e like to talk about human development around these parts. It is one of our favorite subjects. And when it comes to our own development, our adolescent years are by far the most rapid and the most potent period of our lives. It is a time of explosive interior growth, when multiple intelligences are moving through multiple waves of maturation in a very short timeframe, all while a newly independent identity is beginning to emerge for the very first time. Which is why this is often such a messy and confusing time in our lives (after all, there’s a good reason we quarantine pubescent children away from the rest of society under the guise of “middle school”).

Watch as Dr. Keith and I take a close look at this critical phase of our own development, noting all of the things that can go right (and many of the things that can go wrong) during this period of growth, and how we can be more supportive and responsive to the needs of our own children as they navigate this turbulent period of their lives. It is a precious reminder that we as parents are continuing to grow right alongside our children, and how much resiliency our children have when we inevitably mess something up. Which is largely the point, I think — to mess our own kids up just a little bit less than our parents messed us up.

And so goes the march of progress, where each generation can be ever-so-slightly less dysfunctional than the last.

Written by Corey deVos
Music by Justin Miles and Stuart Davis