34: What Middle Schoolers Need to Thrive with Counselor Phyllis Fagell

Healthy Parenting Handbook with Katie Kimball

I learned today that I still have a lot of internal tendencies from middle school. 😮

Middle school can be a foreign land and a tumultuous time, and figuring out how to parent middle schoolers is hard on parents. We want our kids to be happy, resilient, and thriving, not wilting, crying, and worrying.

As we head back to school, stresses are always high, and our kids need us to help them stay balanced and continue growing and developing. Middle school is particularly tough, but it turns out it’s very navigable with the right perspective.

Whether you have a tween in middle school now or a child who will someday be there, these parenting tools are incredible, insightful, and some will take some time to practice. Start early by parenting your tween when they’re about 5!

You’ll learn:

• Why middle schoolers are SO different from other age groups
• The many crises of pre-adolescence and WHY they all pile up at once
• The shocking difference between girls’ and boys’ confidence and interaction with the world in middle school
• Simple stories parents can tell to improve mental well-being for their kids
• The bane of the “imaginary audience,” particularly for girls
• A game you can play to help reframe tween drama (and tone down its deleterious effects)
• How to gradually release responsibility to your pre-teen (and the disastrous impact if you ever take it back!)
• The 2 best ways to start every conversation with a tween (or teen)
• Why learning to cook can help kids try new things at school too
• Why it’s nearly impossible to teach a middle schooler to “be yourself” (this one kind of breaks my heart)
• One practical way to help your kids choose the right friends (this is seriously gold because we all know how powerful friends are in how our kids turn out!!)
• A resilience coping tool that I used the very day I recorded this interview so I wouldn’t forget how to do it…

Resources We Mention for Parenting Middle Schoolers

• Get Phyllis’ books: Middle School Matters and Middle School Superpowers
• How beneficial risk is necessary for raising confident kids
• How to build authentic confidence in kids
• Follow Phyllis on X, Facebook, and Instagram
• Phyllis’ website
• My second interview with Phyllis

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Kids Cook Real Food
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at kidscookrealfood.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!