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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:

DEEP DIVE: Dropping the Rope Jul 15, 2024

Show notes

This month, we're doing a deep dive series into letting things go—arguments, unattainable standards, you name it! You can find the playlist with all of the episodes in the series here.

When you're locked in a battle of tug-o-war it can be extremely exhausting to keep up the fight. But there is a solution: dropping the rope. It may seem counterintuitive, but when you're in the middle of a conflict you've had many times before—when you're fighting for something that seems very important, or at least obvious—and then suddenly drop the rope, you're allowing the space for something different to occur.

Here are the links to the resources we mentioned in the episode:

Jen Lumanlan for Your Parenting Mojo: "Want to stop playing Tug of War with your child?"
Our Fresh Take with Dr. Jill Stoddard on How to Manage Our Anxiety
Our bookshop!

What Fresh Hell Podcast is going on tour across the Northeast US this fall! Join us for a live version of the podcast and bring all your mom friends. We can’t wait to go back on the road! https://bit.ly/whatfreshhelltour

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, parents fighting, arguments, husbands, wives, partners arguing, kids arguing, spouse disagreements

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Fresh Take: Jo Piazza Jul 12, 2024

Show notes

Jo Piazza wears a lot of hats: author, podcast host, award-winning journalist, mom. In this episode we talk about them all!

We're big fans of her sexy thriller THE SICILIAN INHERITANCE and her podcast Under the Influence (now part of Adalyst Media!) Jo's interests are wide-ranging and so is this conversation. We cover:

How Jo's experience solving a century-old murder in her family inspired her book
Why Jo and Amy are apparently cousins
Jo's advice for parents who are just entering the world of social media with their kids

Here's where you can find Jo:

www.jopiazza.com
@jopiazzaauthor on IG
@jopiazza on X
Listen to "Under the Influence," an Adalyst Media podcast!
Listen to "The Sicilian Inheritance" podcast
Buy THE SICILIAN INHERITANCE: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780593474167

What Fresh Hell Podcast is going on tour across the Northeast US this fall! Join us for a live version of the podcast and bring all your mom friends. We can’t wait to go back on the road! https://bit.ly/whatfreshhelltour

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

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

BEST OF: Super-Awesome Mom Hacks Jul 10, 2024

Show notes

Time for some easy wins! Here of some of our (and our listeners') favorite hacks for

naptime
diapers
laundry
kitchen
sibling squabbles

and General Sanity Preservation. This stuff really works!

The Lazy Genius (Kendra Adachi's) principle: Decide Once

What Fresh Hell Podcast is going on tour across the Northeast US this fall! Join us for a live version of the podcast and bring all your mom friends. We can’t wait to go back on the road! https://bit.ly/whatfreshhelltour

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,

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

Keeping Our Families' Traditions Jul 08, 2024

Show notes

Danielle Friedman's recent New York Times article says it all: "The Constant Work to Keep a Family Connected Has a Name." That work is kinkeeping.

Sociologist Carolyn Rosenthal defined kinkeeping as "someone who works at keeping family members in touch with one another." Every lucky extended family has a kinkeeper, and yes, it's usually a woman. Perhaps that's why the work of kinkeeping can be dismissed as silly and unimportant, even by the same people who reap its benefits.

Margaret and Amy discuss:

How kinkeepers help their families live longer
How to get support if you're the kinkeeper
How to offer support if you're not

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

Our interview with Eve Rodsky: "Changing the Invisible Workload"
Molly West's TikTok video on kinkeeping
Frank Bruni for the NYT: "Tolstoy and Miss Daisy"
Danielle Friedman for the NYT: "The Constant Work to Keep a Family Connected Has a Name"
Carolyn J. Rosenthal for The Journal of Marriage and Family: "Kinkeeping in the Familial Division of Labor"
Caitlin G Allen, et. al, for the Journal of Community Genetics: "Developing and assessing a kin keeping scale with application to identifying central influencers in African American family networks"

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, mom guilt, invisible labor, emotional labor, cognitive load

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

BEST OF: Bethany Johnson and Margaret Quinlan Jul 05, 2024

Show notes

Margaret "Maggie" Quinlan and Bethany Johnson are the co-authors of the book You’re Doing it Wrong! Mothering, Media and Medical Expertise. This book investigates the history of mothering advice in the media, from the 19th century to today, and the processes by which mothering has been defined, from getting pregnant to being pregnant to giving birth to whether "that baby" needs a hat on.

Like most moms, Maggie and Bethany questioned their own parenting decisions because they understood their choices would be met with scrutiny exercised in few other arenas. They suggest that the first step to freeing ourselves from the socially prescribed perfectionism of motherhood is to realize that no matter what you decide, there will always be someone telling you "you're doing it wrong."

Margaret "Maggie" Quinlan is a Professor of Communication at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She explores how communication creates, resists and transforms knowledges about bodies, and critiques power structures that marginalize certain people both inside and outside of healthcare systems.

Bethany Johnson is a PHD candidate at the University of South Carolina. She studies how science, medical technology, and public health discourses are framed and reproduced by those with structural power.

Get YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG! in our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/books/you-re-doing-it-wrong-mothering-media-and-medical-expertise/9780813593784.

To find out more about their work: http://johnsonquinlanresearch.com.

What Fresh Hell Podcast is going on tour across the Northeast US this fall! Join us for a live version of the podcast and bring all your mom friends. We can’t wait to go back on the road! https://bit.ly/whatfreshhelltour

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,

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

Why Was This a Thing? Rules We Once Lived By Jul 03, 2024

Show notes

What Fresh Hell Podcast is going on tour across the Northeast US this fall! Join us for a live version of the podcast and bring all your mom friends. We can’t wait to go back on the road! https://bit.ly/whatfreshhelltour

Rooms where no one was allowed to go? Saving up phone minutes? Opening one kind of cereal at a time? What odd rules did we once live by that we can't imagine following now?

Amy and Margaret discuss:

The Good Room
Snuggies
Peek Freans

Links to references in this episode:

The Onion: Bloodthirsty, Undead Ghoul Advocates Chocolate-Cereal Consumption
"Certain things are for company" - comedian Sebastian Maniscalco
"Company is Coming" - comedian Chris Fleming
Peek Freans
Follow us on Threads @whatfreshhellcast

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,

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

Ask Amy: I've Already Got the End-of-Summer Scaries Jul 01, 2024

Show notes

What Fresh Hell Podcast is going on tour across the Northeast US this fall! Join us for a live version of the podcast and bring all your mom friends. We can’t wait to go back on the road! https://bit.ly/whatfreshhelltour

Why is it that summer never seems to be the picture-perfect, sun-washed experience we want for our kids? Amy helps a listener ditch her mom guilt over not providing her kids with the "perfect" summer.

"I have the end of summer scaries. Or end of summer mom guilt. I feel so bummed that I have spent most of the summer in survival mode instead of really enjoying it with my children. I probably have seen way too many of those "you only get 18 summers" posts. My oldest starts first grade in two weeks and I feel like I completely failed. I wish we had spent more time swimming, riding bikes, all of that quintessential summer stuff. Instead, I feel like I've spent most of it breaking up fights with his 4 year old brother, keeping the 18 month old from injuring himself, and saying "no" to every request.

I'm notoriously hard on myself so I probably just need a reality check. Does anyone else feel this way?"

It's totally normal to feel like the summer is a more difficult time of year, especially with three little kids to entertain, Amy explains. There are more hours of daylight and more unstructured time.

And, by the way, your kids don't vaporize once they turn 18, and if they're away at college, summer is when you WILL see them, at least somewhat more than you did during the school year. Try to decouple yourself from the overwhelming "you only get 18 summers with your kids" messaging. It robs you of the ability to remain present THIS summer with your kids.

So how do you try and be present with your kids without worrying about how many summers you have left in the bank? Start super small. Declare that it's "ice cream dinner" tonight or let the kids cover the driveway in chalk drawings. The "summer memories" we're supposed to be making are by definition lazy and unstructured. And those little things we may think are nothing special are probably what our kids will look back on most fondly.

Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/whatfreshhellcast

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, summer, vacation, summer vacation, summer activities, staycation, summer break

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

Fresh Take: Mr. Chazz on Breaking Generational Patterns Jun 28, 2024

Show notes

What Fresh Hell Podcast is going on tour across the Northeast US this fall! Join us for a live version of the podcast and bring all your mom friends. We can’t wait to go back on the road! https://bit.ly/whatfreshhelltour

How can we be responsive, rather than reactive, when our child misbehaves? Chazz Lewis, host of the podcast Learning Curve with Mr. Chazz, explains practical steps for navigating our children's behavior issues with empathy and compassion, rather than judgement.

Mr. Chazz is an educator, speaker, and activist. With over 1.5 million followers across social media, Mr. Chazz has helped countless parents and teachers navigate the challenges and triumphs of raising and teaching children.

Margaret and Mr. Chazz discuss:

The one thing that can really help a child who comes from a troubled home
The five steps for a conscious-based parenting approach
Simple mantras to keep in mind for a healthy perspective on parenting

Here's where you can find Mr. Chazz:

mrchazz.com
@mrchazz on IG
@mrchazzmrchazz on TikTok, FB, and YT
Listen to Learning Curve with Mr. Chazz, an Adalyst Media 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, educator, kids' education, generational trauma, breaking patterns,

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

Sibling Rivalry Jun 26, 2024

Show notes

What Fresh Hell Podcast is going on tour across the Northeast US this fall! Join us for a live version of the podcast and bring all your mom friends. We can’t wait to go back on the road! https://bit.ly/whatfreshhelltour

Most of us have either experienced—or refereed—sibling rivalry. So what do we do when our kids are constantly at each other's throats? Why do they fight constantly, and how do we get them to stop?

In this episode, Margaret and Amy discuss:

How parents consciously and unconsciously contribute to sibling rivalry
How to know what's normal sibling rivalry and what's harmful bullying
When to step in and when to let your kids work it out themselves
Why treating your kids fairly is not the same as treating them equally

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

Rob Quinn for Newser: This Bird Takes Sibling Rivalry to Extremes
Claire McCarthy for Harvard Health Publishing: Sibling rivalry is normal — but is it helpful or harmful?
Anahad O'Connor for the New York Times: When the Bully Is a Sibling

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, siblings, sibling rivalry, siblings fighting, kids fighting, brothers, sisters

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

BEST OF: Would You Rather...? (Mom Edition) Jun 24, 2024

Show notes

What Fresh Hell Podcast is going on tour across the Northeast US this fall! Join us for a live version of the podcast and bring all your mom friends. We can’t wait to go back on the road! https://bit.ly/whatfreshhelltour

Parenting is a constant process of choosing the lesser evil. When it's stomach flu or Coxsackie, they're both bad, but when you're playing Would You Rather?, you've still got to pick one.

In this episode, Amy and Margaret discuss:

What their kids' names REALLY are
Rat backpacks
The horror of perma-noisemakers

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,

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

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