Look, raising a teen is tough. You know, it's always been hard to be a teenager and it's always been hard to raise a teenager.

I think a lot of parents feel like their kid has broken up with them.

But this school year can be different, with Life Kids guide on supporting your teenager.

Listen to the Life to tell your crush how you feel.

You've worn your favorite top, you've practiced what you're going to say a dozen times

and right before you make your big confession your crush looks at you

stairs deep in your eyes and says they've always had a crush on your best friend. Or maybe you forgot your boss's birthday and

when you walked into their office they think you're about to give them a car but

instead you ask for a raise.

Or what if you tuned into the program today and heard an unflattering email message from a fellow

listener that you're pretty sure is about you? All of this would probably make you feel awkward.

When I was a brand new physician starting my intern year, I was presenting my patient on rounds and after rounds my attending

told me aside and said your presentation was so bad it was absurd and I

remember standing in the hall bewildered trying to decide whether to laugh or to try and I decided to laugh and I vowed to do better and I did improve.

Once my coworkers invited me to their weekly karaoke night out. I took the song for people who can't sing. Bad bad Leroy Brown. I was off key, went around the stage acting up the song and felt totally liberated.

Pariope taught me that it's therapeutic to once in a while

allow yourself to be awkward.

Thanks for those messages.

Now most of us, if not all of us, have experienced awkward moments in our life,

whether it's getting tongue tied in front of a crush or presenting an idea at a meeting that we're really excited about,

but that just receives blank stairs.

But avoiding awkwardness can mean not having necessary conversations or missing out on a meaningful

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