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" mini-episodes 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! What Fresh Hell is a Webby Honoree for Best Podcast: Kids and Family, a finalist for a Signal Award, the winner of Mom 2.0 Iris Awards for "Best Podcast" and "Most Entertaining Content," and a Podcast Awards People’s Choice for "Best Family and Parenting Podcast. whatfreshhellpodcast.com
Episodes
May 26, 2023 • 36 mins
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, action...
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May 25, 2023 • 11 mins
Amy and Margaret expound on characters on the page and on the screen that they identified with strongly growing up - and still do.
Topics include:
Elf romance
Who's a Carrie and who's a Samantha
The Wicked Witch of the West
To hear the rest of the episode and get all of our catalog ad-free, subscribe to What Fresh Hell Plus on Supporting Cast. Supporting Cast works right where you already listen! Go to whatfreshhell.supporting...
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May 24, 2023 • 42 mins
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:
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May 22, 2023 • 7 mins
"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 spa...
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May 19, 2023 • 30 mins
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....
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May 17, 2023 • 41 mins
"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 ep...
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May 15, 2023 • 5 mins
How do we discipline our kids when they start sassing us with phrases they picked up elsewhere? We can view it as a teachable moment and foundation for cognitive development down the road.
A listener in our Facebook group says:
"My daughter is 3, almost 4. She’s been at daycare for about a year now and I’ve noticed she’s started picking up phrases from school that bother me. The thing is, some of them are probably also good things ...
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May 12, 2023 • 37 mins
Is it possible to be your full, authentic self as a woman and mother without fear of failure or judgment from others? In her new memoir STASH, Laura Cathcart Robbins discusses her experiences confronting and moving through her own addiction, and how it intersects with her identity as a mother and a woman of color.
Laura Cathcart Robbins is also the host of the popular podcast, The Only One In The Room. In this interview, Laura and ...
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May 10, 2023 • 42 mins
Have you lost touch with mom friends since the pandemic? Do you feel that after so much isolation you don't even know how to make friends anymore?
In this episode, we talk about how the last few years have changed our friendships, what's gotten harder, and why we're motivated to deepen those relationships again.
Amy and Margaret discuss:
The "decreased social stamina" many of us feel
Why spontaneity seems to have gone out the wi...
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May 8, 2023 • 5 mins
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 our Facebook group:
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.
My sp...
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May 5, 2023 • 36 mins
Once we know what anti-fat bias is, it's easy to see it everywhere: in our schools, our doctors' offices, even in our own parenting. Virginia Sole-Smith, author of the new book Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture, explains the perniciousness of anti-fat bias and how we can start to move away from its toxic messages.
Virginia Sole-Smith is also the author of The Eating Instinct: Food Culture, Body Image and Guilt in Ameri...
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May 3, 2023 • 46 mins
We asked our listeners: what would be better if it were just a little bit different?
Margaret's ideas include a network consisting solely of TV shows that you only need to pay half attention to.
Amy advocates for magical cash dispersal from your phone.
In this episode, Amy and Margaret discuss these and our listeners' top ideas, including
LEGO vacuums
properly-sized ketchup packets
hand-dryers that don't hurt your ears
Read ...
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May 1, 2023 • 7 mins
What do we do when our house is filling up with plastic toys from Happy Meals and goody bags that just make cleanup and attempts at organization SO much worse? Margaret explains how "benevolent dictatorship" helps her navigate this issue at her house.
Garbage starts at the door, Margaret explains. She tries to stop things she doesn't want in the house from coming in in the first place and expressing this (gently) to her kids. It's ...
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April 28, 2023 • 32 mins
Why do the "momfluencers" who post perfect pictures of their crisply dressed children in lavender fields hold such a sway over us, and what can we do about it? Sara Petersen, author of the new book Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture, gives us a glimpse into what makes mommy influencer culture so seductive.
Sara Petersen also writes the newsletter In Pursuit of Clean Countertops, whe...
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April 26, 2023 • 42 mins
50% of preadolescent girls and 30% of boys report disliking their bodies. Those numbers go up in adults— 60% of women and 40% of men report the same dissatisfaction.
How do we help our kids when they struggle with their body images—especially when some of those struggles are our own? Especially when unrealistic images of bodies are everywhere on social media? Especially when dieting and weight loss are normalized, along with the as...
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April 24, 2023 • 6 mins
How do we get kids to view saying "sorry" as more than a get-out-of-jail-free card? This week's question comes from our Facebook page:
I have 5-year-old and 2-year-old boys. My question: how do you help kids around 5 years old understand the meaning of "sorry"? My son will do something wrong– and know it’s wrong before he does it– then immediately say he’s sorry. I try to give him a punishment to help him understand what he did was...
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April 21, 2023 • 33 mins
How do we maintain connection with our kids when they're busy slamming doors or talking back to us and we are all sick and tired of each other? Dr. Tish Taylor, author of "Fostering Connection," gives us some tips for diagnosing and troubleshooting problematic elements in our relationships with our kids.
Dr. Tish Taylor is a licensed psychologist with a private practice in the greater Kansas City area. She has an established practi...
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April 19, 2023 • 51 mins
This "best of" episode explores the trap we all fall into of thinking that every day with our kids has to contain a “snow globe moment" - a social media-worthy image of perfect joy for our entire family.
And even if part of us knows that’s not realistic, another part of us thinks that it’s all supposed to be fun. That there must be something wrong with us if we don’t love every single moment of our chaotic lives with little ones.
B...
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April 17, 2023 • 8 mins
How do we convince our kids that getting all of the newest toys isn't the most important thing in life while also respecting their enthusiasm for their various obsessions?
A member of our Facebook group asks:
"What do you do with a kid who wants ALL the toys? I've got a second grader who insists his friends' parents buy all the Pokémon cards and my husband and I are the worse because we refuse to buy every single thing he asks for....
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April 14, 2023 • 39 mins
What if we're looking at autism in the wrong way? Dr. Lynn Koegel, co-author of Hidden Brilliance: Unlocking the Intelligence of Autism, explains how to engage with the strengths in kids with autism rather than focusing on what they're lacking.
Dr. Lynn Koegel is a clinical professor at the Stanford School of Medicine. She and her husband developed Pivotal Response Treatment which focuses on motivation. She has been supporting auti...
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