Demystifying Puberty and "Decoding Boys" | Cara Natterson, M.D., best-selling author

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#246 • Pediatrician and best-selling author of the American Girl series juggernaut The Care and Keeping of You, Dr. Cara Natterson joins us on Atomic Moms to demystify puberty and talk about her new book for parents Decoding Boys: The Subtle Art of Raising Sons. In this honest and informative conversation we discuss when to have "the talk" with our kids about their changing bodies, raising teens in the digital age (yes, we're talking about porn too), and how to navigate the emotional rollercoaster we can expect as our children reach adolescence.

Xx Ellie Knaus

Special thanks to our sound engineer Owen O’Neill, production assistant Olivia Hastie, and Jeremy Turner for our original theme composition.

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Episode Timestamps

  • 13:49: The definition and explanation of female puberty

  • 18:36: The definition and explanation of male puberty 

  • 21:38: How to teach the fathers of our children to be emotionally available during seasons of puberty

  • 25:22: Why it’s more important than ever that we teach our boys to communicate 

  • 30:20: When to start the conversation about puberty with your kids 

  • 32:10: How to empower your kids to want to go to bed

  • 33:55: How to empower your kids to take a bath 

  • 34:42: How to handle technology with your young kids 

  • 38:06: What to do when your kids hangout with their friends’ older siblings 

  • 40:16: Are the special restriction settings on apps, phones, and tablets worth the effort

  • 41:12: The average age of a boys first porn-viewing

  • 42:52: When to give your child a smartphone 

  • 45:12: How it’s not your child’s fault if they fall prey to porn 

  • 45:44: Your child’s brain susceptibility to addiction 

  • 52:44: The epidemic of teenage erectile dysfunction in intimacy because of pornography 

  • 53:57: How to talk to fathers about their child’s struggle with pornography

  • 54:17: How to have the gun-violence conversation with your children

A house-call with Dr. Cara Natterson!

 
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Crib Notes (AKA Episode Research)

About Our Guest: Dr. Cara Natterson

You can connect with Cara on her website, Twitter, and Facebook

You can connect with Cara on her website, Twitter, and Facebook

CARA NATTERSON, MD, is a pediatrician, consultant, and New York Times bestselling author of puberty and parenting books. Her newest book Decoding Boys: New Science Behind the Subtle Art of Raising Sons, is coming in February 2020. 

A graduate of Harvard College and Johns Hopkins Medical School, Cara trained in pediatrics at University of California at San Francisco. She began practicing medicine in her home town of Los Angeles, joining Tenth Street Pediatrics in Santa Monica where she cared for thousands of infants, children and teenagers. Eight years later, Cara founded Worry Proof Consulting, a practice that gives parents time their primary doctors often don’t have to cover medical, behavioral, and parenting issues in depth. Cara also began traveling the country speaking to both kids and parents about taking ownership of their health and wellness. Whether in the office or on the stage, she has a unique ability to make cutting- edge research understandable, even entertaining.

Cara is as passionate about community-based programs and innovation as she is about health and wellness. She is the Chair of the Board of Starlight Children’s Foundation, a 30-year old charity that brings technology, entertainment, and joy to children in nearly every hospital in America. She is also on the Medical Board of Advisors for The Honest Company, serves as an Advisor to Zemcar and has held seats on the boards of Baby2Baby and The John Thomas Dye School.

But more than any of this, Cara’s greatest feat to date is parenting her teenage daughter and her tween-age son with her husband Paul, a beloved cardiologist in Los Angeles.

Retail Therapy Available at Atomic Moms Shop!

#236 - MICHAEL C. REICHERT, Ph.D., clinical practitioner and founding director of the Center for the Study of Boys' and Girls' Lives at the University of Pennsylvania shares transformational insights from his extensive studies and his book How to Raise a Boy: The Power of Connection to Raise Good Men (TarcherPerigee, April 2019). We discuss discipline and the single most important factor that shapes how a boy learns. This is a conversation every educator and parent will want to hear. Listen up. You may have first heard this episode in April 2019. It’s worth a re-visit!

xx Ellie Knaus

Parenting HelpEllie Knausmotherhood, boys, boyhood, understanding boys, decoding boys, Carra Natterson, The Care and Keeping of You, Decoding Boys