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Parenting Teenagers Untangled - Understand and Talk to Your Teenager

Rachel Richards
Parenting Teenagers Untangled - Understand and Talk to Your Teenager
Latest episode

204 episodes

  • Parenting Teenagers Untangled - Understand and Talk to Your Teenager

    Helping Teens Handle Disappointment: University Rejection, Perfectionism and the Pressure to Win

    25/03/2026 | 35 mins.
    Ask Rachel anything
    A listener wrote to say both she and her son felt pretty stunned after he was rejected from the university he'd set his heart on. She asked for the best way to help our teenagers cope with this sort of disappointment. 
    I thought it was a great question and a good opportunity to also look at how we parents best navigate when your teen has worked for years toward a dream - a top university place, exam results, a team, a part - and it doesn’t happen. The disappointment can feel earth‑shattering for them and gut‑wrenching for you.
    In this episode I talk with Dr Dominique Thompson, award‑winning GP and young people’s mental health expert, about how to support teenagers through big disappointments such as university rejection, exam failure, and missed opportunities – without rescuing them or minimising their feelings.
    We explore:
    What teens are actually grieving when things go wrong – including the loss of an imagined future
    How to validate their emotions while gently stopping catastrophic thinking
    The difference between building resilience and teaching kids to suppress their feelings
    Why today’s culture of perfectionism and “being the best” is driving anxiety, burnout and fear of failure
    How to help teens separate self‑worth from grades, offers and achievements
    Practical ways to prepare teens for university life, academic stress and independence
    When dropping out isn’t the only option – how to press pause, get help and return stronger
    What to do if your teen feels “left behind” while friends move on to university or big opportunities
    How parents can be a “safe harbour”: supportive, boundaried, and not adding their own disappointment to their teen’s load
    If you’re a parent wondering how to respond when your child says, “I’ve failed you,” or “There’s no point trying,” this conversation will give you concrete language, mindset shifts and step‑by‑step strategies to help them cope, reframe, and find a new path forward.
    Dr Dominique Thompson: is a multi-award winning former GP, young people's mental health expert, TEDx speaker, author and educator, with over two decades of NHS clinical experience.
    She is author of The Student Wellbeing Series for young people, and co-author of How to Grow a Grown Up (PenguinRandomHouse) for parents.
    [email protected]
    www.buzzconsulting.co.uk 
    https://www.instagram.com/drdomthompson/
    https://www.facebook.com/drdomthompson/
    https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominique-thompson/
    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.

    My email is [email protected] 
    My website has a blog, searchable episodes, and ways to contact me:
    www.teenagersuntangled.com
    Find me on Substack: https://teenagersuntangled.substack.com/
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teenagersuntangled/
    Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/teenagersuntangled/

    You can reach Susie at www.amindful-life.co.uk
  • Parenting Teenagers Untangled - Understand and Talk to Your Teenager

    Discover Your Values - Parenting Advice

    23/03/2026 | 6 mins.
    Ask Rachel anything
    Knowing your values helps in parenting tweens and teens because our communication with our teenagers is based on a solid foundation. If we know why we think something matters we have clearer discussions about their behaviour and why we emphasise certain things. 
    We're also less fragile when our teens push back and want to challenge our ideas. Often they have the same values but are coming at them from a different angle. 
    Knowing our values helps us to find compromise. 
    A previous episode about values
    Link to my values exercises on Substack
    The two games mentioned:
    Ransom Notes
    Hitster, if you haven’t already got this game it’s fantastic
    We also love Taskmaster and Monopoly Deal, which is addictive
    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.

    My email is [email protected] 
    My website has a blog, searchable episodes, and ways to contact me:
    www.teenagersuntangled.com
    Find me on Substack: https://teenagersuntangled.substack.com/
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teenagersuntangled/
    Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/teenagersuntangled/

    You can reach Susie at www.amindful-life.co.uk
  • Parenting Teenagers Untangled - Understand and Talk to Your Teenager

    Raising Boys In The Age of the Manosphere - Vintage

    18/03/2026 | 33 mins.
    Ask Rachel anything
    Three years ago we were asked by a listener to discuss how we can talk to boys about influential online figures like Andrew Tate, who act both as an inspiration to achieve great things, and a lightning rod for disgruntled men who blame feminism for their ills and cheer on his particular form of aggressive misogyny.
    Now that Louis Theroux has shone a light on the Manosphere in his latest Netflix documentary I thought it important to dust off this old episode because the information is far more detailed, and useful for parents of tweens and teens. 
    Whether the words Red Pill, Matrix, and Manosphere have any particular meaning for you, they are having an increasing impact on the environment our boys are growing up in. It's up to us as parents to help our boys unpack what they're hearing and sift the diamonds from the dirt.

    My research into the topic has highlighted an urgent need to be talking with our sons about their dreams, and how we can support them in discovering role models who show what it is to be a successful man, without needing to humiliate and destroy other people.   

    Click here for tips and advice from the episode:
    Avoid silencing your teen, even if you disagree with what they say. It's vital that they are given the chance to talk about what they're thinking so that you can have proper discussions about it. Telling them they are wrong won't help them think about the issues.
    Focus the discussion on what is really attractive to them about the messages they are hearing, and help them to differentiate between the positive and the dangerously negative.
    Unpick the words the boys use and be clear about anything that is sexist, racist, etc and why that's an issue. Remember, they are building their identity and they're allowed to make mistakes along the way.  Don't shame them.
    Arm yourself with real facts. If they tell you something that they've heard online help them to go to real sources, rather than simply listening to someone who has an agenda and wants to get lots of clicks.
    Don't just focus on Tate, he's only one of the people espousing this thinking.
    Potential role models: Look for men in your own community first
    Greg James 
    Mark Lewis: https://www.marklewis.co.uk/
    Novak Djokovic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=867mtHTsaDo
    Stephen Bartlett - Diary of a CEO (Business) His podcast has lots of successful men being interviewed.
    KSI, Beta Squad, Sidemen, Mr Beast, Chris MD. 
    Bear Grylls - Chief Scout and outdo
    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.

    My email is [email protected] 
    My website has a blog, searchable episodes, and ways to contact me:
    www.teenagersuntangled.com
    Find me on Substack: https://teenagersuntangled.substack.com/
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teenagersuntangled/
    Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/teenagersuntangled/

    You can reach Susie at www.amindful-life.co.uk
  • Parenting Teenagers Untangled - Understand and Talk to Your Teenager

    The Simple Parenting Habit That Makes Kids Feel Loved

    14/03/2026 | 7 mins.
    Ask Rachel anything
    Listen to past Big Hug Cafe Community Catch-Ups: 
    https://teenagersuntangled.substack.com
    Send me your questions:
    [email protected]
    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.

    My email is [email protected] 
    My website has a blog, searchable episodes, and ways to contact me:
    www.teenagersuntangled.com
    Find me on Substack: https://teenagersuntangled.substack.com/
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teenagersuntangled/
    Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/teenagersuntangled/

    You can reach Susie at www.amindful-life.co.uk
  • Parenting Teenagers Untangled - Understand and Talk to Your Teenager

    Cutting it as a parent? Life as a surgeon, author and mother of four with Gabriel Weston

    11/03/2026 | 1h 18 mins.
    Ask Rachel anything
    If you’ve ever lain awake at night wondering whether you’re getting this parenting thing horribly wrong, you need to hear this conversation with surgeon and author Gabriel Weston.
    Gabriel is a mother of four – including tween twins – a prize‑winning writer and a working surgeon. She talks with disarming honesty about:
    How she parents without pretending to be endlessly patient or perfect
    Why it’s okay to have limits to how much joy you get from parenting
    The very real ways she sometimes gets it wrong, and how her kids now call her out
    What her son’s life‑threatening brain condition and her own health scares have taught her about seeing all of us – including our teens – as “beautifully broken” humans
    How she and her husband navigate very different parenting styles, from strict boundaries to snacks and softness
    What I love about Gabriel is that she says the quiet things out loud – the thoughts so many parents have but feel too guilty to admit. She’s funny, wise, and completely unpretentious, and by the end you may feel surprisingly lighter about your own “failings” as a parent.
    If you’ve ever worried that you’re too controlling, not present enough, not soft enough, or simply not “motherly” in the way you think you’re supposed to be, this episode will help you see that you are probably doing far better than you think. 
    Find Gabriel here:
    https://www.instagram.com/gabrielwestonalive/
    Buy her books:
    https://www.waterstones.com/author/gabriel-weston/6579
    https://amzn.eu/d/0cGm5jnK

    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.

    My email is [email protected] 
    My website has a blog, searchable episodes, and ways to contact me:
    www.teenagersuntangled.com
    Find me on Substack: https://teenagersuntangled.substack.com/
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teenagersuntangled/
    Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/teenagersuntangled/

    You can reach Susie at www.amindful-life.co.uk

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About Parenting Teenagers Untangled - Understand and Talk to Your Teenager

Hello, I'm Rachel Richards, former BBC Correspondent, CNBC Europe World News Anchor and mum, on a mission to make parenting teens much less stressful, and even enjoyable. Do you ever feel like you don’t know what you’re doing?Firstly, have a big hug from me.Secondly, you’re doing better than you think you are. No, really, you are. There’s too much talk about what a parent should be, and how we can optimise and perfect ourselves, and not enough about how well you’re coping in this complicated world as you hold your shizzle together.I mean it, the most important message is that you CANNOT be perfect. You’re going to lose your rag, you’re going to get upset and say stupid things and make mistakes and hate your kids and your partner and your life from time to time.Take it from me, if you’re going to worry about anything make it: ‘Am I being curious enough?’Asking questions will get you everywhere as a parent of teenagers, and the place to do most of your practice is… yourself and your own thoughts and beliefs.So, welcome, pull up a chair, drop your baggage, and make yourself comfortable. Let’s learn together.The Podcast:A fellow mum begged me to start my podcast because she wanted someone she trusted to help her through the teen years, and I’ll be forever grateful to her because the journey has transformed my own parenting and benefited my family beyond imagination.Here’s the good news, this podcast is free and you can learn everything I learned just by starting at the beginning and going through every episode.If you want to go a bit faster then scroll through and pick subjects that cover what you need right now. If you can’t find what you want then message me and I’ll tell you which one will help you most. If it’s not something I’ve covered then I’m like a dog chasing a stick, so you’ll soon get your answers.My main aim is to help you stop trying to be perfect, or comparing yourself and your kids with others. Your only real job is to focus on getting to know the amazing people you have in your life, loving them unconditionally, and showing them you believe they can do hard things.JOIN ME ON SUBSTACK:For those of you who want more, or who just want to help me feel like the pebbles I have dropped in the ocean of life are making a difference, why not join my paid community? You’ll get one-to-one support and printable PDF’s that give you the top tips from each podcast episode so you have your own little, bespoke manual.ASK ME ANYTHING: I’m very busy behind the scenes reading everything so you don’t have to, and when you subscribe you have the chance to ask me anything. If I don’t know the answer I’ll head out like an eager truffle pig, ready to snuffle out the best for you.COMMUNITY: I’ll be offering regular extras, including tips and thoughts, that help you tune into what matters.All of the community notes, and tips, will remain available to paid subscribers. I want to make this more about fun and less about fear.PDF NOTES: So many listeners say they have rewound the episodes to write down notes, well now there’s no need. Paid subscribers will have a weekly, downloadable, summary of the top tips from each episode, so you don’t have to take notes.Please let me know if there are any old episodes for which you’d like the notes. I’m very happy to supply them.POINTERS: Ask me if there’s something you’re struggling with, I can tell you which episode is most suitable for you, because there are a lot to trawl through.
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