He Was My Biggest Fear. Now He's Teaching Me. | with Zak Koenigs

Why Gen Z Isn't Dating (And Why It Should Scare Us) with Christine Emba

When Christine Emba, writer and author of "Rethinking Sex: A Provocation," told me about a young man who took crystal meth to hollow out his cheekbones, I felt that familiar 3am dread, because underneath every bit of that bravado is fear, and I see it in our kids.  So here's the thing: this episode is about why Gen Z has stopped dating, stopped connecting, and started "optimizing" themselves into total isolation, and what that loneliness is costing an entire generation.  Here's what Christine knows that most parents don't: the boys disappearing into looksmaxxing forums and AI companions aren't broken, they're scared and unmoored, raised in a world where the old social norms simply dissolved out from under them.  She gave me the most beautifully simple framework I've heard in a long time, and it starts with two words: "touch grass”, getting our kids off the screen and into third spaces, real rooms with real people. You'll walk away knowing how to ask your kid the one question that cracks the door open instead of slamming it, and why connection, not control, is still 100% the cure. FOR FULL SHOW NOTES & TO WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE, GO TO: badmompodcast.com/looksmaxxing [http://badmompodcast.com/looksmaxxing] KEY TAKEAWAYS: * Why a meth-and-steroids "looksmaxxing" influencer has a stranglehold on young men, and what it reveals about their fear * The substitution effect that's quietly stealing your son's ability to connect, one screen at a time * "You're optimizing yourself, but you're not connecting with anyone." The line that stopped me cold * Why the AI companion who never says no might be the most dangerous relationship your kid has * The "touch grass" approach Christine swears by * The one question to ask your teen that opens the door instead of starting a war * Why the social norms we took for granted have vanished, and what we owe our kids now 📌 Connect with Christine Emba * Christine’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christineemba/ * New York Times (contributing writer): "The Reason Gen Z Isn't Dating": https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/opinion/gen-z-dating-clavicular.html?unlocked_article_code=1.QVA.yJ7i.SQdR5N-Lf96Z&smid=url-share * Washington Post (essay): "Men Are Lost": https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/10/christine-emba-masculinity-new-model/ * Book: Rethinking Sex: A Provocation:https://www.amazon.com/Rethinking-Sex-Provocation-Christine-Emba/dp/0593087569 RESOURCES & NEXT STEPS: 👉 If you’ve ever thought, “Am I doing this right?” or felt the pain of wanting to do everything but not having the tools, this episode is for you. Listen, share it with another parent who needs healing and guidance, and subscribe to The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation. And remember: you are not a bad mom; you’re a bada$$ in a broken system. Keep fighting.  📌  Connect with Vivian Glyck & The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation * The Bad Mom Podcast on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/badmompodcast/?hl=en] * Vivian on Instagram  [https://www.instagram.com/vivianglyck/?hl=en] * The Bad Mom Podcast on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579494953451#] * The Bad Mom Podcast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TheBadMomPodcast] * The Bad Mom Podcast on TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@thebadmompodcast?_t=ZT-8zmOqrATaZL&_r=1] The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation is a Project Grit initiative: fortifying mental wellness for the next generation. Just Like My Child Foundation is a proud nonprofit partner of Project, committed to equipping today's youth with the tools they need to thrive and build a better future.  For Moms Running on Empty…This Coffee Hits Different  We are so excited to welcome Dave Asprey’s Danger Coffee as the first official sponsor of Project Grit and Bad Mom Podcast. The truth is that I am addicted to Danger Coffee and I won’t drink any other coffee so it’s a good thing there are so many great benefits to it! The flavor is way better than other premium brands and I get the caffeine support without the jitters. Get 10% off your next purchase here and keep Project Grit and Bad Mom Podcast afloat: https://dangercoffee.com/

He Was My Biggest Fear. Now He's Teaching Me. | with Zak Koenigs

When my son Zak Koenigs, founder of Prospect Forge, walked back into the studio for this second conversation, I could feel immediately that something had shifted in him, and honestly, that shift is the whole reason I brought him back.  We went deep on the data that should be keeping every parent of a son up at night: Scott Galloway's finding that 1 in 7 young men now reports zero friends, Gen Z unemployment running at 8.3% (more than double the national average), and the Federal Reserve's recent report that 41% of recent college graduates are underemployed right now.  Here's what Zak knows that most parents don't: the looks-maxing obsession, the nihilism, the incel rabbit holes, they all trace back to the same root, and once you understand that root, 100% of the conversation with your son changes.  He also breaks down how Prospect Forge is built on "democratizing nepotism," giving young people access to the networks and mentors they were never born into, and shares what he calls the most underrated tool for parents right now, the "cellular fast."  You will walk away from this episode knowing what your son might not be saying out loud, what community, forgiveness, and surrender look like as a practical action plan, and the next right thing you can do to open the door. FOR FULL SHOW NOTES & TO WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE, GO TO: badmompodcast.com/zak2 [http://badmompodcast.com/zak2] KEY TAKEAWAYS: * The number that will stop you cold: 1 in 7 young men has zero friends, and I finally understand what that silence actually looks like inside our homes. * The looks-maxing rabbit hole is not about vanity. What Zak says it's really about will completely change how you see your son. * Discover how Prospect Forge is "democratizing nepotism" and why a 23-year-old building this business might be one of the most important things happening for Gen Z right now. * Why Zak believes that almost all of Gen Z's nihilism, anger, and purposelessness traces back to a single missing ingredient, and what parents can actually do about it. * The "cellular fast": what it is, why it works, and why it is not about screen time rules at all. * Three words Zak left me with that I keep coming back to: community, forgiveness, and surrender. He calls it the bow on everything. I call it a lifeline. * There is a question you can ask your son right now that will tell you more than any lecture, any app blocker, or any conversation you have tried before. 📌 Connect with Zak and Prospect Forge * Prospect Forge: https://prospectforge.us [https://prospectforge.us/] RESOURCES & NEXT STEPS: 👉 If you’ve ever thought, “Am I doing this right?” or felt the pain of wanting to do everything but not having the tools, this episode is for you. Listen, share it with another parent who needs healing and guidance, and subscribe to The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation. And remember: you are not a bad mom; you’re a bada$$ in a broken system. Keep fighting.  📌  Connect with Vivian Glyck & The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation * The Bad Mom Podcast on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/badmompodcast/?hl=en] * Vivian on Instagram  [https://www.instagram.com/vivianglyck/?hl=en] * The Bad Mom Podcast on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579494953451#] * The Bad Mom Podcast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TheBadMomPodcast] * The Bad Mom Podcast on TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@thebadmompodcast?_t=ZT-8zmOqrATaZL&_r=1] The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation is a Project Grit initiative: fortifying mental wellness for the next generation. Just Like My Child Foundation is a proud nonprofit partner of Project, committed to equipping today's youth with the tools they need to thrive and build a better future.  For Moms Running on Empty…This Coffee Hits Different  We are so excited to welcome Dave Asprey’s Danger Coffee as the first official sponsor of Project Grit and Bad Mom Podcast. The truth is that I am addicted to Danger Coffee and I won’t drink any other coffee so it’s a good thing there are so many great benefits to it! The flavor is way better than other premium brands and I get the caffeine support without the jitters. Get 10% off your next purchase here and keep Project Grit and Bad Mom Podcast afloat: https://dangercoffee.com/

Why Is My Child So Anxious? Dr. Daniel Amen on Raising Mentally Strong Kids

Dr. Daniel Amen, psychiatrist, brain imaging pioneer, and author of Raising Mentally Strong Kids, asked me something early in our conversation that I haven't been able to shake: "How do you know unless you look?" He's been asking that question for 45 years, armed with nearly 300,000 SPECT brain scans, and watching his colleagues diagnose this complex, extraordinary organ without a single piece of biological data.  Here's what Dr. Amen knows that most parents don't: what looks like a mental health problem is almost always a brain health problem, and when you actually look at the brain, the answers hiding underneath the diagnosis are often completely different from what anyone expected. He walked me through the four-circle model he uses at Amen Clinics, biological, psychological, social, and spiritual, and why medicating a symptom without understanding the root is like putting a cast on a leg you haven't X-rayed.  The framework he introduced from Raising Mentally Strong Kids, built on the Love and Logic model with Charles Fay, gave me one of the simplest and most powerful reframes I've heard in this space: if you do too much for your children, you are building your self-esteem by stealing theirs.  You'll walk away knowing why your child's brain isn't fully developed until 25, what dopamine depletion actually looks like in a teen, and the one daily practice Dr. Amen calls more valuable than almost anything else you can do as a parent. FOR FULL SHOW NOTES & TO WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE, GO TO: badmompodcast.com/mentallystrongkids [http://badmompodcast.com/mentallystrongkids] KEY TAKEAWAYS: * What the nearly 300,000 brain scans Dr. Amen has collected reveal about why your kid's anxiety might have absolutely nothing to do with their mindset * Why the prefrontal cortex doesn't fully develop until 25, and what that means for every decision you've been trying to get your teen to make * The wild card nobody is talking about: how COVID physically changed the brain, and what before-and-after scans actually show * Discover the four-circle model (biological, psychological, social, and spiritual) that Amen Clinics uses instead of just writing a prescription * Why doing too much for your child doesn't help them at all, and the one phrase that got 50 million views because it hit every parent right in the gut * The "special time" practice that costs nothing, takes 20 minutes, and might be the single most effective tool for reconnecting with a kid who's pulling away * What's actually happening in your teen's brain on dopamine, how social media, video games, and pornography deplete it, and the simple strategies that can help the brain recover 📌 Connect with Dr. Amen * Website: https://www.amenclinics.com/ * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doc_amen/?hl=en [https://www.instagram.com/doc_amen/?hl=en] * TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@docamen * Book: Raising Mentally Strong Kids (with Charles Fay) https://www.amazon.com/Raising-Mentally-Strong-Kids-Neuroscience/dp/1496484797 * Podcast: Change Your Brain Every Day https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/change-your-brain-every-day/id1178337794 * Good Neighbor Day Initiative: https://goodneighborday.com/ RESOURCES & NEXT STEPS: 👉 If you’ve ever thought, “Am I doing this right?” or felt the pain of wanting to do everything but not having the tools, this episode is for you. Listen, share it with another parent who needs healing and guidance, and subscribe to The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation. And remember: you are not a bad mom; you’re a bada$$ in a broken system. Keep fighting.  📌  Connect with Vivian Glyck & The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation * The Bad Mom Podcast on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/badmompodcast/?hl=en] * Vivian on Instagram  [https://www.instagram.com/vivianglyck/?hl=en] * The Bad Mom Podcast on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579494953451#] * The Bad Mom Podcast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TheBadMomPodcast] * The Bad Mom Podcast on TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@thebadmompodcast?_t=ZT-8zmOqrATaZL&_r=1] The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation is a Project Grit initiative: fortifying mental wellness for the next generation. Just Like My Child Foundation is a proud nonprofit partner of Project, committed to equipping today's youth with the tools they need to thrive and build a better future. For Moms Running on Empty…This Coffee Hits Different We are so excited to welcome Dave Asprey’s Danger Coffee as the first official sponsor of Project Grit and Bad Mom Podcast. The truth is that I am addicted to Danger Coffee and I won’t drink any other coffee so it’s a good thing there are so many great benefits to it! The flavor is way better than other premium brands and I get the caffeine support without the jitters. Get 10% off your next purchase here and keep Project Grit and Bad Mom Podcast afloat: https://dangercoffee.com/

The Story Behind the Bad Mom: Why I Started All of This with Vivian Glyck

I have been asked one question more than almost any other: "Vivian, why did you start all of this?" And the real answer (the one that actually matters) is that I became a mother, and everything I thought I knew about myself got rewritten overnight.  This episode is probably the most personal one I've done, because I'm going to take you all the way back: to a hospital in Uganda where a thirteen-year-old girl died in childbirth and left her newborn daughter behind, to the back-to-back miscarriages that redirected my entire life, and then forward to the moment I looked at my own son Zak — bunkered in his room, isolated, anxious, depressed — and thought, "If I were a better mom, I would know what to do."  Here's what I now know that I didn't know then: the system is broken, not us. When 40% of high schoolers report persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and suicide has become the second leading cause of death for ages 10 to 24 (higher than cancer, heart disease, and AIDS combined!)  this is not a personal failure. This is a crisis.  The Girl Power Project, now scientifically studied by Texas A&M University and having reached over 200,000 individuals, taught me something I bring directly into Project Grit: you can transform everything just by telling a kid they have the power inside of themselves. You'll walk away from this episode knowing exactly where this podcast came from, why it exists, and why you, right now, in the middle of whatever hard thing you're in, are not a bad mom. You're a badass in a broken system. FOR FULL SHOW NOTES & TO WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE, GO TO: badmompodcast.com/originstory [https://badmompodcast.com/originstory] KEY TAKEAWAYS: * Why becoming a mother is the single most powerful origin story a woman can have and how it became the fuel for everything I've built * The moment in Uganda that broke me open and made it impossible to look away from children who were suffering * What I saw in my own son's bedroom during COVID that shook me to my core and made me realize I was not alone * Why the numbers around teen suicide, anxiety, and depression aren't just statistics: they're a five-alarm fire that nobody's treating like one * The unlikely connection between a girls' empowerment program in Uganda and a podcast about parenting anxious American kids * What the Girl Power Project, proven by Texas A&M University research, taught me about what every child actually needs to thrive * Why "taking care of yourself first and controlling what you can control" isn't self-help fluff: it's the foundation of everything For Moms Running on Empty…This Coffee Hits Different  We are so excited to welcome Dave Asprey’s Danger Coffee as the first official sponsor of Project Grit and Bad Mom Podcast. The truth is that I am addicted to Danger Coffee and I won’t drink any other coffee so it’s a good thing there are so many great benefits to it! The flavor is way better than other premium brands and I get the caffeine support without the jitters. Get 10% off your next purchase here and keep Project Grit and Bad Mom Podcast afloat: https://dangercoffee.com/ RESOURCES & NEXT STEPS: 👉 If you’ve ever thought, “Am I doing this right?” or felt the pain of wanting to do everything but not having the tools, this episode is for you. Listen, share it with another parent who needs healing and guidance, and subscribe to The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation. And remember: you are not a bad mom; you’re a bada$$ in a broken system. Keep fighting.  📌  Connect with Vivian Glyck & The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation * The Bad Mom Podcast on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/badmompodcast/?hl=en] * Vivian on Instagram  [https://www.instagram.com/vivianglyck/?hl=en] * The Bad Mom Podcast on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579494953451#] * The Bad Mom Podcast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TheBadMomPodcast] * The Bad Mom Podcast on TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@thebadmompodcast?_t=ZT-8zmOqrATaZL&_r=1] The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation is a Project Grit initiative: fortifying mental wellness for the next generation. Just Like My Child Foundation is a proud nonprofit partner of Project, committed to equipping today's youth with the tools they need to thrive and build a better future.

Why Your Teen's Brain Is Being Hijacked (And What to Do About It) with John Assaraf

John Assaraf, behavioral neuroscience researcher and founder of NeuroGym, said something to me in this conversation that I haven't been able to stop thinking about: "In the absence of practice, we all default to our highest level of training, or lack thereof."  That hit me somewhere deep. Because so many of us are parenting from our own unexamined defaults, while our kids are getting their brains hijacked by algorithms designed to keep them anxious, comparison-obsessed, and scrolling.  Here's what John knows that most parents don't: emotions wire into the brain 100 times faster than logic, which means by the time a teen's prefrontal cortex even comes online, the damage from doom scrolling, social comparison, and identity erosion can already be baked in.  He introduced me to his "uncommon wisdom" approach, a total reframe of how we try to reach our kids, and it's not what you think. You'll walk away knowing exactly why telling your kid what to do is neurologically guaranteed to fail, and what to do instead to actually build their identity, self-worth, and emotional resilience from the inside out. FOR FULL SHOW NOTES & TO WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE, GO TO: badmompodcast.com/overcomefear [http://badmompodcast.com/overcomefear] KEY TAKEAWAYS: * Why the teen brain is neurologically wired to tune you out, and what's actually happening up there that explains everything * Discover John's "uncommon wisdom" strategy: the counterintuitive move that gets your kid to absorb the exact lesson you want them to learn, without a single argument * The reason emotions wire into the brain 100 times faster than logic, and why that changes everything about how you approach an anxious teen * What "down-regulating the stress circuit" actually means, and the breathing and visualization technique (mental contrasting) that eliminated his 30-year-old son's recurring challenge in just seven days * Why your kid's doomsday thinking isn't stubbornness, it's neuroscience, and how the law of polarity can gently crack that open * The Innercise methodology: how to strengthen your kid's seven neuro muscles the same way you'd strengthen a physical muscle * The brilliant question John asked his young kids that made discipline almost argument-proof, and why "people defend what they participate in" 📌 Connect with John Assaraf * Website & Neuro Fitness Assessment: https://www.myneurogym.com * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnassaraf/ * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/JohnAssaraf * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnassarafpage/ * Books on Amazon:  * Innercise https://www.amazon.com/INNERCISE-Science-Unlock-Brains-Hidden/dp/1949001598 [https://www.amazon.com/INNERCISE-Science-Unlock-Brains-Hidden/dp/1949001598] * Having It All https://www.amazon.com/Having-All-Achieving-Lifes-Dreams/dp/141656361X/ [https://www.amazon.com/Having-All-Achieving-Lifes-Dreams/dp/141656361X/] RESOURCES & NEXT STEPS: 👉 If you’ve ever thought, “Am I doing this right?” or felt the pain of wanting to do everything but not having the tools, this episode is for you. Listen, share it with another parent who needs healing and guidance, and subscribe to The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation. And remember: you are not a bad mom; you’re a bada$$ in a broken system. Keep fighting.  📌  Connect with Vivian Glyck & The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation * The Bad Mom Podcast on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/badmompodcast/?hl=en] * Vivian on Instagram  [https://www.instagram.com/vivianglyck/?hl=en] * The Bad Mom Podcast on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579494953451#] * The Bad Mom Podcast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@TheBadMomPodcast] * The Bad Mom Podcast on TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@thebadmompodcast?_t=ZT-8zmOqrATaZL&_r=1] The Bad Mom Podcast: Parenting The Anxious Generation is a Project Grit initiative: fortifying mental wellness for the next generation. Just Like My Child Foundation is a proud nonprofit partner of Project, committed to equipping today's youth with the tools they need to thrive and build a better future. For Moms Running on Empty…This Coffee Hits Different We are so excited to welcome Dave Asprey’s Danger Coffee as the first official sponsor of Project Grit and Bad Mom Podcast. The truth is that I am addicted to Danger Coffee and I won’t drink any other coffee so it’s a good thing there are so many great benefits to it! The flavor is way better than other premium brands and I get the caffeine support without the jitters. Get 10% off your next purchase here and keep Project Grit and Bad Mom Podcast afloat: https://dangercoffee.com/