Reviews

Love the podcast

I am a GP in Australia and have been listening to your podcast for a few months now. I am finding it so helpful and enjoyable to listen to (I have two teens and one tween). As part of my work I speak to a lot of parents and see many teens and have recommended your podcast several times. I have also shared it on medical Facebook groups that I belong to. Thanks for creating such fabulous content!

Louisa Evans
Dec. 20, 2024

Thank you for being there

I just wanted to say a massive thank you for being there for parents of teenagers every week. Not only do I look forward to each episode but also have listened to many of the shows more that a handful of few times. Navigating this period is extremely difficult, but extremely important and there is no one size fits all. Thank you for covering a wide range of topics, there is something for everyone. I work for a very large and established retailer and have shared the podcast with a parents of teens and tweens community. It is hard raising teenagers isn’t it, especially when we have working parents, relationship breakdowns, blended families, siblings, potentially elderly parents and family, economic pressures and life admin. Thank you for being there.

Kate on Instagram
Dec. 10, 2024

So relatable

Your topics are always relevant and/or relatable. I’m so grateful for your podcast 🙏🏼

DedicatedToPickle on YouTube
Nov. 13, 2024

Congratulations on your award

You are my go to every time I hit a hurdle or just want know a little more. Thank you.

Le Boatwood on Facebook
Nov. 6, 2024

Phoebe was amazing - really helpful.

Love that point about not changing to fit others' opinions and if people are putting pressure on you about your image they are not your people. So many great phrases too. (Rejection means redirection - from a previous podcast but I've already used that with my teenagers who loved it too) Thank you. You dropped in the boys bulking and cutting to create muscles etc. please can you talk more about that and the use of creatine.

Wendy Blankley
Oct. 30, 2024

Re Blog Post on parenting stress

Great advice and wouldn't it be wonderful if it would be read and taken on board by all. It's certainly given me food for thought.

Peter Hall on LinkedIn
Oct. 28, 2024

Award response

OMG OMG OMG, and soooo well deserved ladies, big fat BRAVO wowsers, this is epic and you have provided reassurance, clear information and guidance to so many of us, thank you and many congratulations.

bermudatriangle18
Oct. 24, 2024

My guiding light

I'm a mum of two teenage girls and have been listening to your podcast for a year now and it's been my guiding light through the every day challenges - thank you both so much and many congratulations on your award - so well deerved. I recommend this to all my mum friends and will continue to shout about how good it is! Keep going ladies, you're fabulous

nicolabingham101 on Instagram
Oct. 24, 2024

I trust your advice

I've been listening to your audio hug for a while now and find you so helpful, reliable (every Wednesday you are there!) and I trust your advise. Go ladies, you so deserve to win.

Katherine Hagland
Sept. 25, 2024

So applicable to younger children.

Thank you for all your great work and advice and information. I don't have teens yet but I constantly share your things so I am ready. They're all so applicable to younger children.

Powalkb on Instagram
Sept. 22, 2024

I’m listening to each episode at least 3-4 times.

Woww. I'm actually taking notes and writing down stuff so I can remember to use them with my own son. The part where you apologize for giving them too much freedom when they obviously were not ready to hand it... that's brilliant! Apart from taking notes, I'm listening to each episode at least 3-4 times... just so they sink in. Thank you so much.

DhariniDiva on Spotify
Sept. 20, 2024

I love it.

I only discovered your podcast about a month ago from another parent and I love it. It's helped me so much with my teenage children, so thank you ladies. I recommend to everyone that will listen to me. I love your podcast, please don't ever stop! Listening all the way in Australia! but from UK, thank you ladies.

taradarbymodel on Instagram
Sept. 18, 2024

Avid listener

I am an avid listener of your podcast. I am so glad I stumbled across this when my eldest daughter went to Secondary School as the teenage years seemed so overwhelming as they push for more and more independence. The topics covered have been really insightful, and I especially loved the episodes you do with one of your daughters.

Michelle
Sept. 17, 2024

So many wonderful insights: Gaining weight and teen self image

Your daughters are delightful and the apple didn't fall far from the tree. So many wonderful insights in this conversation. I'd also like to point out just how important conversations are around food and nutritions appropriate for our life stage. Where my daughter experiences puberty and I, peri-menopause, I'm eating differently to how she's seen me eat her whole life as I try to balance my needs and provide her with the support and informaiton she needs to grow into a healthy woman. So much to say about this topic. Thank you and by the sounds of it, Phoebe wants in on this whole podcast thing.

Le Boatwood on Facebook
Sept. 12, 2024

Loved this episode so much (100 - Rachel's top 10)

Hi Rachel! I loved this episode so much and about to share with everyone I know! The one thing I would add to the list (she writes, out on her morning jog) is working out what your non-negotiable is as a parent (in terms of your own self-preservation for playing the long game) and making sure it just always happens, no excuses. For me it’s morning exercise - a run or a swim or some yoga (or two or all three this week as I’m on hols in suffolk!!!!!!) - and then I’m set up for the day to be the mum I’m going to be. So that’s just one thing I’d add - making sure we all do one thing each day just for ourselves and having no guilt about it, even when we are asked to do something for or with our kids as we are leaving the house. I’m also much better at working out the negative non-negotiable: it’s taken me years and years to realise I’m just a much nicer, happier, better mum when I don’t really drink, for example. Working out what you're not going to do or be - fun spritzer mum!! - can be as important as working out what you are going to do or be. Again, once decided it removes the guilt. But for others I know that sundowner would be their ring fenced non-negotiable! Anyway, thanks so much for all your work and research and engagement and curiosity. You guys really prop us all up. And happy birthday! You are looking INCREDIBLE for 100!!! x x Tara

Tara via podcast instant message
Aug. 14, 2024

Excellent

“Just listened to your episode on boys with Dr. Brendan Kwiatkowski. Really interesting. Hope you invite him back to discuss more about raising teen boys.” Jean3689 via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 08/04/24

Jean3689
Aug. 4, 2024

Episode on Shyness: Really useful, thank you so much.

It's just incredibly reassuring the hear the discussion around it and to remember that these things are never black and white. Thanks for the great work, your podcast has found me at just the right time.

Sarah on Instagram
July 25, 2024

Absolutely fantastic

Hi Rachel, Firstly I have to say, I’ve just started listening to your podcasts, and they are absolutely fantastic - thank you so much for all the insights, even if I retain a small amount of the huge knowledge you and Susie kindly share for my tweens, I will truly be thankful. And no doubt be revisiting the pod casts over the years to come!

Phillipa
July 17, 2024

Thank you

Thank you to you both. At last I've found someone/something to listen to, relate to and be reassured by. Parenting my 12 and 14 year olds is wonderful but also has its difficulties and I'm left feeling drained and confused as to whether I'm actually doing it all ok for them? I thought the episodes regarding screen time and grooming were spot on and informative. I'm actually going to get them both to listen to them with me when we do a longer car journey so they can hear first hand why I put in place restrictions myself. They often make me feel like l'm over the top and too over protective. You have reassured me I'm doing ok. Thank you girls from a very grateful mummy who is also learning on the job and winging it every day! © XX

H8LDE on Audible
July 5, 2024

Your values episode was wonderful!

Dearest Rachel, I loved your episode and was so moved by how you went into each issue and so sensitively unpicked the problems and helped me make sense of them. You are amazing and I cannot thank you enough. I am writing with great news that my daughter visited a local state school with her dad on an Open Day and was really impressed with it. We received a phone call today that she has been accepted! I really feel this will be a step in the right direction towards our values and I think she will find her tribe in this school. You are so right at this age you just want to fit in. (even better this school has a mandatory backpack so no fancy shopper allowed!) My parenting is definitely a work in progress and it is humbling how hard it is. It really is the hardest most relentless but most rewarding job of all and it is those moments of joy that we hold on to. It feels wonderful to share one of my lowest lows with you and now a real high. What a rollercoaster ride this is. Thank you so much for everything you do and know that you really are both making a huge difference to parents who just think they are failing their kids. That shift in perspective and rooting in values and the long game really helps.

Anonymous listener
June 26, 2024

Grateful Parent

You have been such a wealth of inspiration and support to me with my three teenage boys. Whenever I’ve felt at a loss, I just dip into one of her podcasts and immediately a reassure if voice and sound, honest advice helps me to navigate this difficult journey of being a parent.

Natty 774
June 20, 2024

Incredibly helpful

I found your discussion on reducing nagging through routines incredibly helpful. The practical tips for managing common teen challenges like bedtime, healthy eating, and screen time were spot-on. I appreciate the focus on adapting successful strategies from other parents. Looking forward to trying these in my own household!

Masudpervez1341 on You Tube
June 18, 2024

Excellent discussion

Understanding executive function defecits has been eye-opening. It's not about laziness; it's about skill development. This podcast episode highlights how we can identify and support teens struggling with these challenges. Excited to explore how targeted training can empower them to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals effectively.

Masudpervez1341 on You Tube
June 13, 2024

Thank you thank you and thank you again for your podcast

First of all thank you thank you and thank you again for your podcast. It is so spot on. It makes me feel less alone on this journey, it gives me hope, makes me laugh and most important of all, it takes the pressure of my shoulders and not the opposite (I could have, should have…) so thank you from mum to mum!

Caroline
June 4, 2024

It triggered a rich conversation between us.

This morning while driving my stepson ( Bonus Son like you lovely say) to one of his GSCE exams, we listened to the FOMO episode. We both enjoyed it very much and it triggered a rich conversation between us, so thank you very much. He said he found the podcast super interesting and we will be listening to more of them together (-: Best bit ( and made the podcast super relatable) was the mention of the RAP drama between Drake & Kendrick. I didn't know about it but my stepson of course knew and he explained all of it to me. So thank you for creating a special moment between us. Veronique

Véronique via WhatsApp
May 15, 2024

I just didn’t want to stop listening to you!!!!

Hello there lovely sounding ladies!! I stumbled on your podcast just last weekend, down at the bottom of New Zealand, while out walking , -in tears, having just had the worst week or so with my almost 13 year old, and thinking I could do nothing right, and that deep down I knew it shouldn’t be this hard. Well….. I walked 9km that afternoon as I just didn’t want to stop listening to you!!!! My son is struggling with last year of full primary school, friends, fitting in etc etc and he was taking it out on me. “Connection” was the key word that stuck out to me, as obvious as anything. Like a lightbulb moment. Just like when he was little, but here I was thinking he was all grown up (duh!!) Thankyou so much for your podcast, I haven’t stopped listening since, so informative and real, and just lovely. Listening to you both has got me back on track, in tune with what I normally do naturally, find my kind heart, to stop overthinking and worrying and to capture these years in time with love and joy too. Thankyou!

Becky from Queenstown
May 10, 2024

Fantastic episode, as always. (Concentration, and the troubling effect of too many choices)

Extremely grateful to have found your podcast, thank you both and all your excellent contributors.

Sharon on Spotify
May 6, 2024

Incredibly helpful

I wish I had discovered you before my child turned teenager and I was not prepared for what was coming and I'm upset that (with hindsight) I mismanaged some early situations at the time. It is incredibly helpful to hear that they need us as a bucket to pour all their emotions into and not necessarily to *fix things*. I also love the analogy of teens being in lifeboats at sea while we are on the shore, watching and available to help if they need us. I find the episodes calming and supportive, even though many of the hurdles have not arisen, it is nice to know that there is somewhere to go for research and tips should they arise. Well done for creating this "hug" for parents like me that didn't know they needed one!

Jemma
May 6, 2024

I adore your show!

I felt really lonely in my struggles as a parent and you really changed that. Your show really is that hug I need on my hard days. Today was another one!

Fi
May 5, 2024

I love your podcast!

It's helped me to improve how I communicate with my 3 teenagers. I wish I had heard your wise words years ago. The mindfulness tips are helping me maintain my weight. Love the nuggets. Best wishes from the U.S.A

Cathy
April 18, 2024