December Update
Hi, I hope you all have a happy and relaxing holiday season — whatever shape it takes. As I said in a recent Your Teen article (below), it’s perfectly okay to aim for “good enough.” I know…
Fall Update
Hi everyone, I hope you’re holding up okay. I’ve been back at work in my school building for a few weeks now, and it’s been wonderful to hear kids laughing and chatting out on the…
The Importance of Having Conversations With Kids
My friend Teddy was shocked. “My daughter Anna just told me her classmate got busted for vaping at school,” he told me. “They’re only 11! Now she’s asking me a million questions about marijuana, half…
Four ways to help kids cope with the uncertainty of the new school year
It’s hard to overstate how much the conversations I had with my sources for this On Parenting from The Washington Post article about helping kids adapt to uncertainty helped ME. As Dr. David Aronoff…
4 Ways to Help Your Quarantined Tween Preserve Friendships
Under the best of circumstances, middle schoolers have to navigate a complex social landscape. They care deeply about their friends, but their empathy is developing, they’re insecure, and they’re still learning how to self-regulate and…
Four Ways Educators Can Help Students While Schools Are Shut Down
Supporting students during this changing and uncertain time My 11-year-old son recently got an email from his coach, Ava Benach, on what was supposed to be his first day of baseball practice. “Hi team,” she…
Teen Bullying: When a Bullied Teen Becomes the Bully
We can’t afford to overlook kids who resort to bullying. Their behavior wreaks havoc with their moral compass, lowers their empathy and hardens them to the consequences of their actions. But the greatest reason aggressors…
5 Ways to Recover from a Raw Deal
We’ve all experienced setbacks—times when we feel like we got a raw deal. In this blog for PsychReg in the UK, Phyllis shares a personal story and offers five strategies that help restore confidence and…
Facebook Live with Roy Petitfils
Phyllis talks about teen jealousy, FOMO, and teaching girls to support one another in this Facetime Live with Roy Petitfils, the host of Today’s Teenager podcast. Click here to watch.
7 ways parents can teach girls to build one another up, instead of tearing one another down
Girls who perceive that it’s a zero-sum game are less likely to support one another and more likely to view each other as threats, but this is short-sighted. When girls band together, they expand their…
Facebook Live with "My Life Suckers"
I had fun doing a Facebook Live episode with the hilarious Deva Dalporto of My Life Suckers. We talked about how parents can teach kids to make good, safe and smart choices—whether it involves drinking…
Responsibility.Org Summit
I keynoted the Responsibility.Org summit in Washington, D.C. on October 12, 2018, presenting on how parents and other adults can help kids become smart decision-makers. I covered a wide age range, starting with the social-emotional…
BBC World News - Beyond 100 Days
Phyllis was the guest on BBC World News (Beyond 100 Days), talking to reporters Katty Kay and Christian Fraser about the dramatic rise in self-harming behavior among children.
9 ways parents can help kids cope with jealousy
Jealousy is a tough emotion that can’t be vanquished. As kids get bombarded daily with messages that they’re not enough, we need to connect them with their strengths & help them appreciate that no one’s…
7 strategies to help prepare your child for the rapidly changing work world
As jobs disappear to automation, soft skills such as agility, creativity and inventiveness may predict success more than grades, scores or core knowledge. There’s no one path to success, but here are seven strategies that…
Seven steps parents can take to ensure kids work for the right kind of popularity
Popularity matters, but not in the ways you might expect. There’s a “right” and “wrong” way to attain it. A child who is excluded will suffer now, but research shows that a child who steps…
