Middle School Update: Parenting Skills to
Unlock the Magic in Your Tween
How is middle school going?
Social drama? Too much tech and social media? Sensing anxiety? Or maybe you're feeling distant or pushed away?
These are all common middle school challenges. While they can be problematic, they reflect healthy development and can be addressed if you understand where these behaviors come from and know how to respond effectively.
With just a little knowledge and a few new skills, you can help your child move through the tween years like a champ, decreasing your worry and increasing your connection and confidence.
And the best news is that the latest neuroscience has uncovered the truth about middle school development, and it's nothing short of magical!
Your child is on an epic journey of discovery, a process that will forever serve as the foundation for their adult life. If you understand what's going on, you'll be able to provide the guidance and support your child needs to leverage the enormous growth potential this stage offers.
What You'll Learn
Whether this is your first time on the wild ride through middle school, or this isn't your first rodeo, this program will help you build a foundation of knowledge, understanding, and skills that will help make this amazing journey epic - for your child and for you!
Unlock hidden opportunities
Flip the script! Despite what you hear to the contrary, middle school is full of opportunity - for you and your tween. You simply have to know where to find the opportunities and what to do to release the magic that's there just waiting to be set free.
Designed for
minimal effort & maximum impact.
- Eight weekly Zoom calls with your cohort and coach
- Weekly reflection prompts
- New skills for new times - exercises and tools to learn new parenting skills and practices that bring out the best in your tween (and often in you too!)
- Timely text reminders to keep you on track
- *optional exercises, scripts, and access to resources to deepen your experience
You will come away with a new understanding of your child, increased patience with their behavior, and a newfound confidence in your ability to make your child's middle school years some of the best years ever!
Key Insights & Skills
- A new understanding of the opportunities hiding in the Middle School journey
- The Five Primary Needs of Middle Schoolers (and how they drive behavior)
- Your new role & how to embrace it
- Parenting strategies and skills to build trust, connection, and companioning
- Understanding middle school social dynamics, defining 'success', and how to help your tween thrive
- The role of technology and social media in a middle schooler's life & strategies to manage it
- The core skills Middle Schoolers need to thrive in high school and beyond
The fall session is under way now.
But not to worry! Join the waitlist and we'll notify you as soon as the winter and spring (2026) dates are set.
Seats are limited for each session and our waitlist gets notified 1 week before we promote it publicly.
Session 1 starts in...
00Days
00Hours
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Learn the parenting secrets to harnessing
the Magic of Middle School so your child can soar!
Be the first to know when new session dates are set!
Schedule
| Duration - | 8 weeks |
Format | Blended Learning - Weekly Calls on Sundays at 4 PM ET / 1 PM PT - Independent learning (read/listen/view content, reflections, skills practice) |
| Week 1: | The Big Shift Build a new understanding of the middle school years based on the latest developmental science so you can embrace this transition with excitement instead of dread, find the hidden opportunities, and confidently guide your child through this pivotal stage. |
| Week 2: | Why They Do What They Do (cue the eye roll) – Understanding Your Middle Schooler’s Driving Needs Discover your adolescent's three primary drivers and the core goals of middle school development so you can understand what the #*%^~* is going on, decode your tween's behavior, strengthen your relationship, and create a home environment where your child feels safe, understood, and supported as they navigate the sometimes choppy waters of middle school life. |
| Week 3: | From Caregiver to Companion: Becoming the parent your tween needs by their side through this journey Learn how to shift your parenting role to meet your tween's new support needs so you can stop second-guessing yourself and respond with clarity, connection, and the confidence to be the parent your child needs today. |
Week 4: | Middle School Social Life: How to help Your kid navigate it like a pro! Why social life is so "all-important" during middle school and how you can help the water be a little less choppy. During this module, we'll get into the things you're most concerned about: the mean girls (and boys), bullies, drama and more. And, we'll give you tools and tactics that will help you provide the support your tween may need. |
| Week 5: | Motivating Your Tween Learn the secrets to harnessing adolescent development to inspire your child, leaving them enthusiastic and excited to contribute and engage. |
| Week 6: | The Parallel Path - YOU and your tween Parenting is a relationship job. YOU are half of that relationship. Learn about your own path, how your views, behaviors, and more affect your child and gain the insights and skills you can use to show up the way you want to for your child. |
| Week 7: | Technology, Stress, & Mental Health Literacy – Becoming Informed, Prepared & Responsive Unpack the realities of stress (surprise - it's not all bad!), anxiety, mental health, and technology’s impact on your tween so you can feel empowered with practical strategies to navigate these challenges and protect their well-being—without unnecessary fear or stress. |
| Week 8 | Secret Sauce to Life Success – Executive Function Skills Simplified Explore the 4 executive function skills that middle school brains are primed to develop (and which one's aren't online yet). Since these skills shape lifelong success, you will discover simple ways to integrate them into daily life so you can help your tween develop the confidence, focus, and resilience they need to thrive now and into the future. |
Get early access when registration opens again!
Your Guide
Sarah Porter-Braun is an entrepreneur, adolescent development researcher & enthusiast, parenting coach and advocate, author, speaker, and mom.
After 20 years in edTech, online learning, publishing, coaching and supporting startup company teams, Sarah turned her attention to developing methods to give parents the support they need to meet their parenting goals and raise healthy, happy young adults.
Her research into today's adolescent and young adult struggles, brain development, parenting practices, and societal changes revealed the sad state of parenting today, which serves as the catalyst behind her work:
Parents are Well-Intentioned, Under-Prepared, & Under-Supported©
Her research confirmed her hypothesis that depite parents' heroic efforts, the rapidly changing landscape, conflicting and hard-to-access information and tools, and inadequate support has made raising healthy, competent kids nearly impossible. This condition has contributed to a generation of budding adults who report being anxious, hopeless, and struggling to find their footing in this world.
The effects of hopeless and underprepared young adults are vast and deep. And, our schools and public institutions (where we direct most of our attention when it comes to kids) are the second line - parents are first, last, and in between - they are the throughline to a child's journey into adulthood.
We need to help them do a great job.
Parenting Genius© was founded to address this big societal problem - an online platform that makes it easy and fun for parents to be proactive, prepared, and supported along their parenting journey through adolescence.
Sarah lives in Boston, MA with her husband and dog, Otis, building this community while watching her two children spread their wings and take their first, wobbly flights.
Got Questions? We've Got You!
How much time is required each week to complete the program?
This program is designed with efficiency and flexibility in mind. To complete the course, participants spend 1 - 2 hours/week on average.
Do I have to be at my computer to complete the program?
No! Learn on the go!
You're busy, we get it. The core components include:
- a weekly Zoom call
- text-based reflection questions for journaling
- exercise templates that are accessible on our platform whenever you have time.
Take the weekly call while on a walk. Look at your text string for the reflection prompt while you're at the coffee shop or on a plane. Download the exercises and complete them under a tree, on a boat, in between your meetings, or at soccer/basketball/tennis/etc. practice.
You're busy. We know. We've been there. We made this for you.
After I finish a program, can I get more coaching sessions if needed?
YES! Of course! We are not going to abandon you mid-flight! You can always schedule more coaching sessions, in packages of 3.
We will connect you with a coach who has a strength in the area of your need if you give us sufficient information.
Registration closes soon...
Don't miss out!
Don't find yourself saying "I wish I'd known this sooner" again.
Seats are limited, so don't delay!
Get ready to find the magic in your child's middle school journey!
