What Fresh Hell: Laughing In The Face Of Motherhood

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 This Deep Dive series is titled "Things We've Learned After Doing This Motherhood Thing for a While." Listen to the whole playlist on Spotify. What’s no longer interesting to you? How has your life been improved simply by no longer caring about something the world definitely thinks you should?  The key here is no longer interesting. James Bond movies and auto parts probably never made the list in the first place. We’re talking stuff you turned your back on after having cared perhaps a little too much. Which isn’t to say you don’t get pushback when you put things down. Just because *you* stop being interested in what’s for dinner doesn’t mean other small denizens of your home are going to stop asking you. Just because you stop caring about the scale doesn’t mean your sister will stop asking i

We're so glad to be talking to Kendra Adachi again this week. Kendra is the host of the Lazy Genius Podcast and the two-time New York Times bestselling author of The Lazy Genius Way and The Lazy Genius Kitchen. In this interview, we discuss what Kendra calls "compassionate time management" and her newest book, The PLAN: Manage Your Time Like a Lazy Genius. Kendra shares insights on productivity, pivoting in the face of unexpected life events, and the pitfalls of traditional time management. "The Plan" emphasizes a more holistic and compassionate approach geared towards women's realities. Its key principles include starting from where you are, accessing softness, and making small adjustments. We are so here for it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amy's book Happy to Help: Adventures of a People Pleaser is coming in January 2025. Pre-order your copy! Parenting is a series of everyday battles. But which ones are truly worth fighting? In this episode we discuss the Sisyphean nature of the overuse of the word 'like', to a cleaned-up playroom, to the unending struggle of getting tweens to wear pants—and which of these battles might be 1) winnable and 2) worth the work. Some things really do matter for the long-term success of our kids (and peace of our households); some might be worth letting go in order to let our kids have that win once in a while. In this episode, we unpack how to tell the difference. 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, bus

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 This Deep Dive series is titled "Things We've Learned After Doing This Motherhood Thing for a While." Listen to the whole playlist on Spotify. What's your "wow, that was so me” story? What is something you did as a kid that exemplifies exactly who you are now? Amy was taking charge at grownup parties as a six-year-old. Margaret was getting her comedy censored in grade school. Neither of these things, in retrospect, seem 1% surprising. In this episode, we discuss some of our listeners' hilarious recollections of their younger selves, plus a few stories of our own– and a few more about our kids, who have also displayed their personalities early and often. Whether you were a Halloween-candy-counter or a neighborhood Encyclopedia Brown, you'll probably recognize your younger self in this episode

American public policy rests on the premise that childcare is distinct from education. Dr. Dan Wuori, author of the new book THE DAYCARE MYTH, explains how and why we should rethink the education of very young children. Dr. Dan Wuori is an early childhood educator and policy consultant, known across the globe for his social media feeds @danwuori, which pair daily lessons in child development with adorable video examples. In this interview, Amy and Dr. Wuori discuss the importance of early childhood education and the misconceptions surrounding daycare. Dan emphasizes that every moment is a teachable moment for children and that their early development is crucial. He also highlights the need for stable and nurturing relationships with highly engaged adults in early childhood settings. The conversation explores the impact of quality early childhood education on long-term outcomes and the economic benefits of investing in young children. Dan provides actionable takeaways for parents and policymakers, including vi

There is no magic formula to making the perfect decision every time, but there are philosophical principles, or "razors," you can use to pare down your options and see your problem more clearly. These razors can cut through the clutter of complexity and help us see the forest for the trees. And while they weren't designed with parents in mind, they can come in pretty handy! Starting with the most famous, Occam’s Razor, we discuss how paring away unlikely hypotheticals leads to the most accurate solutions. Next, we delve into Hanlon’s Razor, which reminds us to avoid attributing malicious intent when there’s a simpler explanation. This principle can help us avoid unnecessary conflict and foster understanding, especially in relationships. Then we discuss Hitchens’ Razor, which places the burden of proof on the person making the claim. This can be a valuable tool for evaluating arguments and avoiding baseless assertions. We also explore Chesterton’s Fence, which encourages us to be cautious about changing things

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 This Deep Dive series is titled "Things We've Learned After Doing This Motherhood Thing for a While." Listen to the whole playlist on Spotify. Have you ever figured out a thing and thought everyone must know about this? In this episode we discuss the things that we (and our listeners) have figured out about how to pack freezer organization deciding once (this idea is from the Lazy Genius, and this Instagram thread is full of lazy genius) making yourself want to clean a messy room recognizing your best day deciding where things belong unloading a dishwasher always knowing what’s for dinner finishing what you start snack stashes making lists and how to discern between good ideas for somebody, and good ideas for you We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always

As parents, we've probably heard the term "attachment style.” But what does it really mean? Eli Harwood, author of the new book RAISING SECURELY ATTACHED KIDS, discusses practical parenting strategies for creating secure attachments with our kids. Eli and Margaret discuss: How we define secure attachment and why it's important The four different child attachment patterns Why it's never too late to start repairing relationships with our kids Eli Harwood is a licensed therapist who has been nerding out on attachment research for the past two decades and is on a mission to help make the world a better place, one relationship at a time.  Here's where you can find Eli: https://attachmentnerd.com @attachmentnerd on IG/TikTok/Facebook #raisingsecurelyattachedkids Buy RAISING SECURELY ATTACHED KIDS: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9781632175465 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

How can we empower our kids to cope with negative feelings without our help? Here's why disappointment is an important part of childhood and how to build scaffolding for their emotional regulation. Amy and Margaret discuss: How the purpose of having children has changed over the last century Why disappointment is developmentally important How to be a guide, not a fixer, for our kids Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode: Jim Taylor for Psychology Today: Parenting: Disappointment Is Good Katie Hurley for PBS Kids Parenting: How to Help Kids Cope With Disappointment THE GIFT OF FAILURE by Jess Lahey: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780062299253 Meghan Rabbitt for Parents Magazine: How to Help Kids Deal With Disappointment RAISING RESILIENT CHILDREN by Robert Brooks and Sam Goldstein  Emily Edlynn for Parents Magazine: How Do I Help My Mad Toddler Express Anger in a Healthier Way? Our Fresh Take with Jessica Lahey Our Fresh Take with Katie Hurley What Fresh Hell Podca

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 This Deep Dive series is titled "Things We've Learned After Doing This Motherhood Thing for a While." Listen to the whole playlist on Spotify. What did adulthood mean to you when you were growing up? Staying up late? Doing algebra every day? Stopping, dropping, and rolling at least once a week? We asked our listeners what they thought would come in handy or plague them daily when they grew up. Amy and Margaret discuss: "Oops! All Berries" Cap'n Crunch cereal Chunky statement pieces How to get the upper hand in "Jeopardy" Here's the original thread in our Facebook group where we asked this question Sign up for our newsletter!  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.w

Kids sometimes lose their cool, and it can be easy to lose ours while trying to help them. Carla Naumburg, author of the new book HOW TO STOP FREAKING OUT, discusses why kids freak out, how we can help them, and how we as parents can keep our cool. Carla Naumburg is a clinical social worker, and a mother. She’s the author of four non-fiction books, including her international bestseller, How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t With Your Kids, as well as You Are Not a Sh*tty Parent. Carla and Amy discuss: Why the point of Carla's book is not for kids to stop freaking out all together Why kids (and all of us) are wired to occasionally freak out How we as parents can keep calm when our kids are freaking out Here's where you can find Carla: www.carlanaumburg.com @carlanaumburg on IG @CarlaGeorge22 on Twitter @cnaumburg on Facebook Buy HOW TO STOP FREAKING OUT 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 c

So many of us spend hours chauffeuring our kids back and forth to their myriad activities. Why are kids so overloaded with activities these days, and can we get off of this ride? Here are some parenting strategies for navigating this issue. Amy and Margaret discuss: Why kids are so overscheduled these days How overscheduling really affects kids, beyond the mom guilt-inducing headlines What questions to ask when assessing if our kids are overscheduled Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode: Dr Shimi King: Overscheduling Your Kids Isn’t the Fast-Track to Success it Once Was Solution Health: Overbooked Kids: The Overscheduled Crisis Anna Nordberg for Slate: The Fine Art of Underscheduling Jill Barshay for Mind Shift: Overscheduling Kids’ Lives Causes Depression and Anxiety, Study Finds Carolina Caetano, et. al for Economics of Education Review: Are children spending too much time on enrichment activities? What Fresh Hell Podcast is going on tour across the Northeast US

This month's Deep Dive series is about flouting parenting rules and advice that don't work for us. Listen to a Spotify playlist of all the episodes in the series here. Who makes the parenting rules? And how bendable are they? From picky eaters to sleep routines to playing outside, we all have to navigate the line between what we supposedly should and shouldn't allow as parents. But sometimes it's okay to break the rules if it works for you and your family. Amy and Margaret dive into the details in this listener-driven episode. In this episode, Margaret and Amy discuss: The different types of parenting rules Which parenting rules they have broken "YOYO" dinners Other episodes we mention: Amee Severson on Intuitive Eating Ask Amy: Helping Kids Deal with Comparison and Envy  Christina Martin on How Children Learn Through Play 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 o

How do we raise our daughters to feel empowered, rather than helpless, in the face of gender bias? Dr. Jo-Ann Finkelstein, PhD, author of the new book SEXISM AND SENSIBILITY, offers parenting tips to prepare our girls for the modern world. Dr. Finkelstein, Amy, and Margaret discuss: The limits of the "girl power" line of thinking How to teach girls what is and isn't in their control when it comes to sexism How to recognize and combat sexism in our own parenting Here's where you can find Dr. Finkelstein: www.joannfinkelstein.com @joannfinkelstein.phd on IG/TikTok Jo-Ann Finkelstein, PhD - Author on FB @finkeljo on Twitter Buy SEXISM AND SENSIBILITY: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780593581162 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 d

Why do formerly-sunny kids turn overnight into little tornadoes of defiance and aggression? A listener posted this question in our Facebook group: My four-year-old daughter has recently developed a special, defiant, boundary-testing, aggressive version of herself that she saves only for me. I can’t make sense of it at all. WFH, send help! In this episode, we explain why these sudden onsets of periods of dysregulation are completely normal almost every kid will go through this—and a lot of four-year-olds, although not they do not have exclusive ownership of this sort of behavior and why most kids alternate between periods of regulation and dysregulation repeatedly as they grow and mature. These difficult stretches don't mean you're doing anything wrong as a parent. They don't mean you need to lock everything down because your kid will be a tornado forever. But they also don't mean mean you need to become the 24/7 punching bag for your dysregulated kid. Here's what to do instead. Here are links to some of t

Sign up for What Fresh Hell Plus on Supporting Cast to get all episodes ad-free, plus monthly bonus episodes. 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.  Getting-ready playlists? Choosing outfits the night before? Bringing snacks to the pickup line? We asked our audience about their favorite back-to-school tips... and we also allowed some venting about back-to-school craziness. Amy and Margaret discuss: To make lunch or not to make lunch How to keep outfits clean at breakfast The best time to grocery shop Here are links to resources mentioned in the episode: Read the full Facebook thread here and if you're not already part of our amazing group, you can join at www.facebook.com/groups/whatfreshhellcast! Watch the short film Amy mentions: "How Was Your Day?" directed by Allison Hadar and Maddie Corman What Fresh Hell Podcast is going on tour across the Northeast US this fall! Join us for

Today we’re sharing an episode from another parenting podcast we think our listeners will really appreciate. It’s called “In It: Raising Kids who Learn Differently.” This podcast offers perspective, stories, and useful takeaways for parents of kids with challenges in reading, math, focus, and other learning differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. This is an episode called "After the Diagnosis: How Kids Feel About Their Learning and Thinking Differences." To listen to more episodes, search for “In It: Raising Kids who Learn Differently” in your podcast app. Listen to "In It" here: https://lnk.to/initunderstoodFD!whatfreshhell 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.whatfreshh

How can we talk about America’s ongoing legacy of racism without sliding into despair? In his new memoir HOW FAR TO THE PROMISED LAND, Esau McCaulley tells his own story—and questions why Black failure is judged collectively, while Black success is perceived as the merit of an individual. Rev. Esau McCaulley, PhD, is an author and associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. His work has been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and Christianity Today. Esau and Amy discuss: Why "escaping poverty" is a misleading term How experiences that set the context for heroic bravery also create the possibility for failure What caused Esau to change his definition of justice Here's where you can find Esau: www.esaumccaulley.com @OfficialEsauMcCaulley on Facebook @esaumccaulley on Twitter on Instagram Buy HOW FAR TO THE PROMISED LAND: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780593241080 What Fresh Hell Podcast is going on tour across the Northeast US this fall! Join us for a li

We've all been there: our kid asks us what heaven is like, and whether dogs can go there too. Or why some people are homeless. Or why that person over there doesn't look like other people. Sometimes we rush to smooth things over, or chastise them for what is probably honest curiosity. Other times we overexplain, answering with a confusing lecture when what they really wanted was reassurance. In this episode, we talk about how to find the best balance. Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode: Cory Turner and Anya Kamenetz for NPR's Life Kit: When Kids Ask (Really) Tough Questions: A Quick Guide Our Fresh Take with Britt Hawthorne discussing kids' "curious questions" Danielle S. McLaughlin for the Huffington Post: Having Difficult Conversations With Kids 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

This month's Deep Dive series is about flouting parenting rules and advice that don't work for us. Listen to a Spotify playlist of all the episodes in the series here. We asked our listeners to tell us all the things that others might call crazy but which totally work for them. From packing the laundry to eating the same lunch every day for five years to toothbrushes in the kitchen, these are the ideas that don't sound so crazy, come to think of it. Following us on Instagram? Join the fun! http://instagram.com/whatfreshhellcast 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, par