Flusterclux With Lynn Lyons: For Parents Who Worry

A listener asks a question about being left out of her children’s therapy following the death of their father. The listener is baffled and so is Lynn, so she’s climbing back on her soap box to explain the benefits of working with parents and children together and how parents can seek out therapists that focus on building family/parenting skills. WE'VE MADE PLAYLISTS OF OUR EPISODES TO HELP YOU FIND RESOURCES ON SPECIFIC TOPICS. Here is our first: For those brand new to the podcast, we suggest starting with this playlist featuring Lynn Lyons and the 7-part anxiety disruptor series as well as a 3-part series on the skills most helpful in managing anxious kids: flexibility, problem solving, and autonomy. Consult our Spotify profile for the most up-to-date selection. We will select two listeners who complete our listener survey. We hope it is you! FOLLOW US Join the Facebook group to get news on the upcoming courses for parents, teens, and kids. Follow Flusterclux on Facebook and Instagram. Follow Lynn Lyons on Twitter and Youtube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They explore how steady adult presence helps kids manage big feelings through shared, device-free activities. Practical ideas include reading side-by-side, cooking, puzzles, music, and slow creative projects. The conversation highlights rituals, age-tailored routines, and using everyday moments to model calm connection and build family resilience.

In this recast of an important episode from Seasons 2, we tackle the toxicity of our current achievement culture. It’s so normalized, it’s now invisible to us. Lynn has a must hear answer for kids of any age. WE'VE MADE PLAYLISTS OF OUR EPISODES TO HELP YOU FIND RESOURCES ON SPECIFIC TOPICS. Here is our first: For those brand new to the podcast, we suggest starting with this playlist featuring Lynn Lyons and the 7-part anxiety disruptor series as well as a 3-part series on the skills most helpful in managing anxious kids: flexibility, problem solving, and autonomy. Consult our Spotify profile for the most up-to-date selection.   We will select two listeners who complete our listener survey. We hope it is you!   FOLLOW US Join the Facebook group to get news on the upcoming courses for parents, teens, and kids. Follow Flusterclux on Facebook and Instagram. Follow Lynn Lyons on Twitter and Youtube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A listener asked a common question: how do I help someone who’s having a “real” panic attack? In this episode, we talk about the different terms people use to describe anxiety symptoms (including panic) and the wonderfully consistent way to deal with them. Spoiler alert: we’re stepping in on purpose to retrain the brain. Here are the past Flusterclux episodes discussed by Lynn & Robin: Passing Out From Anxiety: Funny Tales From Our Family of Fainters WE'VE MADE PLAYLISTS OF OUR EPISODES TO HELP YOU FIND RESOURCES ON SPECIFIC TOPICS. Here is our first: For those brand new to the podcast, we suggest starting with this playlist featuring Lynn Lyons and the 7-part anxiety disruptor series as well as a 3-part series on the skills most helpful in managing anxious kids: flexibility, problem solving, and autonomy. Consult our Spotify profile for the most up-to-date selection.   We will select two listeners who complete our listener survey. We hope it is you!   FOLLOW US Join the Facebook group to get news on the upcoming courses for parents, teens, and kids. Follow Flusterclux on Facebook and Instagram. Follow Lynn Lyons on Twitter and Youtube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A listener has a question about the diagnosis of ODD, oppositional defiant disorder. What does this diagnosis mean, what does this label offer families, and why (in Lynn’s and others' opinion) is it inadequate and even harmful in understanding children who are struggling? The bigger question to ask: how do we help kids and parents when behavior is unmanageable? Here are the past Flusterclux episodes discussed by Lynn & Robin: Real Talk with ADHD Expert Ryan Wexelblatt: Anxiety, ADHD and the Mess We're In Helping Your ADHD Kid with Social Struggles: A New Conversation with ADHD Expert Ryan Wexelblatt How to Help Your Child with Friendships and Likability "Parents Still Matter!" Lynn Discusses Recent Research Surrounding Our Kids WE'VE MADE PLAYLISTS OF OUR EPISODES TO HELP YOU FIND RESOURCES ON SPECIFIC TOPICS. Here is our first: For those brand new to the podcast, we suggest starting with this playlist featuring Lynn Lyons and the 7-part anxiety disruptor series as well as a 3-part series on the skills most helpful in managing anxious kids: flexibility, problem solving, and autonomy. Consult our Spotify profile for the most up-to-date selection.   We will select two listeners who complete our listener survey. We hope it is you!   FOLLOW US Join the Facebook group to get news on the upcoming courses for parents, teens, and kids. Follow Flusterclux on Facebook and Instagram. Follow Lynn Lyons on Twitter and Youtube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They unpack how worry turns normal sensations into terrifying symptoms and why medical reassurance can become its own trap. They cover common anxiety-driven complaints like headaches, breathing issues, GI problems, and muscle tension. They explore mind-body ideas about back pain and practical ways parents and schools can avoid reinforcing symptom-focused behavior.

They explain how parents' words shape kids' social fears and why temperament matters. Research on verbal previews and behavioral inhibition gets a clear breakdown. Practical phrases to avoid and optimistic alternatives for playdates are modeled. Tips include neutral emotional displays, simple family mantras, and ways to turn anxious patterns into healthy social risk-taking.

In this episode, Robin and Lynn tackle the topic of siblings. How can parents best balance the significant needs of one child with the needs of other siblings? Be it anxiety, OCD, or medical issues, how are siblings impacted? And how can families interrupt patterns, have direct conversations and, as always, stay out of the powerful cult of anxiety? WE'VE MADE PLAYLISTS OF OUR EPISODES TO HELP YOU FIND RESOURCES ON SPECIFIC TOPICS. Here is our first: For those brand new to the podcast, we suggest starting with this playlist featuring Lynn Lyons and the 7-part anxiety disruptor series as well as a 3-part series on the skills most helpful in managing anxious kids: flexibility, problem solving, and autonomy. Consult our Spotify profile for the most up-to-date selection.   We will select two listeners who complete our listener survey. We hope it is you!   FOLLOW US Join the Facebook group to get news on the upcoming courses for parents, teens, and kids. Follow Flusterclux on Facebook and Instagram. Follow Lynn Lyons on Twitter and Youtube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have you heard of ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder)? It describes extreme “picky eating” and can hijack families. But as with most disorders that seem to move quickly into parenting awareness, information, treatment, and internet discussions are all over the place. In this episode, Lynn brings back her colleague Mindy Szelap for a dose of solid information, myth-busting, and practical steps to take. What’s normal developmentally? What are the do’s and don’ts of mealtime? And does a parent’s anxiety make it worse? Yup. Find Mindy at: https://www.bayareaspacetreatment.com/ WE'VE MADE PLAYLISTS OF OUR EPISODES TO HELP YOU FIND RESOURCES ON SPECIFIC TOPICS. Here is our first: For those brand new to the podcast, we suggest starting with this playlist featuring Lynn Lyons and the 7-part anxiety disruptor series as well as a 3-part series on the skills most helpful in managing anxious kids: flexibility, problem solving, and autonomy. Consult our Spotify profile for the most up-to-date selection.   We will select two listeners who complete our listener survey. We hope it is you!   FOLLOW US Join the Facebook group to get news on the upcoming courses for parents, teens, and kids. Follow Flusterclux on Facebook and Instagram. Follow Lynn Lyons on Twitter and Youtube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A listener asks a very relatable question: how do I help my perfectionist daughter manage the overwhelming demands of junior year without being stressed, tired and miserable? What’s the skill we need to teach our high schoolers…and what do messages do we parents need to stop sending? Here's the Season 2 episode referenced in today' s podacst: High Anxiety & Good Grades: Our Toxic Achievement Culture WE'VE MADE PLAYLISTS OF OUR EPISODES TO HELP YOU FIND RESOURCES ON SPECIFIC TOPICS. Here is our first: For those brand new to the podcast, we suggest starting with this playlist featuring Lynn Lyons and the 7-part anxiety disruptor series as well as a 3-part series on the skills most helpful in managing anxious kids: flexibility, problem solving, and autonomy. Consult our Spotify profile for the most up-to-date selection.   We will select two listeners who complete our listener survey. We hope it is you!   FOLLOW US Join the Facebook group to get news on the upcoming courses for parents, teens, and kids. Follow Flusterclux on Facebook and Instagram. Follow Lynn Lyons on Twitter and Youtube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices