Flusterclux With Lynn Lyons: For Parents Who Worry

Podcast Episodes

June 14, 2024

Anxiety, Tummy Aches, and Constipation

Our guest on this episode is Lynn’s amazing colleague, Mindy Szelap, a therapist who is known affectionately as the Poop Lady. Because anxiety has connections to all sorts of stomach problems, including constipation and pain,...

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June 7, 2024

What To Do When Your Kids Lie

Do your kids lie? The answer is likely yes. And we adults do, too, because honesty is not always the best policy. In this episode, we talk about lying, what’s normal developmentally, and how to help your kids better understan...

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May 31, 2024

Best of: When Your Teenager Doesn't Want to Do Anything This Summer

In this recast of a popular episode from last year, sit in on Lynn's consultation with Mom, Dad and their high school junior who would prefer just staying in his room for most of the summer. Lynn helps identify the skill most...

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May 24, 2024

What To Do When Your Kid (of Any Age) Seems Upset

Parents often focus on the details of a child’s anxiety or frustration or distress. The parental interrogation fueled by “I have to know what happened and they should be able to tell me” is a common sentiment. Do you fall pre...

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May 17, 2024

Managing the Big Feelings Around Graduations

It’s graduation time. Robin is smack in the middle of this emotional time and Lynn has navigated it twice. So they’re both crying. ...and here's the Katrina Kenison piece that Lynn mentions: https://www.katrinakenison.com/202...

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May 10, 2024

Teaching Your Kids How To Fix or End Friendships After Big Fights

Have you been hearing a lot about boundaries lately? And “toxic relationships" ? Buzzwords capture our—and our children’s—attention, but what do memes and quotes on social media actually teach us about managing friendships an...

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May 3, 2024

Listener Question: My Daughter Panics About Things In Big Ways. What …

.... WE'VE MADE PLAYLISTS OF OUR EPISODES TO HELP YOU FIND RESOURCES ON SPECIFIC TOPICS. Here is our first: Parents of Anxious Kids, Start Here For those brand new to the podcast, we suggest starting with this playlist featur...

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April 26, 2024

The Anxiety Around Your Kid's Health with Pediatrician Dr. Jessica Ho…

Pediatricians and family physicians are on the front lines of our children’s mental health needs. In fact, they are reporting more and more that it’s the most common (and often most challenging) issue they are addressing with...

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April 19, 2024

Best of: Loneliness and Connection in Adults

In this recast of a popular Season 5 episode, we continue our discussion on loneliness, this time focusing on adults. Making friends in adulthood feels risky. If you are at all anxious or introverted, vulnerability and reject...

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April 12, 2024

Lynn Talks Directly To Your Kids About Anxiety

Do you wish your child could hear about worry directly from Lynn? Here you go! In previous episodes Lynn has spoken directly to teens; this episode is for the youngsters. She describes how worry works, what makes it better an...

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April 5, 2024

Kids, Phones and the Consequences: Let's Get Real About the Impact

We’ve talked about kids and phones before, but it deserves another deeper look. What’s the impact of younger and younger children having smartphones? The research shows big shifts on mental health after 2010? It’s time to tal...

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March 29, 2024

How Grief Shows Up In Kids And How To Respond

Death is a part of life, but it still scares most of us. When children experience death and other types of loss, they grieve in different ways, depending on age, family culture, and personality. How can you help your child de...

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March 22, 2024

"Don't Believe The Hype!" Lynn Talks To Teens About Their Mental Heal…

Every once in a while, teens need a pep talk that is based on accurate information and hopeful language about their moods, their relationships and their mental health. Anxiety and depression are common and powerful but not in...

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March 15, 2024

How to Help Your Child with Friendships and Likability

It’s a fact: some kids need more social coaching than others. And if your child (or you!) struggle with anxiety, practicing social skills is both more challenging and more vital. How do we enhance our kids’ ability to make go...

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March 8, 2024

Owning Your Own Grouchiness in Relationships and Shifting to Kinder C…

Lynn often says that the hardest people to work with in her practice are the ones that don’t own their own stuff. In this episode, we talk about owning patterns in your marriage. Both Robin and Lynn work with their husbands a...

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March 1, 2024

How and Why to Curb Your Kid's Global Language (And Maybe Your Own!)

A global cognitive style, to use the fancy terminology, means that your perceptions of the world or yourself are broad and overly general: “All dogs are mean” or “I never get anything right.” Because this pattern is a solid p...

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Feb. 23, 2024

Best Of: Raising Kids Who Are Really Ready for College Isn't What You…

As college acceptance letters arrive, it 's timely to revisit this popular episode from Season 4! Parents and students are focusing on college admissions earlier and earlier, hoping to get a head start on what has become an i...

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Feb. 16, 2024

6 Traps To Avoid In Your Plan To Help Your Anxious Child

Adults often wonder why the “plan” they have in place for their anxious child doesn’t work. In this episode, Lynn explains why this happens (your goals and hopes aren’t enough) and what to do instead (it’s all about the skill...

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Feb. 9, 2024

Anxiety Can Become The Cult Leader of Your Family. What If You're The…

Lynn often refers to anxiety as a cult leader: powerful, demanding compliance, and full of rigid rules. What happens when one family member wants out? Or when a long generational pattern of worry resists any change? In this e...

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Feb. 2, 2024

How Anxiety Shows Up in Your Kid's Sports & Activities

Lately listeners have been asking about performance anxiety, particularly when it shows up in sports. Should we push our child to compete? What if they love to practice but don’t perform during games? The truth is that very f...

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Jan. 22, 2024

911 Marriages: Tips From Divorce Prevention Expert Michele Weiner Dav…

What happens when children are the absolute focus of a family? Marriages suffer, says Michele Weiner-Davis, a renowned relationship expert who pulls couples back from the brink. We asked Michele to bust some couple myths and ...

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Jan. 19, 2024

Break Up With Your Dating Anxiety

Dating and doubt go together like peanut butter and jelly. Anxiety and worry love to invade, looking for certainty in every text, post, and conversation. And what about parenting teens through this stage? Teens are (developme...

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Jan. 12, 2024

Overcoming Barriers To Therapy: What You Can Do Yourself Regarding Af…

Seeking therapy for you or your child can feel like a big step for many reasons. Combined with busy schedules and long waiting lists, and affordability getting help can be unobtainable. In this episode, we talk about how to o...

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Jan. 5, 2024

The Problem With Labels And Why to Avoid Them With Our Kids, Ourselve…

Categories and labels are appealing because they help us make sense of a complex world. And there are definitely times when a label can help. But labels can also be limiting. When we label our kids—and when teens label themse...

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