Parenting Teens: The Biggest Job We’ll Ever Have Podcast

“I was the kind of parent who was a negotiator; when rules were broken, I would give them an out.” David Yale – Hyde Alumni Parent David’s wife died when his daughter was eleven years old. Their parenting style together had been to negotiate with their kids. “We wanted them to be happy,” he says. David had to parent not only through his own grief, but that of his kids. David shares what The Biggest Job Parenting Program taught him about his parenting and also the community it helped him

“The more vulnerability that I share with my children, the closer we become.”  Luc Levensohn, Hyde Alumni Parent When Luc and his family found Hyde, he learned a lot about the need for a different kind of communication with his daughter – one based on unconditional love but that still included boundaries and accountability. In this brief, candid interview with a former Hyde dad, we learn a lot about the specialness of father/daughter relationships and the need to be real.

Despite what sounds like a solid foundation in their parenting, they felt their son needed a school with more structure. They were not seeking a character-based school, but after visiting the school and learning about the curriculum, they were sold on Hyde for their son. “A huge turning point for me,” said Ank Stuyfzand, “was when I was told to focus on myself and let my son focus on himself.”

Whatever your parenting style, you’ll enjoy this brief but sincere conversation with Hyde Alumni Parent, Kate Carey, who realized in their first experience – the interview – that Hyde was the place for her son. She learned that letting go meant allowing her son to make mistakes and learn from them; appreciating that he could teach his parents some things, and that working on her own growth was the best thing for herself and her whole family.

“I didn’t really want my daughter to go away to school…” Jeff Burroughs, former assistant Head of Hyde School, and Hyde Alumni Parent. As former teachers and administrators at The Hyde School, both Jeff and Melissa Burroughs knew well what the program was like for students and parents. Yet when they found themselves in The Biggest Job Family program with a daughter at the school, their learning about themselves as parents was deeper than even they expected.

“Tell My Story.” - Ryan Reid Jason (Jay) Reid is doing just that; telling his son, Ryan’s story. Ryan took his life when he was 14, leaving two Post-It Notes: one was the passcode to his computer; the second said “Tell My Story.” Jay has founded an organization called ChooseLife (www.chooselife.org) and is making a documentary to eradicate – not just raise awareness – but ERADICATE teen suicide by the year 2030. 

Who would want to do that – crash their career? But it’s the subtitle of the book, Ditch the Gatekeepers and Be Your Own Credential, written by Isaac Morehouse, a man who likes to call himself radically practical. Isaac has some pretty radical views on education, careers, and freedom; he believes that if college is a four-year social experience, it seems really overpriced.

It’s our 100th podcast! And our very special guest is Joe Gauld, founder of The Hyde School in Bath, ME. I asked Joe to be the guest on our 100th show because it all started with him. He founded Hyde School to prepare kids for life; after five years, he realized that unless he also reached their parents, he wasn’t helping kids in the best way possible, because the home is the primary classroom and parents are the primary teachers.

Dan Scott is the author of Caught In Between: Engage Your Preteens Before They Check Out; he is also a pastor and writer for Orange Books and speaks to teens and parents about child and adolescent development.   He has written several devotionals for kids and believes that faith is as important on Wednesday as it is on the day they are in church or synagogue. He also believes in our familiar phrase: “Parents are the primary teachers and the home is the primary classroom”.

Christian Buck left a career on Wall Street, got an advanced degree in sports psychology, and now works with students to help them see that school can be approached the same way they approach sports in their lives: with vision, goals and hard work. There’s great advice here for parents wanting to help their kids in the same way. Christian is the author of "The Sport of School: How to Help Student-Athletes Improve their Grades for High School, College, and Beyond!"

We talk today with Ron Lieber, author of "The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money". What parent wouldn’t want that? “It’s hard for parents to talk to their kids about money,” says Ron; “they are not dispassionate about money, and not calm and rational about their kids.” His book gives great advice for parents on all things about kids and money, and the connection between money and values.

“Parents need to listen to their teen. Support them in becoming who they want to be, not who you want them to be,” says Marilyn Price-Mitchell PhD, a developmental psychologist, who works as a researcher, writer, and regular columnist in Psychology Today. For the last decade she’s focused efforts on studying how parents, educators and mentors nurture positive strengths in children. In this podcast she relates 8 attributes that are important in children and teens.

Would you, as a parent, buy your kid’s way into college? Malcolm Gauld has been a teacher, coach and head of school; he is currently Director of The Hyde Institute, an organization established to take Hyde’s unique approach to family-based character education to other schools in the nation. He was not surprised to learn that some parents would buy their student’s way into college; but he was surprised by the extent of it. He feels the parents have deprived their children of a very important rite of pa

“You can’t take the struggle out of parenting – it’s built in. The real question is, how much are we willing to challenge ourselves?” says psychotherapist, speaker, & author Sean Glover, who mirrors our approach to parenting: “When parents model the behaviors they want to see in their kids, they lead the way to better communication and a better relationship.” We talk with him about his latest book, "When Kids Call the Shots: How to Seize Control from Your Darling Bully  - and Enjoy Being a Pa

Hyde alumni parent Chris Guidera says of his previous parenting, “I thought I had all the answers, and I learned that I needed to listen more. The family I grew up in  - somebody was always talking; nobody listened.” Chris thought he was doing it differently than how he was raised, but learned he wasn’t. He made changes in his parenting through The Biggest Job Parenting Program and ultimately changed the level of trust between his daughter and himself.