217 - Emotional Wellness for Teens: How to Parent in the Age of Anxiety
Life Happens with Barb & Michelle
Michelle Maros & Barb Schmidt
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 August 2025
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This generation is growing up more stressed, isolated, and overwhelmed than ever before— here’s how parents can help bridge the gap and support youth mental health. ⬇️
In this eye-opening episode of Life Happens with Barb and Michelle, we dive into the realities of parenting in today’s world—one shaped by technology, anxiety, and unrealistic expectations. We explore how listening without judgment, leading with vulnerability, and embracing imperfection can transform the parent-child relationship.
Barb shares practical insights from her own parenting journey and how she built a strong, emotionally safe bond with Michelle. Michelle reflects on being raised by a parent who prioritized emotional well-being, and together, they unpack lessons learned both as a mother-daughter duo and from years of working with students of all ages.
Whether you’re a parent, caregiver, educator, or someone who works with teens, this conversation will move you, challenge you, and leave you with tools to better show up for the young people in your life.
✨Pre-order Dear Friend — Michelle’s new book filled with daily inspiration, clarity, and encouragement. A perfect gift for anyone supporting the emotional well-being of the next generation.
Grab your copy here: https://amzn.to/3Us9eqg
Let us know in the comments what resonated most—we’d love to hear your story.
Episode Highlights:
- How to really listen and be fully present with your child
- Bridging the generational gap through empathy, not authority
- The transformative power of apologizing and showing vulnerability as a parent
- Why how you model behavior matters more than what you say
- Helping young people navigate pressure, anxiety, and unrealistic expectations
- Introducing emotional well-being early and what that actually looks like
- Creating safe spaces for honest, judgment-free conversations
Parenting isn’t about being perfect—it’s about being real, open, and willing to grow.
We’re so grateful you’re here. As a mother-daughter team, we’re committed to honest conversations about life’s challenges and the healing that starts from within.
🗓️ This August, we're focusing on youth and student mental health—supporting young minds through self-awareness, emotional resilience, and life's pressures.
Join us as we explore how to raise this next generation with confidence, compassion, and connection.
Join us next Tuesday for another heartfelt and healing episode of Life Happens with Barb Michelle! 💕
🎙️ Host by:
- https://www.instagram.com/peaceful_barb/
- https://www.instagram.com/michellemaros/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Life Happens podcast. It is me, Michelle, and I'm here with my mom, Barb, and we're so excited to be chatting with you all today. Hey, Mom. How you doing? Good. This is going to be a subject that I love talking about. Absolutely. I mean, you love them all. I do love them all, but this one in particular, when we're going to be talking about, you know, teenagers and young adults and all of that, they are near and dear to my heart big time. |
| 0:26.7 | Yeah, well, the theme this month is really focusing on younger people, mental health, and how we can help the younger generation with the mental health struggles that so many are facing. |
| 0:39.3 | What do the conversations look like around young people, young students and their mental health? |
| 0:45.3 | And I know there's so much anxiety and concern for our younger generations. |
| 0:52.3 | They're living in a world that we, that doesn't, doesn't look like the world that I grew up in. |
| 0:58.0 | That doesn't, didn't, I can't talk, didn't have the technology that I had and that you didn't have either. |
| 1:05.0 | And so how can we have conversations with the younger generation about mental health, about self-care and |
| 1:12.7 | self-love and confidence and worth, and what does that look like in a way that's sustainable |
| 1:18.1 | and that's impactful and that's meaningful for both, you know, us in the older generations |
| 1:23.2 | as well as the generations below? And I know, too, Michelle, that people that know us really, really well, and maybe a lot of |
| 1:29.9 | you listening and watching, that we do an extraordinary amount of work in the teens, young adults, |
| 1:39.8 | generation, universities, high school kids, athletic programs, you know, fellowships. |
| 1:46.0 | We ran a fellowship for quite a number of years, helping find their passions and what are the things that they love most in life. |
| 1:54.0 | So we've worked with teenagers a lot. |
| 1:56.0 | And I'm saying all this that then when we go back out into the community of people that are, |
| 2:01.7 | you know, older and our age, that's one of the first questions they ask us. |
| 2:07.6 | You know, I saw that you spoke at the fellowship the other day with the teenagers. |
| 2:12.3 | What's it like? |
| 2:13.0 | What's it like? And how are those kids? And we're so worried about their generation. |
| 2:17.3 | You know, tell us, |
| 2:17.9 | are we all going to be okay? You know, is everything good with them? And we're so happy that |
| 2:22.4 | you're doing this work with them. And it's really, I think the first question that I would say, |
... |
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