174. Teen Anxiety and Avoidance: What Parents Should Know

174. Teen Anxiety and Avoidance: What Parents Should Know

Author: Therese Connolly July 10, 2025 Duration: 59:16

Is anxiety driving tension in your home—whether it's yours or your tween’s? Learn how to handle overwhelming moments with clarity, not panic.

Anxiety often shows up during parenting—especially for single parents raising tweens and teens. Whether it's screen time fights, emotional shutdowns, or school stress, these moments can be hard to navigate when you're anxious too. In this powerful conversation, Tess Connolly, LCSW, sits down with psychiatrist Dr. Tracy Foose to reframe how we see anxiety—and how to manage it instead of avoiding it.

  1. Learn how to reframe anxiety as a signal, not a problem to fix
  2. Get tips for communicating with your tween or teen during moments of emotional overload
  3. Discover why avoidance is more harmful than anxiety itself—and how to support your child through it

🎧 Tune in now to get expert tools for managing behavior, screen time, and anxiety in your single parent home—so you and your child feel more connected, not more overwhelmed.

Find out more about Dr.Tracy Foose here 👉 www.drfoose.com

📧Connect with Therese (Tess) Connolly, LCSW, CCC here👇: therese@mindfulkidsandfamilies.com Website: www.mindfulkidsandfamilies.com

🆘 Need 1:1 Support? Book right here to connect with Tess for a 45-minute FREE “Parent Reset” session: Parent Reset Call

⭐Got screen time problems at home? Get the Tech Reset Agreement here 👉Mindful Kids and Families

⭐️Join the Family and get your weekly Mindful Kids and Family Journal here: https://www.mindfulkidsandfamilies.com/join-the-family (Get ready for lessons, podcast leads, offers for parents, and ways to win free parent coaching or masterclasses)

The Single Parenting Reset Show supports single moms, working moms, and all parents with practical parenting tips on screen time, emotional regulation, co-parenting, stress relief, setting boundaries, building trust, and raising confident tweens and teens, while tackling tech addiction, behavior problems, and parent burnout with conscious parenting strategies for stronger family connection.

#singleparents #parentingtweensandteens #ScreenTime #behaviorproblems #Communication


Navigating the tween and teen years alone comes with a unique set of daily tests, from managing defiance to negotiating screen time in a connected world. Single Parenting Reset Show: For Solo Parents of Tweens and Teens is here for that journey. Hosted by Therese Connolly, a licensed clinical social worker and family coach, this podcast moves beyond theory to offer actionable steps you can use immediately. Therese draws on both professional expertise and a genuine understanding of the solo parent reality, where you’re the only one setting boundaries and mending fences. Conversations focus on turning behavioral challenges into opportunities for growth, finding realistic ways to pull kids from their devices, and fostering a home where communication actually works. You’ll hear strategies for building your own confidence as a parent while strengthening your family’s connections, all without the sugar-coating. This is a space for single moms and dads seeking real-life support, where every episode aims to provide a practical reset for the week ahead. Tune in for a blend of compassionate guidance and concrete tools designed specifically for the solo parent raising adolescents.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Single Parenting Reset Show: For Solo Parents of Tweens and Teens — Manage Behavior Problems, Reduce Screen Time & Improve Communication
Podcast Episodes
256. How to Discipline Teenagers Without Yelling or Power Struggles [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:13
Does disciplining your teenager leave you feeling drained, angry, or like nothing is working?If every boundary turns into an argument, every consequence becomes a negotiation, and every hard moment ends in distance, this…
255. How to Rebuild Trust With Your Teen or Tween after conflict [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:12
Has trust been strained between you and your teen or tween?Maybe there has been conflict. Maybe too many arguments. Maybe lying, secrecy, attitude, shutdown, or just that painful feeling of disconnection.If you have been…
251. Why Teens Shut Down When Parents Try to Talk [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:56
Does your teenager shut down when you try to talk?Many parents feel frustrated when conversations with teens turn into silence, eye rolls, or one-word answers.But the reason teens shut down may not be what you think.In t…
248. How to Talk to Teenagers So They Actually Listen [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 10:37
Trying to talk to your teenager and getting eye rolls, silence, or one-word answers?If conversations with your tween or teen feel harder lately, you’re not imagining it. Research shows that parent-teen conflict tends to…