What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood | Parenting Tips From Funny Moms

Margaret and Amy explore the messy truths about jealousy—why moms feel it, how shame adds fuel to the fire, and what we can actually do about it. From parenting pressures to social comparisons, they discuss how jealousy is normal, but how we respond to feelings of envy can make all the difference. Margaret and Amy discuss: 😬 Why jealousy feels so shameful for moms 🧠 “The Second Arrow” – how feeling guilty about feeling jealous makes things worse 👩‍👧 How our kids’ struggles trigger our own insecurities 🔄 Reframing the inner monologue: from “I’m jealous” to “I’m overwhelmed” 📉 Why “I'm sure they're not as happy as they seem ” isn’t always a helpful thought ✅ Practical tools to cope with comparison and find joy again Whether it’s feeling envious of your husband’s solo lunch breaks or wondering how other families can afford breezy summer vacations, this episode validates it all. Margaret and Amy offer practical advice, a lot of laughs, and a reminder that comparing yourself doesn't mean you're doing motherhood wrong—just that you're human. Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode: Jenifer Demattia for Scary Mommy: "Why I'm Envious Of These Moms" Glennon Doyle for Today.com: 'My family hits the lottery every freaking morning:' Blogger gives kitchen a gratitude makeover ABC news: I Was Jealous of My 'Perfect' Mom Friends 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, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, jealousy, envy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How do we raise healthy, loving, polite, and appreciative teens? Is it humanly possible? From remaining "passively available" to taking our adolescents' seemingly trivial problems seriously, our listeners had great advice for bringing up teenagers. Amy and Margaret discuss: The blessing of nerd-dom How to keep your face in check when talking to your teen Why it's important to let your teen fail sometimes ⁠Here's our Fresh Take with Michelle Icard, author of "Fourteen Talks by Age 14"⁠ ⁠Here's the link to the full thread in our Facebook group⁠ 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.  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, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amy and Margaret sit down with Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, to discuss her transformative new book: Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark Into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age. Shannon shares the personal story behind her midlife awakening, how she built the largest grassroots movement to fight gun violence in America, and the life-changing formula she developed to help women find purpose, passion, and courage—no matter their life stage. Shannon, Margaret, and Amy discuss: How societal “shoulds” can keep women stuck The “fire triangle” formula: how your values, abilities, and desires can reignite your life Why “false fires” (like busyness and performative happiness) burn us out How Shannon knew it was time to pass the torch at Moms Demand Action—and what it taught her about transitions The importance of building our own communities of firestarters Why your fire doesn’t have to “earn its keep” Here's where you can find Shannon: www.firedupbook.com (enroll in Shannon's course here) @shannonrwatts on IG and Substack Buy FIRED UP: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780593831939 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, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, midlife women, midlife crisis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A note from Margaret: My family was visiting Kerrville, TX when the flood occurred. Having seen the devastation to the Hill Country first hand, it is impossible to put into words the scope of the disaster. These losses are close to home for my family and I know they have touched so many of you as well. Please join us in donating to the relief efforts by using the following trusted link. This week Amy talks with author and playwright Genevieve Kingston about her acclaimed memoir Did I Ever Tell You? Genevieve's mother died of cancer ten days before Genevieve's 12th birthday. Her mother prepared Genevieve for a life spent without her by creating a chest of letters and gifts to be opened on each of Genevieve's birthdays, until she turned 30, plus other life milestones like graduation and first love. DID I EVER TELL YOU? explores how these profound gifts shaped Genevieve's life and unlocked mysteries to explore as well as healing. Amy and Genevieve discuss how children process grief—and why it often doesn’t look “appropriate”— and why building a community of trusted adults around children facing loss is so crucial. This conversation is a must-listen for anyone parenting through illness, processing loss with children, or simply wondering how to leave a legacy of love. And the book is a must-read for, well, everyone. Here's where you can find Genevieve: www.genevievekingston.com @genevieve__kingston Buy DID I EVER TELL YOU: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9781668006290 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, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, grief, grief and loss, grief support, kids and grief, parent loss, parental loss Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is there such a thing as a too-imaginative kid? Parenting experts say no. Dr. Paul Harris, professor of education at Harvard and author of ⁠The Work of the Imagination⁠, says that kids’ active imaginations are “essentially positive” and represent cognitive work, the way that children make sense of the world.  But if you’ve got a kid who prefers her imaginary friend to making real ones— or who terrorizes the first grade by explaining how zombies can get into one’s home through the radiator— you might still wonder whether there comes a time to tamp it all down and force our kids to deal with reality.  In this episode we talk about  The considerable upsides of a huge imagination  Why some children have imaginary friends  Why some kids engage in “world play” for their imaginary worlds long after the other kids have moved on  How to help anxious kids whose imaginations can become overly active  How to encourage kids to engage in more imaginative play  And here’s links to the books, articles, and research we discuss in this episode:  Lauren Child's ⁠Charlie and Lola book series⁠, featuring the kind-of-visible Soren Lorensen Louise Fitzhugh: ⁠Harriet the Spy⁠ Dr. Robin Alter: Anxiety and the Gift of Imagination Paul L. Harris, ⁠The Work of the Imagination⁠ Joshua A. Krisch for Fatherly: ⁠Brilliant Kids Visit (and Create) Imaginary Worlds⁠ Michelle Root-Bernstein: ⁠The Creation of Imaginary Worlds⁠ Marjorie Taylor: ⁠Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them ⁠ Deena Skolnik Weissberg: ⁠Distinguishing Imagination From Reality 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, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, imaginative kids, kids playing, kids imaginary friends Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In light of the recent floods in Kerrville, Texas, Margaret and Amy discuss how we can talk to kids about scary, sad, or tragic events—especially when we don’t know what to say. Topics include: 🧠 How children process grief, tragedy, and fear at different ages 🛡️ The limits of “protecting” kids from the world—and when it's important 💬 Letting kids lead the conversation and avoiding over-explaining 😢 Why it’s okay for kids to see you upset—and how to model healthy emotion regulation 🎭 Understanding kids’ “weird” responses to trauma (jokes, play, denial) as coping 📺 The unintended impact of news media exposure on young children Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode: Free and confidential support is offered through resources like the Disaster Distress Helpline (1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746), which connects you to trained counselors 24/7. Here's Margaret's preferred donation site for Kerrville: https://cftexashillcountry.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=4201 Zachary Suri for the Texas Standard: "How to talk to your kids about the Hill Country floods" Lee Ann Rawlins Williams for The Conversation: "When disasters fall out of the public eye, survivors continue to suffer – a rehabilitation professional explains how sustained mental health support is critical to recovery" Danielle S. McLaughlin for the Huffington Post: “Having Difficult Conversations with Kids”  PBS NOVA: What Next: Talking to children and finding a path to healing after the Newtown shooting tragedy. The poem "Good Bones" by Maggie Smith Our Fresh Take with Margaret's sister-in-law Christina Martin on How Children Learn Through Play 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, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, Kerrville, Kerrville flooding, Texas flooding, tragedy, news, Texas Hill Country Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Margaret and Amy tackle a commonplace parenting issue: when one child consumes the majority of your bandwidth—whether that's your time, your energy, or your attention. Some bandwidth-hogging situations are temporary, some are more this-is-how-it-is. Some are for positive reasons, some distinctly less so. Whatever the cause, when one kid takes up all your parenting bandwidth, it's hard for the rest of the family not to be affected as well. In this conversation, we explore: The many ways our bandwidth can feel inconsistently applied Strategies for recalibrating the family ecosystem Why awareness, honesty, and small course corrections matter Whether you’re navigating chronic illness, disruptive behavior, or the demands of elite youth sports, this episode is here to help you name it, understand it, and—most importantly—not feel alone. And don't forget to buy HAPPY TO HELP if you haven't yet! Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode: Leigh Anderson for Lifehacker: What to Do If Your Child's Behavior Is Ruining Your Relationship With Your Partner Antoinette Deavin, Pete Greasley, Clare Dixon for Pediatrics: Children’s Perspectives on Living With a Sibling With a Chronic Illness Dean E. Murphy for NYT: Watching Them Watching Me Lisa Rapaport for Reuters: Healthy kids with sick sibling may hide emotions Nicole Schwarz for imperfectfamilies.com: It’s not fair, and that’s ok. Supporting your children when a sibling is struggling. Andrew Sullivan for NYT: How Do You Raise a Prodigy? Parent Child Interaction Therapy (this is what Margaret talked about) 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, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amy thought The Love Boat was filmed in real time, at sea. Margaret's grandfather had all the kids convinced his dining room light switch controlled the Tappan Zee Bridge. We asked our listeners for all the silliest things they fully believed as children, and in this episode, we highlight all of the absolute dumbest. We got all of these answers from our Facebook group! You can join in on the fun here: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/whatfreshhellcast⁠ 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, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amy and Margaret talk with parenting coach Danielle Bettmann, host of the Failing Motherhood podcast. Danielle specializes in helping parents of strong-willed and neurodivergent kids implement positive discipline—a proven, research-based approach that’s both kind and firm. Danielle breaks down: What “positive discipline” really means (and what it’s not) Why traditional approaches like time-outs, yelling, and sticker charts backfire with sensitive or strong-willed children How to mirror your child’s emotions and validate without giving in How to co-parent with consistency, even when you and your partner are on different pages What boundary-seeking behavior tells us—and how to set limits that make kids feel safe How to respond when relatives say “Back in my day…” If your kid seems to only melt down for you, if you’re Googling parenting solutions at 3 a.m., or if you’ve tried everything and nothing’s working—this episode will give you practical strategies and a whole lot of validation. Learn how to avoid becoming your kid’s emotional punching bag, why saying “and” is more effective than “but,” and how to intentionally indulge without reinforcing bad behavior. Here's where you can find Danielle: www.parentingwholeheartedly.com @parent_wholeheartedly on IG @thatparentcoach on Tiktok Listen to "Failing Motherhood" here: https://www.parentingwholeheartedly.com/podcast 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, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, we break down five essential conversations parents should be having with their kids this summer. From online safety and media limits to emotional health and growth mindset, Amy and Margaret offer practical ways to open meaningful dialogue with your kids—without cornering them for awkward lectures. You'll learn how to talk about: 📱 Digital Life & Safety: Scam-proofing kids, screen time sanity, and talking tech boundaries. 🧠 Emotions & Mental Health: Helping kids name emotions, normalize asking for help, and express what they're feeling. 🚫 Respect, Consent & Boundaries: From the sandbox to social situations, how to model and enforce personal boundaries. 🌎 Kindness & Inclusion: Embracing diversity, talking openly about difference, and reinforcing family values. 💪 Growth Mindset & Resilience: Teaching kids how to face challenges, recover from failure, and develop a sense of possibility. Here are the themed playlists we've curated for each of these topics: Talking to Your Kids About Media and Technology Talking to Your Kids About Growing as a Person Talking to Your Kids About Kindness and Inclusion Talking to Your Kids About Emotions and Mental Health Talking to Your Kids About Respect, Consent, and Boundaries Here is Angela Duckworth's advice to the graduates of Bates College about phone usage. Here is an example of the pre-recorded conversations Amy mentioned that kids can use during ride shares. 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, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, inclusive, inclusivity , transgender, trans kids, transgender kids, support for trans kids, trans rights, queer kids, respect, consent, teaching kids consent, digital safety, online safety, media literacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices