The Middle School Mary Poppins Podcast

🌱 Garden of Weedy Thoughts: Helping Middle Schoolers Bust Cognitive Distortions & Calm Anxiety
Why does your middle schooler suddenly believe everyone is judging them? Why can one awkward interaction at school turn into “Nobody likes me!”? And why do worries seem to grow so quickly during adolescence?
Welcome to the strange garden of the middle school brain.
In this week’s episode of Middle School Mary Poppins, Suzanne M. Swain, EdS, LMSW, is joined by Jessica Ragnio, MSW, LICSW, Clinical Director at Mightier, to explore one of the most important mental health concepts parents can teach their children: cognitive distortions—the thinking traps that make anxiety feel real, even when our thoughts aren’t telling us the whole story.
Using a whimsical garden metaphor, Suzanne explains why middle school isn’t just a grade level—it’s a culture. Together, Suzanne and Jessica discuss how anxiety quietly plants “sticky weeds” in our minds, why belonging becomes so important during adolescence, and how parents can help children recognize these unhelpful thought patterns before they take over the entire garden.
🌸 In This Episode You’ll Learn
🌷 What cognitive distortions are—and why they feel so believable.
🌼 Why anxiety often shows up as stomach aches, headaches, perfectionism, school avoidance, or irritability.
🌺 How girls and boys may experience anxiety differently during adolescence.
🌻 Why friendships, cliques, and social belonging feel so overwhelming in middle school.
🪻 How thoughts, emotions, and behaviors work together to shape our experiences.
🌹 Practical ways to help children challenge anxious thinking with curiosity instead of fear.
🌿 Why Stop. Regulate. Listen. is a brain-based strategy that helps kids regulate emotions before solving problems.
🌱 Free Family Activity
Continue today’s conversation with the Garden of Weedy Thoughts family activity from Mightier:
https://www.mightier.com/resources/weeds-badge-activities/
💜 Special Offer from Mightier
NOTE: Suzanne is NOT being paid by them. She simply loves what they do for  for and the research behind it. An evidence- based way to help your child build emotional regulation skills? They created a video game tablet where the game uses heart rate information to include that in the gameplay where regulation is taught by the video game itself! Self-sufficiency is good! My neighbor kiddo used it and his mother is thrilled! Affordable too! The best part about the company are the people!
Middle School Mary Poppins listeners receive 15% OFF Mightier with promo code:MARYPOPPINS
🎥 Watch on YouTube
Watch full podcast episodes, parenting shorts, bonus clips, and exclusive content on our YouTube channel:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE_8pZC17nLY&si=kiKjRO_sx9Uu-3l8
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⭐ Thank You
A heartfelt thank you to our incredible community for your encouragement, thoughtful messages, and recent reviews. Because of your support, Middle School Mary Poppins is now approaching 675,000 downloads worldwide and has earned more than 6,100 five-star reviews on Spotify!
Every download, review, subscription, and recommendation helps another parent, educator, counselor, or caregiver discover tools that can truly make a difference in a child’s life.
If today’s episode encouraged you, one of the greatest ways you can support the podcast is by:
💜 Following the show on your favorite podcast platform.
⭐ Leaving a rating or written review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
🎥 Subscribing to our YouTube channel and sharing your favorite episodes.
📣 Sharing this episode with another parent, teacher, or caregiver who could use a little extra support.
Your kindness helps this community continue to grow, and I truly appreciate every single one of you.
Stay clever, little foxes. 🦊💜

SEO Topics
Middle school anxiety • Cognitive distortions • Parenting tweens • Tween mental health • Emotional regulation • School anxiety • Adolescent brain • Friendship drama • Self-esteem • Parenting middle schoolers • Social Emotional Learning (SEL) • Executive functioning • Neurodivergent children • Autism • ADHD • Anxiety in girls • Anxiety in boys • Parenting podcast • Teacher resources • Family mental health • Brain-based parenting • Cognitive behavioral strategies • Middle school behavior

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Why does your middle schooler seem happy, anxious, excited, embarrassed, frustrated, and overwhelmed—all before dinner?
In Week 3 of our whole family Socioemotional Learning (SEL) Summer Camp series, Suzanne M. Swain, EdS, LMSW, is joined by Jessica Ragnio, MSW, LICSW, Clinical Director at Mightier, to explore the fascinating world of adolescent emotions. Always a good hang with Jessica! 
Together, the duo discuss why emotions become more intense during the middle school years, how identity development, independence, social awareness, and puberty shape emotional experiences, and what neuroscience can teach us about the adolescent brain.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
🌊 Why middle school emotions can feel like an emotional hurricane
🧠 How the adolescent brain develops differently than the adult brain
💜 Why kids often experience multiple emotions at the same time
⚡ How emotional energy and emotional valence help us better understand feelings
🌡️ Why emotions show up in the body before children always have words for them
🎣 How families can build emotional awareness through conversation and play
You’ll also learn why social rejection can genuinely hurt, what cortisol has to do with emotional regulation, and how helping kids recognize body signals can strengthen lifelong emotional intelligence.
🎣 FREE FAMILY ACTIVITY: FISHING FOR FEELINGS
Download this week’s activity here:
https://www.mightier.com/resources/emotional-awareness-activities/
Fishing for Feelings helps families build emotional vocabulary, identify body signals, and create meaningful conversations about emotions in a fun and engaging way.
SPECIAL OFFER: Our friends at Mightier help children build emotional regulation skills through gameplay and biofeedback.
Use coupon code: MARYPOPPINS for 15% off.
Guest:
Jessica Ragnio, MSW, LICSW
Clinical Director, Mightier
Remember:
We don’t stop the waves. We learn how to ride them.
Stop. Regulate. Listen.
Stay clever, little foxes. 💜🦊
A very special thanks to StellaMix productions and Janine Stella for her incredible production work. Please go to stellamix.com for all of your podcasting needs.
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💜☂️ Are Screens Evil or Not? Chocolate Cake, Dopamine & the Middle School Brain | SEL Summer Camp Week 2
Why do kids seem glued to their phones? Why do texts, group chats, likes, and social media feel so important during middle school? And are screens really harming kids—or is the answer more complicated than that?
In Week 2 of our SEL Summer Camp collaboration with Mightier, Suzanne Swain, EdS, LMSW sits down with developmental scientist Jason Kahn, PhD, co-founder of Mightier, to explore what brain science actually tells us about technology, screen time, dopamine, emotional regulation, social media, friendships, and adolescent development.
Together, we discuss:
 🧠 The middle school brain and dopamine
 📱 Why social media feels so powerful
 🍰 The “Chocolate Cake Theory” of technology
 💬 Why kids see phones differently than adults
 ❤️ The importance of belonging during adolescence
 🎮 Healthy technology habits and screen balance
 🌱 Boredom, creativity, and imagination
 🏕️ Family conversations that reduce conflict and build connection
This episode helps parents, educators, counselors, and caregivers better understand how technology interacts with the developing adolescent brain—and how to guide middle schoolers toward healthier digital habits without shame, fear, or constant power struggles.
Special SEL Summer Camp Partner: Mightier
Mightier uses biofeedback-powered video games to help kids build emotional regulation skills in real time. Middle School Mary Poppins listeners receive 15% off with code MARYPOPPINS at Mightier.com.
📥 Download this week’s Summer Camp activity guide:
 msmarypoppins.com
📧 Questions or stories?
 SuzanneSwain@gmail.com
#Parenting #MiddleSchool #ScreenTime #SocialMedia #Dopamine #AdolescentBrain #EmotionalRegulation #SEL #SocialEmotionalLearning #ExecutiveFunctioning #Neurodiversity #TweenParenting #TeenParenting #ChildDevelopment #DigitalWellness #Mightier #MiddleSchoolMaryPoppins #BrainScience #ParentingPodcast #FamilyConnection

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☀️ SEL Summer Camp is Here!
Pack your curiosity, grab your emotional toolkit, and join us for a one-of-a-kind summer adventure!
Middle School Mary Poppins is teaming up with Mightier for a special six-week SEL (Social Emotional Learning) Summer Camp designed specifically for middle school families.
Together, we’ll explore the fascinating world of emotions, friendships, technology, anxiety, anger, communication, and the developing adolescent brain through engaging conversations, family activities, brain science, and practical tools you can use right away.
Joining Suzanne throughout the series is Jason Kahn, PhD, Chief Science Officer at Mightier, who brings years of expertise in developmental psychology, emotional regulation, and helping kids build resilience through play.
Each week we’ll tackle a new topic:
🧠 Week 1: S2 EP 28 - SEL Summer Camp Week 1 - Adolescent Brains: A Powerful Engine, Sensitive Alarm, & Driver Still in Training
Understanding the middle school brain and why adolescents think, feel, and react differently than adults.
📚Camp Week 1 Download:
https://www.mightier.com/resources/5-steps-to-unstick-your-thinking-for-parents/

💜This article contains a list of strategies for parents & families that prompt them to stop and reflect in the moment of disagreement or miscommunication with their child. The strategies help families separate out their own emotions and perspective in order to better see their child's perspective. 
Future Camp Sessions & Topics:
📱 Week 2: Are Screens Evil or Not?
Technology, dopamine, gaming, and finding healthy family balance.
🌊 Week 3: Oceans of Emotion
Exploring feelings, emotional awareness, and the surprising ways emotions work together.
🌱 Week 4: Garden of Weedy Thoughts
Understanding anxiety, self-esteem, and those pesky cognitive distortions that can take over our thinking.
🌋 Week 5: Volcano of Anger
Learning what lives underneath anger and how to regulate big emotions before they erupt.
🤝 Week 6: Social Skills Lab
Building friendships, communication skills, empathy, and confidence through connection.
Throughout the summer, families will receive conversation starters, activities, reflection questions, and practical strategies that make Social Emotional Learning fun, meaningful, and accessible.
Why MSMP is Partnering with Mightier
At Middle School Mary Poppins, we believe emotional regulation isn’t something kids magically know how to do.
It’s a skill.
And skills require practice.
That’s why we’re excited to partner with Mightier, a program that helps children build emotional regulation skills through biofeedback-powered games that teach kids how to recognize what’s happening inside their bodies and practice calming strategies in real time.
💜 Special Offer for Middle School Mary Poppins Families
Receive 15% OFF Mightier with code: MARYPOPPINS
Whether you’re a parent, grandparent, teacher, counselor, therapist, or simply someone who loves a middle schooler, this series is for you.
So grab your camp gear, bring your curiosity, and join us as we spend six weeks exploring the most important classroom your child will ever have:
Their brain.
See you at camp!
☂️ Suzanne Swain, EdS, LMSW
 Middle School Mary Poppins
🦊 Stay clever, little foxes
🏆Shoutout to StellaMix Studios for making this possible! 🤗🔥💜
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Middle school can feel like a daily showdown… until you realize the kid isn’t always the problem. Sometimes the kid is the signal.
In this episode of The Middle School Mary Poppins Podcast, Suzanne Swain, EDS LMSW explores the moments that make adults throw their hands in the air and ask, “Seriously?!” — and why that reaction is understandable, but often aimed at the wrong target. When behavior goes sideways, we tend to place the full weight of the situation on a 12- or 13-year-old navigating hormones, identity development, social pressure, emotional overwhelm, and a brain that is still developing impulse control and executive functioning. That isn’t an excuse for harmful behavior… it’s a roadmap for understanding it.
Drawing from years of real middle school classroom management experience, Suzanne walks listeners through a systems-based approach to behavior that focuses on emotional safety, clear expectations, simple procedures, and consistent boundaries. You’ll hear why consistency matters more than intensity, why fewer rules often work better than dozens of threats, and how becoming “annoyingly predictable” can actually help kids feel safer and more regulated. The episode also explores metacognition — the adult skill of noticing what’s happening internally before reacting externally — and how our own regulation often shapes the emotional climate around children.
But structure alone is never enough. Kids also need connection. This episode unpacks the idea of “connection before correction” and why trust, co-regulation, and emotional repair are critical parts of accountability. Suzanne also discusses some of the hidden stressors affecting today’s tweens and teens, including chronic sleep deprivation, overstimulation, emotional exhaustion, and constant screen saturation.
Blending neuroscience, humor, emotional critical thinking, and real classroom insight, this conversation offers a more compassionate lens for understanding middle schoolers without removing accountability or structure.
💜 ND Friendly Listening Note: MSMP is designed with neurodivergent listeners in mind. Ads and interruptions are intentionally kept to a minimum and placed thoughtfully for continuity and emotional regulation support.
☂️ ENTER THE NEW CONTEST: head to the website and join the mailing list for a chance to win a 45 minute family session with Suzanne! 
💜☂️Visit msmarypoppins.com for resources, updates, and ways to support the show.
Produced by StellaMix Podcast Productions. Reach out to my high school buddy Janine for all of your podcast needs as she is the wizard you need!
 🌐 stellamix.com
🦊Stay clever, little foxes. You got this! 

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