DEEP DIVE: Vanessa Kroll Bennett and Dr. Cara Natterson on Puberty

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood | Parenting Tips From Funny Moms

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood

Kids & Family, Comedy, Parenting

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

These days, early is normal for puberty onset—and early is REALLY early. That means kids whose brains might not match the way they look, and parents who are freaking out about how to bring these delicate matters up in conversation. Help is here! ⁠Dr. Cara Natterson and Vanessa Kroll Bennett⁠, co-hosts of ⁠The Puberty Podcast⁠ and co-authors of ⁠This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained⁠, offer clear explanations (for parents and kids both!) and ways to start talking. Margaret, Amy, Vanessa, and Cara discuss: How puberty has changed in the past few decades Why we should treat kids as the age they are, not the age they appear Why "the talk" isn't a one-and-done conversation Here's where you can find Vanessa and Cara: ⁠https://orderofmagnitude.co/⁠ IG and TikTok: @less.awkward Buy This is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained: ⁠https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780593580950⁠ ⁠Listen to The Puberty Podcast⁠ We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: ⁠https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/ mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, puberty, teens, teen development Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to Fresh Take from What Fresh Hell Laughing in the face of Motherhood.
0:07.5	This is Margaret.
0:08.5	And this is Amy.
0:09.5	And today we're talking to Kara Natterson and Vanessa Krull Bennett.
0:14.0	Dr. Kara Natterson is a pediatrician and New York Times best-selling author.
0:18.5	Vanessa Krull Bennett is a puberty educator and writer. Together,
0:22.7	they co-host the Puberty Podcast, run Order of Magnitude, a company dedicated to solving the
0:29.0	pain points of puberty by empowering kids and their adults. And they are also the co-authors of the new
0:35.2	book, This Is So Awkward, Modern Puberty Explained.
0:39.8	Most impressively, however, between Kara and Vanessa, they are parenting six teenagers.
0:45.4	Welcome, Kara and Vanessa.
0:47.3	Thoughts and prayers.
0:49.2	Amy, I just want your voice, like, around us all the time.
0:52.4	It's, like, so nice and calm.. Like I just want you to talk in my
0:56.3	presence and I'll feel better about everything. Thank you. Well, I'll return the favor and say like
1:01.2	this book is a very calming presence. You lay it out. It's all intense and it's all going to be okay.
1:08.3	Right. But where it starts is that puberty has changed in a lot of
1:11.5	ways since it was happening to us. And one of the most profound ways that it's changed is timing.
1:16.4	So let's talk about that. What's amazing about the data around puberty is that it's actually
1:21.9	not that new. It's just that people don't talk about it a lot. So we've known since 2010 that the average age
1:30.3	that girls enter puberty is between eight and nine. And we've known since 2012 that the average
1:36.8	age that boys enter puberty is between nine and ten. That's not new, but it's very new to a lot
	...

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