Surfing the Waves of Adolescence with Maggie Dent – Untidy

In this episode of Untidy, Matty and Hannah sit down with the “queen of common sense,” educator Maggie Dent. Maggie is an acclaimed author, podcaster, and speaker with a background in teaching, counseling, palliative care, and suicide prevention. Maggie draws on her deep understanding of neuroscience and her wealth of experience as a high school teacher and mother of four boys to share her refreshing, reassuring, and candid perspective on navigating the challenges of parenting during adolescence. (Trigger warning: This episode discusses self-harm, suicide, sexual abuse and exploitation, bullying, and cyberbullying. Listen carefully.) Maggie’s newest book, Help Me Help My Teen, is a guide for parents to help their teens navigate the challenges and increased pressures facing today’s teens, including vaping, anxiety, sexuality, grades, self-harm, and sexual harassment. The conversation centers on how to truly partner with your teen during those tumultuous teenage years. Maggie offers invaluable advice on how to navigate conflict and disappointment without damaging the parent-child relationship. She advocates maintaining a strong emotional connection as a “safe space” for teens, even in the face of disagreements, to ensure that teens always feel supported and understood as they navigate this period of both enormous potential and enormous risk. Maggie’s insights are not only practical and grounded in reality, but also deeply compassionate, empowering listeners to guide their children through these critical years with love, patience and understanding. This episode is a must-listen! Follow Maggie Dent on Instagram @maggiedentauthor, register for her popular all-day Calming Today’s Anxious Kids conference in Auckland on 14 September, find much more on her website maggiedent.com and via her books on Mighty Ape, Paper Plus or in audiobook format. You’ll want to hear more from Maggie, so luckily she’s also the host of The Good Enough Dad podcast and has presented six seasons of the award-winning ABC podcast Parental As Anything. If you enjoy this episode of Untidy, please support the show by subscribing in your podcast app and hitting the ‘+follow’ button. That way you’ll never miss an episode. Help us continue to build this supportive community: subscribe, share an episode with a friend, and leave us a 5-star review. Thanks for listening and supporting our independent production! You’re the best! Untidy is made for you: the people at the heart of this white-hot mess we call parenting! Follow the show and DM us on Instagram @untidypodcast or email (email protected). Your stories and ideas to help us shape the show! Find us online at Untidy podcast . Find Matilda at @matootles and get your copy of The Feel Good Guide . Find Hannah at @hannahedavison and her My Big Moments children’s books at @mybigmoments . Enter code UNTIDY at checkout for 10% off your order. For privacy information, please visit omnystudio.com/listener.