238. Dr Richard Hogan: Parenting, Smartphones, Divorce & Modern Family Life

How do we raise children in a world increasingly dominated by smartphones and social media? And what happens to family relationships when parents separate, siblings fall out, or boys struggle to understand what masculinity means?

Dr Richard Hogan is a family psychotherapist, author, Irish Examiner columnist and media contributor.

In this conversation with Fender Jackson, Richard discusses parenting teenagers in the smartphone age, setting boundaries around technology, keeping phones out of bedrooms, sleep and the developing brain, and why parents shouldn't be afraid to be parents rather than their children's best friends.

The conversation broadens into boys and masculinity, positive male role models and the influence of online figures on young men. Richard argues for a version of masculinity in which strength and vulnerability can coexist.

Fender and Richard also discuss divorce and co-parenting, including their own experiences of family separation, why parents should never bad-mouth one another in front of their children, and why separation itself does not necessarily have to become traumatic for a child.

Finally, they explore sibling relationships — often the longest relationships of our lives — and whether fractured relationships between brothers and sisters can be repaired.

Along the way, they discover a shared connection through dyslexia and a fascination with John Lennon, leading to a discussion about childhood, creativity and how our earliest experiences can shape the adults we become.