Somehow, summer is almost over. School is about to start, and for a lot of students (and their parents), that means new battles with anxiety. Sometimes, it also means a lack of desire dressed up as anxiety. What should a parent do? How do we handle the stress that comes with the start of a…
Summer is almost over. For many that means it’s time to buy new spikes, water bottles and fall sports gear. It’s time to send half of the family north for one game, while the other half goes south for a different game. It’s time to either eat late at night at home or in a…
Today’s episode takes us all the way back to episode one as part of my somewhat sporadic summer review series. We’re revisiting one of the foundational ideas behind almost everything I do as a counselor, consultant, and in my own relationships: emotional security. What is emotional security? Why does it matter? How does it change…
A few years ago, I had a wonderful moment. My oldest daughter was working at her college helping the incoming freshmen during their first week on campus. When she came home, I asked her how the day had gone. “UGH! I told one of the freshmen something and I sounded just like you! I heard…
I have a confession. The older I get, the less interested I become in blaming children for acting like children. Instead, I find myself wondering what role the adults played and how much of that responsibility they are willing to take . A few weeks ago, I dabbled in the tepid waters of questioning whether…
Summer break has officially started. All of the end of the school year things are done and it’s time to enjoy popsicles late at night, sun tans, and pool parties.In theory.It also means parents across America are preparing themselves for one of the great modern fears:“How much screen time are my kids going to have…
The current conversations around phones and our kids reminds me a lot of past conversations around our kids, spanking and what it means to train our children. There was a lot of all or nothing fallacies thrown around back then.I think that’s happening often today with the conversation around phones and our kids. Phones are…
Sooner or later, people are going to start wondering why we’re not getting the return on our investment we were promised. I’ve been saying this for a while now. And lately, I’ve been finding some other voices that are saying/asking the same thing: “What’s going on with our kids’ mental health?” We are throwing everything…
It’s become a rallying cry. Parents are told they must validate a child’s emotions during a full-blown tantrum. Adults expect other adults to accept and validate emotional outbursts without question. The message is everywhere.In many ways, this is a good thing. For a long time, emotions were dismissed, minimized, or shamed.But somewhere along the way,…
Are you one person at work and another at home? In this episode of The Joe Martino Show, we talk about what happens when the version of you your family gets isn’t the same one everyone else sees—and how to start closing that gap. Plus, I answer a listener question about “The Rule of Three”…
