My guest today is Cathy Adams. We’re talking about engaging in those hard, honest conversations with our teen girls. Cathy and I dig into the messiness of the teen years. We discuss the importance of focusing on resiliency, not happiness, what is happening to Gen Z girls today, and why we need to appreciate the girls we have.  

Guest Description

Cathy Cassani Adams, LCSW, co-hosts the long-running Zen Parenting Radio podcast and founded the Zen Parenting Conference in Chicago. She is the author of Zen Parenting and Living What You Want Your Kids to Learn (both Nautilus Award and International Book Award winners) and her upcoming 2025 release, Restoring Our Girls. Cathy is a clinical social worker, certified parent coach, former elementary school educator, and yoga teacher. She was a blogger for The Huffington Post and a former columnist for Chicago Parent Magazine. She previously worked as a Child and Family Therapist and Clinical Educator at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and now teaches in the Sociology and Criminology Department at Dominican University. She lives outside Chicago with her husband, Todd, and their three daughters.

Takeaways from the show

• Cathy’s new book “Restoring Our Girls” 
• Adolescent girls’ mental health 
• Expectations & contradictions young women face 
• The messiness of the teen years doesn’t make them bad years 
• Your teenage experience is NOT the experience that teens today are having 
• Engaging in conversations instead of lecturing 
• The importance of teaching critical thinking
• Why we need adolescent girls to take risks 
• The meaning and joy of mother & daughter relationships 
• Adolescents developing their unique inner dialogue 

For more show notes, including transcripts, visit our website here.

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