What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Relationships, and Making Life Better, with Two Funny Moms - TopPodcast.com

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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:

June Bonus TEASER: Our Hobbies Jun 05, 2023

Show notes

Handicrafts? Puzzles? Competitive pickleball? Amy and Margaret discuss hobbies old and new, high-maintenance and low.

Amy and Margaret discuss:

S&H Green Stamps
Pickleball injuries
The Book of Meg

To hear the rest of the episode, sign up for What Fresh Hell Plus on Supporting Cast, where you can get all episodes ad-free as well! Supporting Cast works right where you already listen. Go to whatfreshhell.supportingcast.fm to subscribe in two taps for just $4.99 a month, or $39.99 a year.

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Ask Amy: When Other People Discipline Your Kids Jun 05, 2023

Show notes

What should we do when other people, relatives OR strangers, discipline our kids in front of us? Let it go, or intervene?

Pamela recently wrote us to say:

I'd love to hear your thoughts on handling relatives (or even strangers!) that try to discipline your kids. I recently had family in town and my six-year-old was given quite a few lectures on MINOR behaviors by a relative that has no children of their own. Things such as sitting in a chair well past when he was done eating, or accidentally kicking (when said relative started the roughhousing to begin with…) I’m able to call it out but why oh why does this happen?! Frustrating, to say the least, and confusing for my son!

There are two matrixes that apply here: the "see this person 3 times a week / will never see this person again" axis, and the "totally not their business/ actually my kid was really bothering them" axis.

If a particular example of discipline leaves your child red-faced and tearful, and the adult's reaction seems like an overreach, then attend to your child and make her feel safe. There are usually minimal returns for confrontation with a stranger– let alone a relative– but do what you have to do.

But check your story. Did your kid brush it off and run along to play? Is the worst part of it all the "How dare you!" feelings you're left with? Reprimands from other people aimed at our kids can really sting us, because there are secondary (okay, primary) messages directed at our own parenting choices implicit within them. But if we keep our child's safety as top priority, other people's rights to a nice dinner or a no-throwing-sand sandbox a close second, and our own indignance a little further down the totem pole, knowing what's right to do in a given situation usually gets a little easier.

Special thanks to our sponsor, Pampers:

For trusted protection, choose Pampers, the #1 Pediatrician Recommended Brand. Download the Pampers Club App today to start earning free diapers.

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Fresh Take: Gaia Bernstein on Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies Jun 02, 2023

Show notes

How do we untangle ourselves from technology? We give ourselves a hard time for not being able to put our screens down, but the platforms we use are designed to be addictive. It's not our fault.

Gaia Bernstein's new book: Unwired: Gaining Control Over Addictive Technologies shatters the illusion that we can control how much time we spend on our screens by the force of willpower, timers, or yelling.

Margaret and Gaia discuss:

The psychological forces that make us keep scrolling
What Big Tech and Big Tobacco have in common
Why screen time limiters and other similar methods don't work

Here's where you can find Gaia:

https://gaiabernstein.com/
Twitter: @BernsteinGaia
Buy Gaia's book Unwired: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9781009257930

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/

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

Uh Oh, It's Summer! May 31, 2023

Show notes

Hooray, summer is finally here! No more French quizzes or spirit days to dress for last-minute! So now what? Million-dollar summer camps? Kicking our kids outside from sunup to sundown so they don't drive us crazy?

Here's how to give everyone, including yourself, a sane summer that won't send you into bankruptcy.

Margaret and Amy discuss:

Why summer light affects our mood
the Farmer's Almanac predictions for summer 2023 (you get a heat wave! and YOU get a heat wave!)
Summer camp inflation

LINKS

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health: 7 Things To Know About Daylight Savings Time
Michele Marchetti & Mia Taylor for Parents: How To Handle the Rising Costs of Summer Camp
American Camp Association: How To Afford Camp
Robin Brandshaw for Beaumont Enterprise: Summer 2023 weather predictions

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/

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

Ask Margaret: My Kid Is Afraid of Storms May 29, 2023

Show notes

What do we do when our kids ask us to explain scary things like natural disasters, accidents, and bad news?

A listener in our Facebook group asks:

"My 5yo is afraid of naturally occurring phenomena. Natural disasters like floods, tornadoes, hurricanes. I try to explain these things very matter-of-factly but she would continue with questions for days. “Do we get tornadoes?” “Would a flood come to our house?”

If we are watching a show and someone injures themselves she would ask about what happened for days. “Mommy, what happened to that man? Why was he bleeding? Was he breathing? Why was his arm like that?”

I realized these are very different situations but they all fuel some kind of anxiety in her. Does anyone else have a kid(s) dealing with these kinds of emotions? How can I help reassure her that she is safe and other people are safe when bad things happen to them?"

Margaret says it's best to answer the question actually being asked— like "Is a flood coming to our house?" —rather than overexplaining natural disasters in general. Be honest with your kids about the nature of dangerous things, and be present with them. Ultimately what your kids really want is to process their feelings with you, their safe space.

Lyra Fontaine for Seattle Children's Hospital: Helping Kids Cope with Anxiety Over Distressing News

Special thanks to our sponsor, Pampers:

For trusted protection, choose Pampers, the #1 Pediatrician Recommended Brand. Download the Pampers Club App today to start earning free diapers.

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

Best Of: Dr. Becky Kennedy on Being "Good Inside" May 26, 2023

Show notes

Dr. Becky Kennedy is a clinical psychologist and mom of three who’s rethinking the way we raise our children. She's the host of "Good Inside With Dr. Becky," named by Apple Podcasts as one of the best podcasts of 2021. She also empowers more than a million parents following her on Instagram @drbeckyatgoodinside.

Dr. Becky specializes in thinking deeply about what’s happening for kids and translating these ideas into simple, actionable strategies for parents. Her latest book is GOOD INSIDE: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be.

In this episode, Dr. Becky, Amy, and Margaret discuss:

How kids communicate through their behaviors
How to navigate behavior regulation when you're short on time
Why "Good Inside" is a slightly different parenting approach

Here's where you can find Dr. Becky:

www.goodinside.com

@drbeckyatgoodinside on IG and FB

Buy Dr. Becky's book

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/

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

Things We Should Be Able to Do (But Can't) May 24, 2023

Show notes

Don't know left from right? North from south? Estonia from Moldova? We asked our listeners what they feel they should have learned a long time ago but still get tripped up by as adults.

Amy and Margaret discuss:

Couples Jeopardy
The secret to using a tape gun
The Red Wedding

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/

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

Ask Margaret: When Kids Ask Embarrassing Questions May 22, 2023

Show notes

"Mommy! Why does that person look like that?!" Kids are naturally curious, and as recent guest Meg Zucker reminded us, it's not possible to program kids in advance to always fall in line with adults' preferred reactions.

It's important to have the conversation early with your kids about how it's ok to notice people's differences but pointing them out in public can hurt people's feelings.

It also helps to make your home a safe space to talk about kids' curiosities about a classmate, or someone they saw at the park, so they understand that people come in all shapes and sizes—and that the things we say, if we're not careful, still have the power to hurt others' feelings.

Bodies are Coolby Tyler Feder is a great book that shows kids bodies come in a lot of varieties and they all deserve to be celebrated.

Special thanks to our sponsor, Pampers:

For trusted protection, choose Pampers, the #1 Pediatrician Recommended Brand. Download the Pampers Club App today to start earning free diapers.

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

Fresh Take: Meg Zucker on Empowering Kids with Differences and Disabilities May 19, 2023

Show notes

How do we celebrate and encourage kids with disabilities and differences, without letting our fears and preconceptions dictate what we think they can do?

How do parents of kids with less understanding of differences and disabilities allow for children's natural curiosity?

Meg Zucker, author of the new book Born Extraordinary: Empowering Children with Differences & Disabilities, was born with a genetic condition called ectrodactyly. She is also the mother of three children, two of whom share this difference.

Meg is also the founder and president of Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It, a non-profit with the mission of advancing understanding, tolerance, and mutual respect for people's differences.

In this episode Meg and Amy discuss:

"Disability" versus "difference," and how people choose the words that feel right for them
How Meg's experience growing up different made her parenting kids with differences a little easier—though maybe not as much as someone outside that experience might expect
the well-meaning "thrusting of help" that we might reconsider

Here's where you can find Meg:

@MegZucker
@Justflauntit_
Buy Meg's book: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780593419380

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/

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

Ditching Mom Guilt May 17, 2023

Show notes

"Mom guilt" is shorthand for what we think are two pretty different things:

the universal, low-grade feelings of inadequacy that our soccer snacks aren't as good as Monica's
the intense, deeply personal shame that we are definitely the only horrible parent who has ever allowed their baby to roll off the changing table

Yes, we take on these feelings of guilt and shame—but society is pretty quick to hand them to us. In this episode we discuss

why there isn't such a thing as "dad guilt"
why mom guilt might serve as a sort of magical thinking
if we can at least skip the feeling guilty about HAVING mom guilt part

Here are links to some studies and other writing on this topic that we discuss in this episode:

Lara Bazelon for The Atlantic: The End of Mom Guilt
Amy Paturel for The Washington Post: Why we feel 'mom guilt'—and how to stop
Fresh Take: Dana Dorfman on When Worry Works
Fresh Take: Carla Naumburg on Why You Are Not a Sh*tty Parent
Fresh Take: Sara Petersen on "Momfluencers"
Fresh Take: Susan Linn on How 'Big Tech' Targets Our Kids
Batram-Zantvoort, Stephanie et al, Frontiers in Global Women's Health: "Maternal self-conception and mental wellbeing..."

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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/

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

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