Parenting Teenagers Untangled

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Are smartphones and social media really damaging our teenagers’ mental health – or are we looking in the wrong place? In this episode, Rachel Richards talks with Professor Candice Odgers, a leading expert on adolescent mental health in the digital age, to unpack what decades of research actually show about teens, tech and wellbeing.
We explore why today’s teenagers are doing better than many headlines suggest, the real size of the link between phones, social media, anxiety and depression, and why offline risks are the biggest predictors of online problems. Candice explains how family stress, academic pressure, inequality, climate anxiety and adult mental health all play a powerful role in teen distress – and why focusing all our fear on phones can distract us from where we can genuinely make a difference.
You’ll hear practical guidance on monitoring vs. connection, how to talk with teens about their online lives without pushing them away, what “ready for a phone” really means, and how social media affects girls and body image. If you feel overwhelmed by scary stories about screens, this conversation will help you move from panic to evidence‑based, compassionate parenting.
Candice Odgers  via her website or on Substack
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Please don't hesitate to seek the advice of a specialist if you're not coping. There's no shame in reaching out for support. When you look after yourself your entire family benefits.
Find all the tips from the episdoe on Substack: 
My email teenagersuntangled@gmail.com
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As a teenager, I grew up in a home with almost no routines. No one talked about what needed to happen when, and I remember constantly thinking, “What am I supposed to do now?” Life felt like reinventing the wheel every day. I didn’t feel safe, and I felt a lot of energy went into trying to cope in the chaos.
Now, as a parent and host of Teenagers Untangled, I’ve come to see routines not as dreary box‑ticking exercises, but as powerful tools for connection, calm, and joy. In this Wonder Room conversation, I sat down with teacher and parent Katharine Radice to explore how routines, habits, and rituals can serve our teenagers—and us.
You can find all of the notes and recommendations made in this bonus episode by clicking here:
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Please hit the follow button if you like the podcast, and share it with anyone who might benefit. 
You can review us on Apple podcasts by going to the show page, scrolling down to the bottom where you can click on a star then you can leave your message. 
Please don't hesitate to seek the advice of a specialist if you're not coping. There's no shame in reaching out for support. When you look after yourself your entire family benefits.
Find all the tips from the episdoe on Substack: 
My email teenagersuntangled@gmail.com
My website has a blog, searchable episodes, and ways to contact me
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If your teenage daughter says, “I have anxiety,” “my ADHD was out of control today,” or calls a friend “toxic,” it can feel both strangely sophisticated and oddly shallow at the same time. She has language. She has labels. But somehow, you’re still not sure what’s really going on inside her.
In this episode with psychiatrist Dr Suzanne Garfinkel-Crowell, author of Girlhood Translated: Understanding Girls in the Age of Therapy Speak and Self-Diagnosis, we pulled back the curtain on what this language is doing for girls — and what it’s doing to them.
I particularly loved Suzanne’s tip for us parents:
‘The biggest problem with therapy speak is when it’s a conversation stopper, because really, these words should be conversation starters.’
In the discussion she gives us parents ideas on how to move beyond the language our kids are using, and help them understand what’s really going on. 
This isn’t an “anti-diagnosis” conversation. It’s about understanding how the language of mental health, the DSM, and social media are shaping girlhood, and how we as parents can respond in a way that brings us closer instead of shutting our daughters down.
Dr Suzanne Garfinkle-Crowell
If you'd like written notes to remind you about the points in this episode, or you'd like to think more about it, come to my Substack
Support the show
Please hit the follow button if you like the podcast, and share it with anyone who might benefit. 
You can review us on Apple podcasts by going to the show page, scrolling down to the bottom where you can click on a star then you can leave your message. 
Please don't hesitate to seek the advice of a specialist if you're not coping. There's no shame in reaching out for support. When you look after yourself your entire family benefits.
Find all the tips from the episdoe on Substack: 
My email teenagersuntangled@gmail.com
My website has a blog, searchable episodes, and ways to contact me
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Thank you, thank you, thank you, Wirohugo for your incredible donation. You are so kind! 
Here’s the question posed by one of our community using the Ask Rachel Anything button:
My fifteen year old boy seems to show no curiousity about the world. Does not know countries, capitals, does not read (except when incentived). Today, he didn't recognise the neighbouring village which we drive through many times. He is middling at school but good at some subjects. So, not a dunce! Is it digital distraction? Is it common? I searched your shows and could not find any record of this being discussed. 
Episode About:
Concentration and Choices:
https://www.teenagersuntangled.com/concentration-and-the-troubling-effect-of-too-many-choices/
The Disengaged Teen:
https://www.teenagersuntangled.com/122-how-to-get-our-teens-to-love-learning-and-why-parents-are-the-missing-piece-of-the-puzzle/
Support the show
Please hit the follow button if you like the podcast, and share it with anyone who might benefit. 
You can review us on Apple podcasts by going to the show page, scrolling down to the bottom where you can click on a star then you can leave your message. 
Please don't hesitate to seek the advice of a specialist if you're not coping. There's no shame in reaching out for support. When you look after yourself your entire family benefits.
Find all the tips from the episdoe on Substack: 
My email teenagersuntangled@gmail.com
My website has a blog, searchable episodes, and ways to contact me
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Facebook

Ask Rachel anything
They're the oldest in their primary and suddenly our babies have to cope with being the youngest in their senior school. It's a big leap, and it comes just at the point when our kids are becoming much more aware of themselves and others with a big dollop of puberty-driven insecurity.
It's easy to worry about them making friends, coping with their newfound indepenence; complicated timetables, different classrooms, homework, buses and remembering their passwords. 
Here to help us figure it all out is Katherine Radice, author of the Parents Guide to Exam Stress long time teacher and mum of two teenage boys. 
Just five of things we cover in the episode are:
Realistic expectations for starting secondary school
Why trying to make the “perfect” first day backfires
Teaching kids that “lumps and bumps” are normal and part of adjustment
Identity, uniform, and appearance
How brands/clothes (e.g., specific shoes, jackets) are tied to teen identity and belonging
When and why it’s worth listening and sometimes compromising on these wants
Extracurricular activities and balance
Benefits of clubs for confidence, community, and friendship-building
The risks of over-scheduling and how to judge when it’s “too much”
Emotional turbulence in the early weeks
Tears, anger, door-slamming, and exhaustion as expected reactions
How to respond with empathy, rituals of comfort, and not jumping into “fix-it” mode too fast.
Communication: with teens and with school
How to get teens talking: low-stakes questions, rituals, “super silence,” and active listening
When to see something as a “blip” vs a real problem, and how to approach schools constructively
Friendships: 
How to talk about making friends without turning it into too much of a big deal
Hopefully, by the end of our discussion you'll have a much clearer idea of what you can do and also what you don't need to be doing to support your children through the turbulent teen school years. 
Support the show
Please hit the follow button if you like the podcast, and share it with anyone who might benefit. 
You can review us on Apple podcasts by going to the show page, scrolling down to the bottom where you can click on a star then you can leave your message. 
Please don't hesitate to seek the advice of a specialist if you're not coping. There's no shame in reaching out for support. When you look after yourself your entire family benefits.
Find all the tips from the episdoe on Substack: 
My email teenagersuntangled@gmail.com
My website has a blog, searchable episodes, and ways to contact me
Instagram
Facebook