Advertise on podcast: Parenting the Middle School Years with Joe Martin

We tell kids to choose good friends. But are we teaching them how to BE one? Middle school friendships can bring belonging, laughter, and support but also gossip, jealousy, hurt feelings, and group chat drama. In this episode of Parenting the Middle School Years with Joe Martin, Joe shares 10 practical friendship rules to help tweens and young teens build trust, respect boundaries, and support each other. Parents and middle schoolers will learn how to: • Be loyal to friends when they aren’t around • Include someone who feels left out • Support a hurting friend without rushing to offer advice • Celebrate a friend’s success, even when feeling disappointed • Keep promises and protect private conversations • Recognize when a dangerous secret requires a trusted adult’s help • Have a friend’s back while encouraging better choices and growth • Respect “no,” give meaningful apologies, and accept differences Whether your child is navigating changing friend groups, struggling with friendship problems, or learning what healthy friendships look like, these rules give you a useful starting point for conversation. Listen together, choose one rule to practice, and help your child become the kind of friend they’d want to have. Share this episode with another parent and follow Parenting the Middle School Years for practical guidance on raising confident, responsible, and resilient kids. This episode is sponsored by Old Towne Custom Concrete, a locally and veteran owned Huntsville concrete contractor specializing in: decorative concrete, stamped concrete, concrete staining, epoxy garage system's.  When you need concrete done right, call Old Towne Custom Concrete at 256-714-9949

Why does your middle schooler argue about everything and how do you stop the back-and-forth without giving in? If requests about homework, screen time, chores, or bedtime keep turning into debates, this episode of Parenting the Middle School Years with Joe Martin is for you. Joe explores why tweens and young teens push back, how their growing need for independence can fuel conflict, and what parents can do to keep everyday disagreements from becoming power struggles. You’ll learn how to: • Set clear boundaries without overexplaining or negotiating every rule • Recognize when an argument is really about wanting more control • Stop accepting every invitation to argue • Pause heated conversations and return when everyone is calmer • Teach your child to disagree respectfully and advocate for themselves You don’t have to win every argument to be an effective parent. You can hold your ground, give your child room to be heard, and help them practice better communication. Listen for practical parenting strategies you can use the next time “Please put your phone away” turns into a courtroom drama. Share this episode with a parent navigating the tween and early teen years and follow Parenting the Middle School Years for more help raising confident, responsible, and resilient kids. This episode is sponsored by Old Towne Custom Concrete, a locally and veteran owned Huntsville concrete contractor specializing in: decorative concrete, stamped concrete, concrete staining, epoxy garage system's.  When you need concrete done right, call Old Towne Custom Concrete at 256-714-9949

What should you actually do when your child tells you they’re being bullied? In this episode of Parenting the Middle School Years, Joe Martin breaks down five practical steps parents can use to help a middle schooler dealing with bullying: LISTEN, LOCATE, CONNECT, PRACTICE, and FOLLOW UP. You’ll learn why “just ignore it” isn’t enough, why immediately telling your child to fight back can make things worse, how to work with the school more effectively, and what your child needs most from you when they’re hurting. Because your job isn’t to fight every battle for them. It’s to help them feel safe, supported, and prepared to handle what comes next. This episode is sponsored by Old Towne Custom Concrete, a locally and veteran owned Huntsville concrete contractor specializing in: decorative concrete, stamped concrete, concrete staining, epoxy garage system's.  When you need concrete done right, call Old Towne Custom Concrete at 256-714-9949

What kind of young man are you raising? A disturbing story involving current and former Cornell students got me thinking about a question every parent of a middle school boy should consider: Would your son have the courage to speak up if his friends were doing something he knew was wrong? As parents, we spend a lot of time teaching boys what not to do. Don't bully. Don't mistreat girls. Don't do drugs. Don't get into trouble. But raising good young men requires another conversation. What happens when your son isn't the one doing something wrong—but he's standing there watching it happen? In this episode of Parenting the Middle School Years, Joe Martin talks about raising boys with courage, character, confidence, and the willingness to stand up for others. Even when speaking up could cost them popularity or friendships. You'll learn how to talk with your middle school son about peer pressure, bullying, group chats, disrespect toward girls, being a bystander, getting an adult involved, and knowing the difference between courage and unnecessarily putting himself in danger. Because these lessons don't suddenly begin when our boys leave for college. They're being practiced right now: in middle school hallways, locker rooms, sports teams, friend groups, and group chats. One of the most important questions we can ask isn't simply: “Would my son ever do something like that?” It's: “What would my son do if his FRIEND did something like that?” If you're raising a middle school boy and want to help him become a good man who knows when to speak up, when to get help, and how to do the right thing when everyone around him is doing the wrong thing, this episode is for you. They're not who they're going to be.

Kids aren't just using AI and ChatGPT for homework anymore. They're using it for advice, relationships, personal questions, and problems they may not feel comfortable discussing with their parents. In this episode of Parenting the Middle School Years, Joe Martin explores what parents need to know about middle schoolers and AI and how to keep technology from replacing real parent-child communication. You'll learn why kids may turn to AI for advice, when AI use becomes concerning, how to set healthy technology boundaries, and practical ways to become the person your child feels comfortable talking to when something really matters. AI isn't going away. The goal isn't to fear it, it's to help your middle schooler use it wisely while keeping real human connection at the center. If you ever need help with your middle schooler, we do one on one mentoring at Relentless Positivity Mentoring.

A viral social media trend can turn into a real-world problem in seconds. In this episode of Parenting the Middle School Years, Joe Martin breaks down the viral “Cat in the Hat” trend and how AI-generated posts, group chats, and online jokes can cross the line into threats, school discipline, police investigations, and even criminal charges. Joe gives parents practical tools to help middle schoolers think before they post, text, share, or follow the crowd, including his simple 10-second rule and one powerful question kids can ask before hitting send. You’ll learn how to talk with your child about social media safety, peer pressure, online behavior, AI-generated content, and making better decisions when everyone else is joining in. The goal isn’t to keep kids off social media. It’s to help them develop an internal voice that says: “Hold up. Is this a good idea?” A practical episode for parents raising middle schoolers in the age of TikTok, Snapchat, group chats, viral trends, and AI.

What if your middle schooler isn’t lost, they just haven’t found their thing yet? Joe Martin shares the story of a young man who once struggled with confidence, direction, and motivation. Years later, he’s healthy, strong, working, doing well in school, preparing for the ACT, and planning a future in health and fitness. For parents of middle schoolers, it’s a reminder to keep planting seeds even when it seems like nothing is working. In this episode, Joe talks about building confidence through small wins, helping kids find purpose through sports, fitness, music, art, work, service, or other interests, and why parents shouldn’t confuse the planting season with the harvest. Keep showing up. Keep encouraging them. Keep planting seeds. They’re not who they’re going to be. Relentless Positivity Mentoring https://fitandpositive.com/rpm

It’s easy to look at something your middle schooler is struggling with today and start worrying about what it means for their future. But your 12-, 13-, or 14-year-old is still becoming who they’re going to be. In this episode of Parenting the Middle School Years, Joe shares an unfortunate 8th-grade photo featuring a mullet and an Iron Maiden T-shirt and the much bigger lesson hiding behind it. We talk about why middle school is supposed to be messy, why parents need to stop projecting today’s problems into their child’s future, and why we should correct bad decisions without turning them into labels. Joe also shares a simple challenge that can help your middle schooler see that you were once an insecure, awkward kid trying to figure things out too. Your child may not have confidence yet. They may make mistakes. They may care way too much about what their friends think. That’s a snapshot. It’s not the whole story. Keep parenting. Keep listening. Keep setting boundaries. And keep believing in the person they’re becoming. They’re not who they’re going to be.

When anger takes over, there may be more happening underneath. In this episode of Parenting the Middle School Years, Joe Martin explains how fear, embarrassment, rejection, overwhelm, and insecurity can sometimes show up as anger. And how parents can respond without ignoring bad behavior. Learn why it helps to calm things down first, get curious later, and help your middle schooler identify what they’re really feeling.

Tired of asking your middle schooler, “How was school?” only to hear “fine” or “nothing”? In this episode of Parenting the Middle School Years, Joe shares 5 better questions that can actually get your child talking, why listening matters more than immediately giving advice, and a simple challenge to help you create better conversations with your middle schooler. Relentless Positivity Mentoring https://fitandpositive.com/rpm

In this episode, Joe talks about why your middle schooler may start pulling away and why that doesn’t mean they need you any less. Learn how your role changes as they become more independent, why listening sometimes matters more than fixing, and simple ways to stay connected during these important years. https://fitandpositive.com/rpm

Hearing those words can break a parent's heart. In this episode, Joe shares practical ways to help your middle schooler build friendships, why making friends is harder in today's screen-filled world, and simple steps parents can take to build their child's confidence one conversation at a time. Because every meaningful friendship starts somewhere. Visit our website to learn more about our mentoring program and see if it could be the right fit for your child https://fitandpositive.com/rpm

If you're listening to this on Monday in Huntsville ALabama, your child probably starts school in just a few days. Some of you are excited. Some of you are nervous. And if your child is heading into middle school for the very first time, you might be wondering, "Have I forgotten something?" Today I want to give you 10 simple things you can do this week that will set your child up for a great school year. None of these cost any money. None of them require a special app.But every one of them can make a difference. Visit our website to learn more about our mentoring program and see if it could be the right fit for your child. https://fitandpositive.com/rpm

What if the biggest lie your middle schooler believes is that who they are today is who they'll always be? In this episode of Parenting the Middle School Years, Joe Martin shares why one of the greatest gifts parents can give their children is the belief that they are still becoming. Learn how to replace limiting labels with hope, use the power of the word "yet," and help your child see their potential instead of their current struggles. Challenge of the Week: Catch your child growing. Point out one way they've improved and remind them they're not who they're going to be. Sometimes a parent's words become a child's future.

Just hear me out on this one! Screens are a concern, but it's more about what they replace. Here are 5 things we need to make sure screens never replace and how we can do that.