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What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Relationships, and Making Life Better, with Two Funny Moms

When you’re a parent, every day brings a “fresh hell” to deal with. In other words, there’s always something. Think of us as your funny mom friends who are here to remind you: you’re not alone, and it won’t always be this hard.
We’re Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables, both busy moms of three kids, but with completely different parenting styles. Margaret is a laid-back to the max; Amy never met a spreadsheet or an organizational system she didn’t like.
In each episode of “What Fresh Hell” we offer lots of laughs, but also practical advice, parenting strategies, and tips to empower you in your role as a mom. We explore self-help techniques, as well as ways to prioritize your own needs, combat stress, and despite the invisible workload we all deal with, find joy amidst the chaos of motherhood.
If you’ve ever wondered “why is my kid…” then one of us has probably been there, and we’re here to tell you what we’ve learned along the way.
We unpack the behaviors and developmental stages of toddlers, tweens, and teenagers, providing insights into their actions and equipping you with effective parenting strategies.
We offer our best parenting tips and skills we’ve learned. We debate the techniques and studies that are everywhere for parents these days, and get to the bottom of what works best to raise happy, healthy, fairly well-behaved kids, while fostering a positive parent-child relationship.
If you’re the default parent in your household, whether you’re a busy mom juggling multiple pickups and dropoffs, or a first-time parent seeking guidance, this podcast is your trusted resource. Join our community of supportive mom friends laughing in the face of motherhood!
whatfreshhellpodcast.com

Copyright: Copyright © 2016-2023 What Fresh Hell, LLC

Latest Episodes:

Helping Kids Manage Their Friendships Nov 06, 2024

Show notes

What do we do as parents when our kids aren't great at making friends, or their friends are outgrowing them, or we feel that their friends are a bad influence?

Sometimes, we're not supposed to do anything at all. Sometimes our kids really need our support. How can we tell the difference?

In this episode, Amy and Margaret discuss:

what might contribute to trouble making friends
the skills kids can develop to become better friends
what to do when you don't like your kid's friends

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

Michelle Icard for CNN: Parents ‘should be seen and not heard’ when it comes to kids and their friendships
Parenting.org: My Child Has No Friends
Julia Morrill for Health Matters: How Parents Can Help Their Kids Make Friends
Lexi Walters Wright for Understood.org: 4 skills for making friends
Claire McCarthy for Harvard Health Publishing: Helping children make friends: What parents can do
Kelsey Borresen for HuffPost: What To Do If You Don’t Like Your Kid’s Friend

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:

https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/

mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, rejection, kid rejection, friendships, kids friendships, kids friends, kids making friends, kids social skills

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DEEP DIVE: Competition: How Much Is Good For Our Kids? Nov 04, 2024

Show notes

This month's Deep Dive series is all about helping our kids through hardships like making mistakes, getting rejected, and facing competition. Listen to the whole playlist on Spotify.

Does competition have benefits? What level of competition is healthy for our kids? Many of us agree that the stereotypical dad yelling through the fence at T-Ball is taking things a little too seriously. But others say that participation trophies teach our kids to be lazy and therefore represent the ultimate downfall of our civilization. How do we balance the eye of the tiger with just letting our kids play?

In this episode we get to the bottom of why some people are more competitive than others, what the right age is for kids to start learning the lessons of losing, and how competition (when it's done right) can actually teach cooperation and self-regulation.

Here are links to some writing on the topic that we discuss in this episode:

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:

https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/

mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, resilience, grit, self-esteem, rejection, kid rejection, competition, kids sports

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Fresh Take: Gabrielle Blair Nov 01, 2024

Show notes

As moms, we're often given tons of societal pressure on how we have to give our kids all the right things—then told to "chill out" when it comes to the worrying part. Gabrielle Blair, author of the new book THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, is here to tell us that adulthood doesn't look like it used to, and that there are many paths to the success and happiness that all our kids deserve.

Gabrielle Blair is the the founder of DesignMom.com and the author of the New York Times blockbuster bestseller Ejaculate Responsibly.

Gabrielle, Amy, and Margaret discuss:

How the idea of the "reliable path to success" is actually harmful for a lot of parents and kids
Simple (and free/cheap) ways to use your home to create the family life you want
Why Gabrielle disagrees with the "you only get 18 summers" rhetoric that permeates parenting circles

Here's where you can find Gabrielle:

designmom.com
@designmom on IG
#thekidsareallright #thekidsareallrightbook
Buy THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9781523526505

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:

https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/

mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, parental stress, kids stress

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Does Messy Matter? Oct 30, 2024

Show notes

In a recent study, women who saw their homes as "cluttered" had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol than those who reported more well-organized, restful spaces. But for some of us, the stress of trying to be neat feels harder than any occasional shame or confusion that messiness might cause.

Does messy matter? Does it matter the same for everyone? How can you know when it's just your baseline versus when it's creating a real problem?

Amy and Margaret discuss:

How to know when clutter is causing a problem for you and your family
Things that can get in the way of our ability to declutter
How to focus on function, not aesthetics, when it comes to decluttering

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

Chris Fleming: "We Can't Let People Know We Sit!!!!"
Barbara Brody for WebMD: "How Clutter Can Affect Your Health"
Sarah Bourassa for The Huffington Post: "6 Reasons You Might Be Messy That Have Nothing To Do With Laziness"
Shannon Doyne for The New York Times: "Is Clutter a Problem in Your Life?"
Ottilie Blackhall for Homes and Gardens: The ‘Didn’t Know’ decluttering trend
KC Davis on TikTok: 5 Things Decluttering and NPR Life Kit article about this method
Struggle Care podcast with KC Davis
KC Davis on our podcast

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:

https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/

mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, parental stress, kids stress, decluttering, Marie Kondo, minimalism, spring cleaning, messiness, messy house, messy rooms, messy kids

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DEEP DIVE: When Your Kids Gets Rejected Oct 28, 2024

Show notes

This month's Deep Dive series is all about helping our kids through hardships like making mistakes, getting rejected, and facing competition. Listen to the whole playlist on Spotify.

Every kid will experience some kind of rejection, and some will have an easier time of it than others. How do we validate our kids' feelings while giving them the tools to move through the pain of rejection? As it turns out, sometimes the best ways to help our kids deal with rejection involve getting out of the way of the growth that can result.

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:

https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/

mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, resilience, grit, self-esteem, rejection, kid rejection

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Fresh Take: Mark Bittman Oct 25, 2024

Show notes

How can we get our kids cooking with us (or even FOR us) in the kitchen? Mark Bittman, longtime chef, food writer, and author of the new book HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING: KIDS, has some incredibly simple tips for bringing kids into the cooking process.

Mark Bittmanis the author of more than thirty books, including the How to Cook Everything series. Over his long career at The New York Times, Bittman wrote for both the food and opinion pages.

Mark, Amy, and Margaret discuss:

Why this cookbook is for novice adult cooks, too
The really simple ways to get picky eaters to start to branch out
Why cooking with your kids is about so much more than getting dinner on the table

Here's where you can find Mark:

bittmanproject.com
@markbittman on social media
Buy HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING - KIDS: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780544790322

mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, kids diets, kids nutrition, cooking with kids, cooking for kids, kitchen tips, cooking tips, easy weeknight dinners, easy recipes for kids, picky eaters, picky eater recipes, kids recipes

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What Fresh Hell is Halloween? Oct 23, 2024

Show notes

How has Halloween become a days-long, massively involved and expensive holiday? What happened to the good old days of stumbling around the neighborhood in a Barbie mask you could barely breathe in with a pillowcase full of candy? Here's how Halloween went from just spooky to spooky consumerist.

Amy and Margaret discuss:

How Halloween has lost its truly spooky nature over the years
The origins of the Switch Witch
Their favorite Halloween costumes growing up

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

Paige Pickett for Kids Out and About: Mom Saves Halloween for her Son with the Switch Witch
Primary Kids' Costumes
Melissa Willets for Parents Magazine: Is the Switch Witch Brewing Up Some Controversy This Halloween?
Maura Judkis for Boston.com: With huge skeletons, the yard-decorating arms race heats up
Lori Ferraro for LikeTotally80s.com: The Mask Makes It - Halloween Costumes of the 1980s
National Retail Federation: Halloween Spending to Reach Record $12.2 Billion as Participation Exceeds Pre-Pandemic Levels
Kurt Andersen: FANTASYLAND - How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History
Marianna Cerini for CNN Style: From pagan spirits to Wonder Woman: A brief history of the Halloween costume
Charles Moss for Slate: How Ben Cooper Changed Halloween Forever

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:

https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/

mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, parental stress, kids stress, Halloween, Halloween costumes, kids Halloween costumes, Halloween costume ideas, kids Halloween costume ideas

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

DEEP DIVE: Letting Kids Make Mistakes Oct 21, 2024

Show notes

This month's Deep Dive series is all about helping our kids through hardships like making mistakes, getting rejected, and facing competition. Listen to the whole playlist on Spotify.

There are benefits to our kids' making mistakes, even when it’s hard. Maybe especially when it’s hard. Some kids have tons of flexibility and safety around trying new things, around failing. Others not so much.

In this episode we discuss:

how the brain lights up when a mistake is made, paying extra attention
why being very wrong about a fact once ensures you will always remember it thereafter
the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset– and how mistakes encourage the latter
Carol Dweck and what she calls the power of "not yet"
how we can make our homes "mistake-friendly environments"

Here are links to writing on the topic that we discuss in this episode:

Claudia Wallis for Mind/Shift: Why Mistakes Matter in Creating A Path For Learning
Dr. Janet Metcalfe, Columbia University: “Learning from Errors,”
Carol S. Dweck for TED: "The Power of Yet"
Carol S. Dweck: Mindset
Jo Boaler for youcubed.org: Mistakes Grow Your Brain
Melissa Taylor for Brightly: What Is a ‘Just Right’ Book? Reading Levels Explained
Dr. Jason Moser for Frontiers In Human Neuroscience: On the relationship between anxiety and error monitoring: a meta-analysis and conceptual framework
Sesame Street: Mary Had a Little Lamb

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:

https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/

mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, resilience, grit, self-esteem, mistakes, kids mistakes

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Fresh Take: Brit Barron Oct 18, 2024

Show notes

Right now our society feels more polarized than ever. We don't agree on much—and sometimes the people we disagree with most are the ones who are closest to us. This week, we talk about how to handle those difficult relationships and conversations with Brit Barron, author of the new book DO YOU STILL TALK TO GRANDMA?

Brit Barron is a highly sought after speaker on the topics of sexuality, spirituality, race, storytelling, and personal development. In this interview, Brit, Margaret, and Amy discuss:

Why our brains are attracted to binary thinking— and we can become stuck in it
How the biological imperative to find "cognitive closure" can shut us off from new ideas
Why the knee-jerk reaction to write off those with whom we disagree online gets more complicated when we apply those rules to some of the people we love most
How to get more humble about the things we might not know (yet)

Here's where you can find Brit:

www.britbarron.com
@britbarron on IG
Buy DO YOU STILL TALK TO GRANDMA: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780593594346

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:

https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/

election, polarized politics, disagreement, binary thinking, black and white thinking, cognitive bias, cognitive closure, ideologies, family, family dynamics

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Parental Stress Getting Worse? Oct 16, 2024

Show notes

In September 2024 the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, issued an Advisory on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Parents. In it, he declares the mental health and well-being of parents an urgent public health issue.

In this episode we discuss the revealing research included in this report, stating that parents consistently report higher levels of stress compared to other adults.

But is parenting really more stressful than ever? This advisory certainly highlights many reasons why it just might be: the increasing costs of childcare and housing, the increasing hours parents spend at work, the increasing anxiety around guns and our kids’ safety at school, and the unrealistic expectations created by what the report calls a “culture of comparison.”

We think making a change requires more than parents looking on the bright side—we need societal changes and better support systems like paid family leave. We can also all do more to foster a culture that values and supports parents, ensuring their well-being and the positive development of future generations. We’d like to think this podcast and this community are part of that culture. Let’s keep fighting for the support, and the respect, that all parents deserve.

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

Jeremy Engle for the New York Times: Are Parents Stressed Out?
Claire Cain Miller for the New York Times: Today’s Parents: ‘Exhausted, Burned Out and Perpetually Behind’
Department of HHS on YouTube: The Surgeon General's Advisory on Parent's Mental Health
House Calls with Dr. Vivek Murthy: "Parents Are Under Pressure—And We Can All Help"
Department of Health and Human Services: U.S. Surgeon General Issues Advisory on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Parents

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website:

https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/

mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, parental stress, kids stress

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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