and use code PUBERTY for 25% off your first order

Get 15% off, plus free shipping on your first set of sheets, at BollAndBranch.com slash AWKWARD.

New customers can enjoy this special offer of only $1.99 a meal at Everyplate. Go to everyplate.com/podcast and use code AWKWARD199 to get started.

Download the FREE Playbook for Getting Your Kid to Talk

Order our book This Is So Awkward

Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com

To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com

To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com

Watch the full episode on Youtube!

Produced by Peoples Media

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Family Dynamics with Susan Dominus May 06, 2025

Show notes

There is no secret sauce to raising successful children, but it sure is fascinating to understand some of the elements that result in a family filled with high-achieving siblings. And it raises lots of important questions, too, like: What even is success? When are the sacrifices to reach goals too great? And what do parents ultimately want for their children? New York Times writer and author of The Family Dynamic, Susan Dominus, helps us dive into all these complicated questions.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns

Head to phyla.com and use code PUBERTY for 25% off your first order

Get 15% off, plus free shipping on your first set of sheets, at BollAndBranch.com slash AWKWARD.

New customers can enjoy this special offer of only $1.99 a meal at Everyplate. Go to everyplate.com/podcast and use code AWKWARD199 to get started.

Download the FREE Playbook for Getting Your Kid to Talk

Order our book This Is So Awkward

Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com

To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com

To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com

Watch the full episode on Youtube!

Produced by Peoples Media

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Moving on from the Pediatrician May 02, 2025

Show notes

We’ve lost track of how many times we get asked when to move on from pediatric care. Some people ask because of personality – usually a clash between parents and doctors – but mostly they ask because they know there’s a time for kids to move on to adult practitioners, they just don’t understand when. In this episode we share details around how pediatric care is different from adult care, why people might stay with their pediatrician a little longer than anticipated, the list of clear reasons why you really should move on, and much more.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns

Head to phyla.com and use code PUBERTY for 25% off your first order

Visit equip.health/AWKWARD to get a free consultation from Equip

Download the FREE Playbook for Getting Your Kid to Talk

Order our book This Is So Awkward

Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com

To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com

To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com

Watch the full episode on Youtube!

Produced by Peoples Media

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We MUST Talk to Kids About Fentanyl. Here’s How Apr 29, 2025

Show notes

Fentanyl is a truly terrifying drug because even a tiny amount can be deadly. When fentanyl is added to illicit drugs (like cocaine) and counterfeit prescription “medications” (xanax purchased online, for instance), unknowing users can ingest tiny – but fatal – doses. Listen to the expert advice of Marcia Lee Taylor, strategy advisor to Song for Charlie and the former President and CEO of the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids. She explains not just how fentanyl gets into the drug supply and how it affects the body, but also how to talk about it in ways your kids can hear.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns

Head to phyla.com and use code PUBERTY for 25% off your first order

Song for Charlie

Signs of an Overdose

Download the FREE Playbook for Getting Your Kid to Talk

Order our book This Is So Awkward

Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com

To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com

To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com

Watch the full episode on Youtube!

Produced by Peoples Media

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Prom, Grad Night, and All the End-of-Year Celebrations Apr 25, 2025

Show notes

April, May, and June are packed with big (and small) celebratory events. While these rites of passage often build wonderful memories, they’re not without complications. This episode offers lots of ways to get ahead of any worries about safety, how to navigate complex family dynamics, and ways to manage our own big emotions. All of this helps us have the important conversations our kids need.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns

Head to phyla.com and use code PUBERTY for 25% off your first order

Download the FREE Playbook for Getting Your Kid to Talk

Order our book This Is So Awkward

Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com

To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com

To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com

Watch the full episode on Youtube!

Produced by Peoples Media

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

ADHD, Hormones + the Adolescent Brain Apr 22, 2025

Show notes

Thanks to hormones and rapid brain development, tweens and teens can be explosive, make impulsive decisions, or struggle to get organized. Layer on top of that a brain with ADHD and the picture looks even more complex. To illuminate the interplay of the neurobiological factors of ADHD and puberty is clinical neuropsychologist Karen Wilson, PhD.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns

Head to phyla.com and use code PUBERTY for 25% off your first order

Visit equip.health/AWKWARD to get a free consultation from Equip

Understood.org

Download the FREE Playbook for Getting Your Kid to Talk

Order our book This Is So Awkward

Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com

To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com

To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com

Watch the full episode on Youtube!

Produced by Peoples Media

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Far-Reaching Impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Apr 18, 2025

Show notes

A set of challenges called ACEs – short for Adverse Childhood Experiences – tether directly to all sorts of physical and emotional consequences. These stressors range from violence to food insecurity to natural disasters, outcomes backed by 30 years of research. We’ll explain how, even though the ACEs create their own downstream issues, these aren’t inevitable.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns

Head to phyla.com and use code PUBERTY for 25% off your first order

Visit equip.health/AWKWARD to get a free consultation from Equip

CDC on ACES

Cleveland Clinic on ACES

Download the FREE Playbook for Getting Your Kid to Talk

Order our book This Is So Awkward

Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com

To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com

To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com

Watch the full episode on Youtube!

Produced by Peoples Media

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

ADHD + Teen Relationships with Dr. Ari Tuckman Apr 15, 2025

Show notes

At long last! An episode dedicated to how ADHD can impact tweens + teens relationships, romantic lives, and sexual behaviors.Dr. Ari Tuckman 25 years’ working with kids and adults who have ADHD provides a deep understanding of the ways their social interactions can be affected by their differently wired brains.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns

Head to phyla.com and use code PUBERTY for 25% off your first order

Visit equip.health/AWKWARD to get a free consultation from Equip

understood.org

Download the FREE Playbook for Getting Your Kid to Talk

Order our book This Is So Awkward

Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com

To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com

To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com

Watch the full episode on Youtube!

Produced by Peoples Media

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How to Talk About How Babies are Made Apr 11, 2025

Show notes

When it comes to educating kids about sex, reproduction, and all the rest, there’s lots of information out there. What there doesn’t seem to be is a wealth of information about – at least for younger kids on the front end of this learning curve – is a ton of accessible information about the different ways babies can be made. A mom reached out after we spoke at her school, explaining that she used an egg donor and hasn’t talked to her kid about it yet. She’s searched for resources, but can’t find any age-appropriate ones. So, voila! We did a podcast about it.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Go to Quince.com/awkward for free shipping and 365-day returns

Head to phyla.com and use code PUBERTY for 25% off your first order

Visit equip.health/AWKWARD to get a free consultation from Equip

Download the FREE Playbook for Getting Your Kid to Talk

Order our book This Is So Awkward

Check out all our speaking and curriculum at www.lessawkward.com and our super comfy products at www.myoomla.com

To bring us to your school or community email operations@lessawkward.com

To submit listener questions email podcast@lessawkward.com

Watch the full episode on Youtube!

Produced by Peoples Media