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:

Uh-Oh, Here Comes Summer (with guests Ashley and Keri from the Momtourage Podcast) Jun 03, 2020

Show notes

Here comes the summer of nothing! For older kids, camps and sports leagues and internships and jobs are canceled. For little kids, even "Camp Grandma" isn't a sure thing this year.

We usually look forward to summer as a lazy-living, sleep in and lie around break from our usual hectic lives. But our kids have already *had* three months of lying around doing nothing, and the thought of three more months of cranky pajama time is not reassuring.

How are we going to make July different from March this year?

Our guests this week are Ashley Hearon-Smith and Keri Setaro from the Momtourage podcast.

We talk with Ashley and Keri about the "special hard" of each age group when you're looking at a summer calendar with basically nothing on it.

No matter how old your kids are, we think the answer is pretty much the same: give your kids the gift of free play, also known as the Land On The Other Side of Boredom.

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

Melissa Bernstein for Thrive Global: How Screen Time is Edging Out Play Time – and Why It Matters

Esther Entin for The Atlantic: All Work and No Play: Why Your Kids Are More Anxious, Depressed

Peter Gray: Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life

Michael E. Ruane for Washington Post: The coronavirus wrecked spring. Will it claim summer, too?

Sydney Trent for Washington Post: Summer jobs for teens are scarce, but a little boredom has its benefits

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Ask Amy - My Toddler is Mean to Her Older Sibling Jun 01, 2020

Show notes

Each week Amy or Margaret answers one listener's most pressing question.

Today Amy answers the question, "What can I do about my toddler who is giving a hard time to my older child?"

Submit your question to: questions@whatfreshhellpodcast.com

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This One Thing Is Actually Going Well May 27, 2020

Show notes

What’s the one thing that’s actually working right now?

Not grading on a curve, not a barely acceptable Band-Aid for these crazy times, but something you have found during these last months that you actually love and will totally keep doing?

Our listeners told us all the things, from walking the dog to Grateful Dad cover shows, that they’re doing by themselves, with a socially distanced friend, or with a loved one at home, that are really enjoyable right now.

The light-bulb moments for us in this episode were

in order to have fun socially-distanced friend time, you need to have a shared secondary activity. Even if it’s a beer pong app.
in order to have renewing personal time, you need to have a fully engrossing, sensory-filling activity. Even if it’s mowing the lawn.
keep it bite-sized. We don’t have to talk to our friends for half an hour, or not at all.

What all these discoveries have in common is that it took what our listener Mollie calls “the leisure to dwell on little things” in order to find them. We love that. For that one thing, we are pretty grateful.

Here are links to a few things mentioned in this episode:

Nowhere Comedy Club

Grateful Dead “Dead and Company” tribute shows

TableTopics "Family Gathering" topic cards

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Ask Margaret - The Bedtime Routine is Out of Hand! May 25, 2020

Show notes

Each week Amy or Margaret answers one listener's most pressing question.

This week Margaret answers the question, "What Do I Do With a Four Year Old Who is Making Bedtime Last Forever?"

Send your questions to questions@whatfreshhellpodcast.com

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The Great Regression: Why We're All Acting Like Babies Right Now May 20, 2020

Show notes

Potty training back-sliding? Pacifiers showing up at breakfast? Preschoolers in your bed? Tweens suddenly engaging in baby talk? Welcome to The Great Regression.

It's no surprise that regressive behavior shows up in times of stress. Sometimes it's not as easy to spot, but whether it's more clingy behavior or more temper tantrums, regression is our kids' way of communicating that they are feeling insecure. As child development specialist Claire Lerner explains, "When kids feel out of control on the inside, they lose control on the outside."

In this episode, we discuss

how regressive behavior can manifest, including for grownups
when we should let it be
what works to address it, and what definitely doesn't

Does it matter if your kid is still sucking her thumb in first grade because she was involved in a global pandemic? It does not. But addressing the underlying need for reassurance is the best way forward, for your kid and for you.

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

Caroline Bologna for HuffPost: 10 Mental Health Signs To Watch Out For In Kids In The Age Of COVID-19

Claire Lerner for Psychology Today: Regression in the Time of Coronavirus

Hermioni N. Lokko, MD, MPP and Theodore A. Stern, MD: Regression: Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Management

Heather Marcoux for Motherly: Why your big kid wants to be a 'baby' right now

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Getting Literally Anything Done (with guests Laura Vanderkam and Sarah Hart-Unger) May 13, 2020

Show notes

We're now on YouTube! Subscribe and catch our video shorts here: http://bit.ly/WFHyoutube

After eight weeks in this new normal, our to-do lists have started to get a little lengthy. These days, we're all full-time stay-at-home AND work-at-home moms, and while the larger world seemed willing to let things slide for a while, we're feeling a lot more pressure to actually get stuff done. How do we get to what's most important in the extremely limited bursts of kid-free productivity we might have?

Our guests are Laura Vanderkam and Sarah Hart-Unger, co-hosts of the Best of Both Worlds podcast, on how to get more out of life at work and at home.

We're featured on their podcast this week too- you can find that episode, on how to find humor in parenting right now, here!

Here are links to research and ideas discussed in this episode:

the concept of extinction bursts

Strangers Drowning: Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Urge to Help by Larissa MacFarquhar

Alice Boyce for Harvard Business Review: How Working Parents Can Let Go of Perfectionism

Michaeleen Doucleff for NYT Parenting: Turn Your Demanding Child Into a Productive Co-Worker

Jennifer Wallace for Washington Post's On Parenting: Life in lockdown is testing parents’ bandwidth, but there are ways to protect your mental energy

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Ask Margaret - Should I Sleep-Train During the Pandemic? May 11, 2020

Show notes

Every week Margaret or Amy answers one listener's most pressing question.

Today Margaret tackles the question, "Should I sleep-train my baby while we're all stuck at home?"

Submit your questions to: questions@whatfreshhellpodcast.com

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We'll Call It a Win! Microscopic Mom Victories May 06, 2020

Show notes

We asked all of you to tell us your “mom wins” since quarantine life started- the smaller, the better. We're all taking success wherever we can find it these days.

Whether it’s synchronized napping, picky eaters trying meatballs, or a 5-year-old who finally slept past 7 a.m., we salute all these successes, no matter how miniscule.

Thanks to all of you for making our own mothering journeys so full of community and laughter.

Happy Mother’s Day!

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Ask Amy - How Can I Help My Child Who is Having Nightmares? May 04, 2020

Show notes

Each week Amy or Margaret answers a listener's most pressing question.

This week Amy answers the question, "How can I help my three-and-a-half year old daughter who is having nightmares?"

Submit your question to quesitons@whatfreshhellpodcast.com

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Maintaining Momentum (Or Not) Apr 29, 2020

Show notes

Six weeks in, and most of us are having a lot of trouble with what one of our listeners called this "very strange limbo."

That listener asked in our Facebook group what she might do to make herself get off the couch, stop looking at her phone, maintain momentum.

Because that is the usual goal: we all know that once we stop running and rest, we won't be able to run as far when we try again. A body at rest tends to stay at rest.

But here's the thing: when you run a marathon, and mile 19 gets really hard, you know what mile you're in. You know how much farther you have to go. And the people on the sidelines aren't small children yelling at you.

Do the usual ideas we have about productivity and energy and momentum even apply in this moment?

And if not, what are the new strategies we can put in place to help us make it to the next lamppost?

Here are links to research and other things we discuss in this episode:

our own Episode 142: Letting People Into Our Mess

Brené Brown's podcast Unlocking Us

The Lancet: The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence

Paul Ollinger for Forge: Your Only Goal Is To Arrive

Judson Brewer for Harvard Business Review: Anxiety Is Contagious. Here’s How to Contain It.

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