What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood
Hosted by funny moms Margaret Ables and Amy Wilson, “What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood” is a comedy podcast about the never-ending "fresh hells" of parenting. Amy and Margaret are each moms of three, dealing with the same hassles as any parent– but with completely different parenting styles. Margaret is laid-back to the max; Amy never met a spreadsheet she didn't like. We offer three episodes each week: "Question of the Week" on Mondays regular weekly episodes on Wednesdays "Fresh Take" interview with experts and authors on Fridays Join us as we laugh in the face of motherhood! Winner of the 2018 Mom 2.0 Iris Award for Best Podcast and the 2017 Podcast Awards People’s Choice for Best Family and Parenting Podcast, and finalist for the 2019 Romper's Parent's Choice Award. whatfreshhellpodcast.com
Episodes
July 23, 2021 • 36 min
Nikki Weiner is the founder of Building Bold, and has served as a guest speaker in the U.S. and abroad on writing and the college admissions landscape. Nikki’s ultimate goal is to provide students with the tools to thrive through the admission process and beyond to reach their full potential.
She tells Amy what's changed in the college admissions landscape– and it's a lot. Is test-optional here to stay? Why are so many sch...
Share
Mark as Played
July 21, 2021 • 45 min
The news is hard for anyone to escape these days– and that includes our kids. Even the littlest ones might see a stray notification on a parent's phone, or overhear something scary from a television that was left on. A lot of us struggle with what to tell our kids, how much, and when. But if we don't give the kids any context, some older kid in the cafeteria might become their primary source of (mis)information.
We discuss ...
Share
Mark as Played
July 19, 2021 • 6 min
All kids lose stuff sometimes. Some kids lose stuff all the time. Sometimes it's ADHD or general inattention. Sometimes it's just a slower development of executive function.?No matter what, it's frustrating (and expensive). What's a parent to do?
A member of our Facebook group asked:?
Any suggestions for the kid who loses everything? My son is 9. He lost three sweatshirts in the two months he was in in-person school...
Share
Mark as Played
July 16, 2021 • 36 min
Heidi Murkoff is a mother, a grandmother, and the author of the legendary What to Expect When You’re Expecting, with more than 19 million copies in print.
Heidi is also the creator of the What to Expect Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping all moms expect healthy pregnancies, safe deliveries, and healthy babies.
In this interview we discuss maternal health for all women– and the clear and present need for improved...
Share
Mark as Played
July 14, 2021 • 45 min
Youth is wasted on the young. We wasted our youth taking the wrong classes in college and layering imaginary agendas onto other people's dopey behavior. Sound familiar? We asked our listeners:
If you could time travel, what advice would you give your younger self?
Here's the best advice we all learned from doing things the wrong way!
Special thanks to this month's sponsors:
The Cozi Family Organizer is for anyone juggl...
Share
Mark as Played
July 12, 2021 • 8 min
One of the most important lessons from the pandemic may be "It is OK for kids to be bored".
A lot of parents fear boredom because of the whining and complaining that comes along with it - but in this episode Margaret argues that one thing we learned from all of our downtime during the pandemic is that there IS something on the other side of boredom.
Resist the urge to become the "cruise director" all summer long. St...
Share
Mark as Played
July 9, 2021 • 36 min
Olivia Martinez-Hauge is a marriage and family therapist specializing in the treatment of families, couples, and individuals who are caregiving for children or adults with neurodiversity. She is also a licensed occupational therapist with over two decades of experience helping children and their families.
She is also a mother of three children, two with neurodiversity.
In this "Fresh Take" interview, Olivia explains
the gr...
Share
Mark as Played
July 7, 2021 • 44 min
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!
Special thanks to this month's sponsors:
The Cozi Family Organizer is for anyone juggling camp schedules, practices, meetings, doctor’s appointments, and maybe a date night once in a while. Download Cozi for free from the app s...
Share
Mark as Played
July 5, 2021 • 5 min
When we have a child who chooses to withdraw and "not talk about it," rather than unpack his disappointment, is that a reason for concern? This week's question comes from Facebook:
When my seven year old gets upset, he refuses to talk to us even to describe the event that led to his reaction. He seems to prefer to process things internally. And so his immediate reaction is to shut down and say, I don't want to talk....
Share
Mark as Played
July 2, 2021 • 56 min
It's a "Best Of" episode that launched a movement: What Kind Of Monster? Or #WKOM, as the Fresh Hellions in our Facebook group call it.
Our highest calling here at What Fresh Hell is to serve as a safe space for our listeners to tell us what really, truly drives them up the wall. What kind of monster listens to videos on speaker? Keeps the keyboard clicks on their phone? What kind of monster takes up two parking spots? ...
Share
Mark as Played
June 30, 2021 • 45 min
We see birth order play out pretty clearly, both in our own families and in our families of origin. But is it a bad thing? Is it a thing to fight back against? Is there a way to make the older child less stressed, and the baby maybe a little *more* motivated? And is it a problem if our own birth order has shaped who we are as adults and how we parent?
We think the answer is: not really. These stereotypes are so ingrained because th...
Share
Mark as Played
June 28, 2021 • 8 min
We sometimes feel nothing should be kept secret between us and our children, but that's not really true. We do need to talk often with our kids about the difference between inappropriate secrets (an adult asking them to keep something secret from their parents) and appropriate ones (the present we are hiding in the garage for Dad's birthday).
Today's question comes from our Facebook group:
How do teach kids when to keep...
Share
Mark as Played
June 25, 2021 • 30 min
Dr. Dawn Huebner is a psychologist, parent coach, and the author of 10 books for children, most of which we have on our bookshelves at home. Her new book is The Sibling Survival Guide: Surefire Ways to Solve Conflicts, Reduce Rivalry, and Have More Fun with Your Brothers and Sisters, which helps kids acquire the skills they need to get along with their siblings.
Dawn believes that sibling rivalry is best quashed by the kids themsel...
Share
Mark as Played
June 23, 2021 • 40 min
Can we become more inclusive as parents? Inclusivity has great benefits for everyone involved. We loved this explanation from Bright Horizons:
"Too often, inclusiveness is described as something we should do to benefit others. Being inclusive is more than a moral obligation—although this alone is enough reason to practice it. When we are inclusive we aren’t divided. Instead, our world becomes enlarged. We gain relationships and...
Share
Mark as Played
June 21, 2021 • 4 min
It can be confusing and a little concerning when a toddler suddenly develops a stutter or a stammer. A member of our Facebook group asked:
My daughter (27 months) seems to have recently developed a stammer/stutter, or maybe it has just gotten to the point where we notice it now. Instead of saying "Can I have that?" like she used to, she now says "Ca- ca- ca- can I have that?". It's usually only at the beginning ...
Share
Mark as Played
June 18, 2021 • 32 min
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 B...
Share
Mark as Played
June 16, 2021 • 44 min
It's hard to admit things aren't perfect. It's especially hard for moms. Psychologists Paul Hewitt and Gordon Flett described three types of perfectionism in the 1990s: self-directed (I must be a size 2), others-directed (do that piano exercise again until you get it right), and "socially mediated" perfectionism, which comes from society making unrealistic demands of a person or a group and punishes that person ...
Share
Mark as Played
June 15, 2021 • 56 min
It's another bonus episode of TODDLER PURGATORY- and the last one you'll be seeing on What Fresh Hell, at least for now! Subscribe or follow "Toddler Purgatory" wherever you listen to podcasts, so you'll never miss an episode. You can find links to lots of places to listen at toddlerpurgatory.com.
Kids are bananas. Some particularly so. But why are some kids seemingly born to scale the kitchen cabinets before th...
Share
Mark as Played
June 14, 2021 • 7 min
One question we get over and over again is about dealing with grandparents who say to our kids, "I want to– but your mom won't let me."
We have a general guideline that you only have three times available to speak to your parents or in-laws about things they do that bother you. This "Rule of Three" forces us to consider whether any given issue is worth discussing, and most importantly, whether it is the rare beh...
Share
Mark as Played
June 11, 2021 • 39 min
Ellen Kahn is the Senior Director of Programs and Partnerships at the Human Rights Campaign. In her role, Ellen provides national leadership and expertise in public education and advocacy efforts on behalf of LGBTQ youth and families. Ellen is nationally recognized as an expert on LGBTQ family life and LGBTQ youth. She's also a proud mom of two teenage daughters.
In this interview, Ellen explains how parents can create a home e...
Share
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.
This is what the news should sound like. The biggest stories of our time, told by the best journalists in the world. Hosted by Michael Barbaro. Twenty minutes a day, five days a week, ready by 6 a.m.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Take yourself back in time...back to high school. The ups and downs, the loves the losses, the struggles the triumphs, being together with your friends...feeling every emotion of it. Is 23 more than just a number to you? Do you respond to people by saying I don't wanna be anything other than what I've been trying to be lately? Do you expect to have life-changing moments while caught in the confetti or the rain? Are you One Tree Hill obsessed?...it's OK...we're here for you. You can sit with us. Are Brooke, Peyton and Haley your BFF goals? These Drama Queens are getting back together!! Bethany Joy Lenz, Hilarie Burton and Sophia Bush are the biggest Drama Queens and they are here with you to dissect every episode, deliver every detail you must know, and devote themselves to you as you rewatch every single scene together. Join Joy, Hilarie and Sophia each week. Relive it, Relove it, Rewatch it ...every One Tree Hill minute of it. Be a Drama Queen. Drama Queens, an iHeartRadio Podcast.
Facebook comments will no longer be available on iHeart
We're taking steps to simplify your experience. If you want to reach out to our hosts or stations, please do so via their website or social media. If you need any assistance please check out our help site.