TPP 343: What You Need to Know About Modern Day Puberty, with Cara Natterson and Vanessa Kroll Bennett
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
46 min
3 speakers
5 chapters
transcribed 6 hours ago
Transcript
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What is the host’s personal relationship with puberty and why does it matter for parents?
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There are a couple of guaranteed 100% going to be asked questions that you should probably be prepared for, like your sexual history and your drug and alcohol use history. So give that some thought over, I don't know, the first decade of your kid's life, but really think about it. Think about at some point they're going to spring those on you. And you do not, as Vanessa says all the time, you do not have to share your entire past history. You do not have to download everything. There are ways, and Vanessa can do a great line about how to say you're not going to share, but don't lie. Never lie.
got a question for you. What's your relationship with puberty? You know that inescapable part of every human's experience marked by body changes, emotional swings, awkward stages. Personally, I do not look back on my journey through puberty with a whole lot of fondness. Yet being that it is part of every child's developmental process, puberty is something that we as parents and actually any adult supporting children are going to want to deeply understand. We want to help our kids navigate it in a way that preserves their sense of self-worth, their body confidence, and their emotional, physical, and mental safety. And what I've learned from my guests for today's show, Dr. Cara Natterson and Vanessa Kroll-Bennett, modern puberty is not the same puberty you and I went through however many years ago.
Cara and Vanessa wrote all about it in their wonderful new book, This is So Awkward, Modern Puberty Explained, which goes through the science between all that's happening at this stage in a kid's life and also provides insights into how adults can talk to kids about it. Because even talking about all things puberty with our kids can feel super awkward and super uncomfortable for them and for us. But luckily, Cara and Vanessa are here to hold our hand through it all and provide us with the facts, language, and strategies for helping us navigate these conversations in this phase of life with confidence and calm. A quick background about my guest. Dr. Cara Natterson is a pediatrician, consultant, and New York Times bestselling author of a number of books, including The Care and Keeping of You from American Girl, which has more than 7 million copies in print.
Vanessa Carl Bennett is a puberty educator and writer, a podcaster, and an entrepreneur who helps adults navigate uncertainty while they support the kids they love. Vanessa is the founder of Dynamo Girl, a company focused on building kids' self-esteem through sports, puberty education, and parent workshops. Together, Cara and Vanessa host the Puberty Podcast, run Order of Magnitude, the leading brand dedicated to flipping puberty positive. And of course, they co-wrote the book we're talking about today. Perhaps their biggest cred they say, however, is that between them, they parent six teens. I really enjoyed this conversation. I hope you do too, and that you get a lot out of it. Hey, Cara and Vanessa, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you. Thank you so much. We're so happy to be here. Yeah, I'm excited. I also have to just say I like talking to two people. It's a more challenging interview sometimes, but more fun and dynamic and double the joy. So anyway, this should be a good conversation. We're going to be talking about your book, on puberty which i said before i hit record i just think is so fantastic but i would like to know how you two came together to write this in the first place what made you say we have to get this out into the world
see having two of us what you're going to see is not only do we talk on top of each other but we also finish each other's sentences
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the host’s personal relationship with puberty and why does it matter for parents?
0:00–6:22
2
How did Cara Natterson and Vanessa Kroll‑Bennett come together to write *This Is So Awkward*?
6:22–12:31
3
What makes modern puberty different from the puberty of previous generations?
12:31–24:34
4
How does the book blend up‑to‑date science with practical conversation scripts for kids?
24:34–37:14
5
What new vocabulary and terms does the book introduce for talking about body changes?
37:14–46:25
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
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