"Don't Tell My Parents" with Allison Ochs & Serene Xefos

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About this podcast

There are things your child is doing online that they will never tell you. Not because they are bad kids. But because they are kids — navigating a digital world that moves faster than any conversation you have had the chance to have with them. Don’t Tell My Parents! is the podcast that changes that. Every week, online safety expert Allison Ochs and mother Serene Xefos sit down for the kind of honest, unfiltered conversation that most parents desperately need — but rarely know how to start. One brings the expertise. The other brings the experience of being a real parent in the thick of it. Together, they pull back the curtain on what children are actually doing, seeing, and feeling online — and what parents can do about it, starting today. Allison Ochs is the founder of Edit Change Management, a published author, and one of the world’s most sought-after voices in online safety. She is also a social worker and pedagogist — a professional trained not just in education, but in child development, behaviour, and the deep social and emotional forces that shape how young people make decisions. For over a decade, she has travelled the world visiting schools, sitting with children and teenagers, and hearing the things they will never say at the dinner table. She knows what is happening behind the screens. And she is done staying quiet about it. Serene Xefos is the voice every parent will recognise immediately — curious, concerned, sometimes unsettled, and always asking exactly the right questions. As a mother navigating these same challenges in real time, Serene brings the perspective that makes every episode feel less like a lecture and more like a conversation with someone who truly gets it. Because the gap between what parents think is happening online and what is actually happening has never been wider. Children are encountering content, communities, and situations that most adults would struggle to process — and they are doing it alone, without the language or the framework to ask for help. Meanwhile, parents are searching for answers in a landscape that is overwhelming, fast-moving, and often deliberately confusing. Don’t Tell My Parents! cuts through the noise. Each episode tackles the real issues — from screen time and sexting to AI, grooming, identity, and the invisible pressures of growing up in public — with honesty, warmth, and the kind of practical insight that actually translates into action at home. This is not about fear. It is not about taking away devices or shutting down conversations before they start. It is about understanding. It is about giving parents the knowledge, the language, and the confidence to show up for their children in the moments that matter most. Because the best thing standing between your child and the dangers of the internet is not a filter or a parental control. It is you — informed, present, and ready to have the conversation they did not know they needed. Don’t Tell My Parents! — because some things are too important to keep secret.