Episode 232: New Year, Same Teen? 3 Parenting Resets for 2026
Feeding The Mouth That Bites You: Parenting Teens Into Adulthood
Kenneth Wilgus, Cynthia Yanof
4.8 • 801 Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Happy New Year and welcome to 2026! Cynthia and Dr. Ken kick off the year by ditching the pressure of New Year’s resolutions and instead encouraging parents to look at their parenting trajectory—if nothing changes, is that a good thing or not so much?
Dr. Ken shares three foundational areas parents should revisit as the year begins—places that often create the most tension at home and the most confusion for parents trying to do the right thing. Along the way, they address control, conflict, and the emotional weight parents carry when things aren’t going smoothly with their teens.
Today’s show ends with an important reminder: your child’s choices are not a report card on your worth as a parent. Tune in today for a few thoughts on where to focus as we parent teens in the New Year.
If you have a minute, please leave us a review. We love hearing listeners encouraging other listeners.
You can order Dr. Ken's book "Feeding The Mouth That Bites You" here
You can order Cynthia's book "Life Is Messy, God Is Good" here
You can pre-order Cynthia's book "How'd I Miss That" here
Got questions or feedback? We want to hear from you! podcast@feedingthemouth.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to Feeding the Mouth to Bight You, a weekly podcast guide on parenting teens and launching them into the world. |
| 0:15.3 | I'm Cynthia Yanov, and as always, I'm joined by psychologist and author Dr. Ken Wilgus. |
| 0:20.9 | Happy New Year. |
| 0:23.1 | Can you believe it? |
| 0:24.3 | Can you believe it? |
| 0:25.3 | 2026? |
| 0:27.2 | I'm the first one shocked to say we made it past Y2K. |
| 0:31.8 | I mean, I remember back then. |
| 0:34.4 | I think there'll be a lot of people, well, not a lot of people listening. |
| 0:37.7 | They don't even know what you're talking about. |
| 0:38.9 | They'd be like, Y2K, huh? |
| 0:40.8 | Yeah. |
| 0:41.0 | We were up in Colorado wondering if the world was going to blow up when we come back. |
| 0:45.2 | Oh, I literally was filling bathtubs with water because we weren't going to have water or something. |
| 0:49.6 | And we still joke about it. |
| 0:51.1 | At that time, I was still a lawyer. |
| 0:52.8 | And so obviously nothing in the world really happened. I mean, it was just Y2K, except the law firm I worked out, worked at the time, their technology department. Something happened. And we lost, like, the database for like a week. And we're like, well, that's about right. The whole world is fine, but not a fellowilal offer but not my work so well happy new year |
| 1:13.5 | and yeah um i'm glad we're here and i'm gonna i'm gonna give a little shout out to dr ken for all of you |
| 1:20.6 | listening and you're already big fans or you wouldn't be here of his but we were we are as we're |
| 1:25.7 | taping this this is going to come out tomorrow. |
| 1:27.9 | And we don't usually tape the day before. |
| 1:29.6 | That's not how it works. |
... |
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