This Is So Awkward

Latest Episodes:

Back to School Battles Aug 26, 2025

Show notes

Moving from summer mode into school gear is a tricky transition for everyone – kids and adults. Predictable battles arise over tech use, clothing choices, and summer reading (for starters… we could go on and on!). This episode offers some simple strategies to avoid a bumpy start to the academic year. Alleviate the solvable stressors to make BTS a little more fun!

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Get your Alloy prescription today. Visit https://myalloy.com/SOAWKWARD today for $20 off your first order!

Head to http://lumen.me/AWKWARD for 10% off your purchase.

Go to Quince.com/AWKWARD for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns.

Go to everyplate.com/podcast and use code AWKWARD199 to get started.

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

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

Social Media and the Law Aug 22, 2025

Show notes

Tech, social media, and the law intersect in ever-evolving and highly confusing ways. Rules vary from state-to-state, without any consistent age gate. This leaves minors – and the adults who care about them – unclear about what is and isn’t legal. On topics like child pornography, sexting, sextortion, and revenge porn, Kaitlin Andrews, family lawyer and educator from the Schools Consent Project, offers guidance on where the law is clear, where we’re still looking for clarity, and what to do while the ground shifts under our feet.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

FBI resources on teen sextortion, Contact your local FBI field office, call 1-800-CALL-FBI, or report it online at tips.fbi.gov.

Schools Consent Project

Get your Alloy prescription today. Visit https://myalloy.com/SOAWKWARD today for $20 off your first order!

Head to http://lumen.me/AWKWARD for 10% off your purchase.

Go to Quince.com/AWKWARD for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns.

Go to everyplate.com/podcast and use code AWKWARD199 to get started.

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

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

Normalizing Conversations About Difficult Topics Aug 19, 2025

Show notes

Most of us would prefer to avoid conversations about big, hard topics with the kids in our lives. But we also know how critical it is for us to talk to them about uncomfortable things like sexual assault, miscarriage, and mental health struggles. Which is why we’re so happy to know Jessica Zucker, author of Normalize It, a psychologist, and a parent. She gracefully navigates the tricky balance of educating kids about the difficult issues without dumping our own baggage on them. TW: this episode contains conversation aboutmiscarriage and sexual assault.

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

Stretch Marks, Keloids, and Ingrown Hairs! Aug 15, 2025

Show notes

The skin erupts with surprises across the tween and teen years… and it’s not all acne! Stretchmarks happen when bodies grow out or up quickly. Keloids are 3-D scars. Ingrown hairs aren’t permanent like the other two, but they still present their own challenges and stressors. We dig into what causes each of these skin challenges and what (if anything) can be done about them.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Get your Alloy prescription today. Visit https://myalloy.com/SOAWKWARD today for $20 off your first order!

Head to http://lumen.me/AWKWARD for 10% off your purchase.

Go to Quince.com/AWKWARD for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns.

Go to everyplate.com/podcast and use code AWKWARD199 to get started.

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

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

When Kids Leave the Nest Aug 12, 2025

Show notes

It’s simultaneously wonderful and worrying to launch a kid. The most common denominator question is a version of this: Are they going to be ok when they leave us? We hope – and wonder – if we’ve taught them enough to be out in the world. Christina Geist spent her oldest child’s senior year of high school compiling those life lessons in Before You Fly Away. Her musings are as heartfelt as they are practical, whether you have a child who is about to fly the nest, one who flew away long ago, or one so young you can hardly imagine that stage of life.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Get your Alloy prescription today. Visit https://myalloy.com/SOAWKWARD today for $20 off your first order!

Head to http://lumen.me/AWKWARD for 10% off your purchase.

Go to Quince.com/AWKWARD for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns.

Go to everyplate.com/podcast and use code AWKWARD199 to get started.

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

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

Before You Fly Away: Life Lessons From Home

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

Consequences + Discipline with Dr. Tina Payne Bryson Aug 08, 2025

Show notes

We are rereleasing one of our most popular episodes addressing one of the biggest challenges for caregivers: How do we discipline kids with the goal of teaching them how to do better next time? Tina Payne Bryson, psychotherapist and our personal guru, gives us a clear and empathic pathway to instituting consequences in our families.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Get your Alloy prescription today. Visit https://myalloy.com/SOAWKWARD today for $20 off your first order!

Head to http://lumen.me/AWKWARD for 10% off your purchase.

Go to Quince.com/AWKWARD for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns.

Go to everyplate.com/podcast and use code AWKWARD199 to get started.

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

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

Our Kids Know More + Less Than We Think Aug 05, 2025

Show notes

It can be really hard to gauge what tweens + teens actually know about the biggest ticket topics. That’s because, in this age of information, they are pummeled with “facts” about sex, drugs, alcohol, nutrition, wellness, and so much more. It can seem like they have encyclopedic knowledge sometimes… until you get past the confident tone and actually listen to what they are saying. This episode will make you feel less alone (you are not the only one who has been dumbfounded by an adolescent!) and help you help them sort fact from fiction.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Get your Alloy prescription today. Visit https://myalloy.com/SOAWKWARD today for $20 off your first order!

Head to http://lumen.me/AWKWARD for 10% off your purchase.

Go to Quince.com/AWKWARD for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns.

Go to everyplate.com/podcast and use code AWKWARD199 to get started.

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

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

Leaving Our Baggage at the Door Aug 01, 2025

Show notes

In this Season 1 re-release: Our own puberty stories are seared into our brains and the temptation is to share those experiences, the good and the bad, with the kids in our lives. Except, kids need to have their own puberty journeys without carrying our puberty baggage on their shoulders. Adults need to find their own trusted adults with whom to share these memories and Cara and Vanessa do just that in this episode.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Get your Alloy prescription today. Visit https://myalloy.com/SOAWKWARD today for $20 off your first order!

Head to http://lumen.me/AWKWARD for 10% off your purchase.

Go to Quince.com/AWKWARD for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns.

Go to everyplate.com/podcast and use code AWKWARD199 to get started.

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

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

When We Care and They Don't Jul 29, 2025

Show notes

Parents know better, right? Maybe. While we may have brains mature enough to anticipate what’s coming down the road 5, 10, 20 years from now (and the lived experiences to back it up), we can’t force our kids to care about the things we deem important. This power struggle occurs throughout the tween + teen years, on everything from minor issues like wearing deodorant to major tensions like grades or substance use. How can we adults learn to manage our own feelings while simultaneously finding ways to inspire our kids? This hilarious and personal episode is packed with that advice.

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Get your Alloy prescription today. Visit https://myalloy.com/SOAWKWARD today for $20 off your first order!

Head to http://lumen.me/AWKWARD for 10% off your purchase.

Go to Quince.com/AWKWARD for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns.

Go to everyplate.com/podcast and use code AWKWARD199 to get started.

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

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

Parenting the Emotional Roller Coaster with Dr. Aliza Pressman Jul 25, 2025

Show notes

We’re rereleasing one of the very first episodes we ever recorded because it’s also one of the best. Developmental psychologist, Dr. Aliza Pressman, joins us to discuss the ways to respond to the emotional ups and downs of parenting adolescents. Aliza’s practical and actionable advice boils down to this: What’s going on for our kids and how can we meet them in a kind and constructive way?

Show Notes:

Join our LESS AWKWARD ESSENTIALS

Get your Alloy prescription today. Visit https://myalloy.com/SOAWKWARD today for $20 off your first order!

Head to http://lumen.me/AWKWARD for 10% off your purchase.

Go to Quince.com/AWKWARD for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty-five -day returns.

Go to everyplate.com/podcast and use code AWKWARD199 to get started.

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

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