Parenting doesn’t stop when your kids become adults — it just evolves. In this episode of Where Parents Talk, host Lianne Castelino speaks to Joanne McHugh, a former global marketing executive, mother of three, and writer behind the newsletter Things Your Mom Should Have Told You’d.
The discussion explores what it really means to prepare young adults for the realities of life — from love and relationships to first jobs, finances, and finding balance in an age of hustle culture.
McHugh shares how being honest and vulnerable with her daughters helped build trust and resilience, and why parents should move from being “the sage on the stage” to “the guide on the side.”
Key takeaways:
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How to have authentic, age-appropriate conversations about life’s challenges.
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Ways to help teens and 20-somethings navigate love, career disappointments, and financial independence.
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Why normalizing struggle and uncertainty is one of the greatest gifts parents can give.
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How vulnerability strengthens parent–child relationships well into adulthood.
McHugh also reveals what she wishes someone had told her about “adulting” — that life’s biggest challenges never truly disappear, they simply evolve, and that’s perfectly normal.
JOANNE MC HUGH
Writer
Former Marketing Executive
Mother of 3
thingsyourmomshouldhavetoldyou.com
“You always want to have, you know, engender a certain sense of hope in your kids, but then at a certain point it’s kind of not realistic if you’re not talking about some of the pitfalls that can happen along the way or challenges they’re going to have or struggles.”
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