

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood | Parenting Tips From Funny Moms
Margaret Ables and Amy Wilson
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
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 19, 2020 • 52min
Ditching What Doesn't Matter (With Guest "The Lazy Genius")
Momming is hard. Whether we’re stressed perfectionists or hot messes, our homes and relationships get happier when we do what matters, skip what doesn’t– and clarify what goes in what pile for each of us.Our guest, Kendra Adachi, is better known as "The Lazy Genius." Her new book is THE LAZY GENIUS WAY: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, And Get Stuff Done. Kendra says we don't need a new productivity plan; what we need are new ways to see.In other words: stop feeling bad that you're not adhering to All The Systems. Make a just-good-enough system that works for exactly you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aug 17, 2020 • 8min
Ask Margaret - How Can I Get My Kid to Be Interested in More Activities?
This week Margaret advises a listener who is worried that her 8-year-old does not seem to have a wide enough range of interests. Is there anything she can do to help him expand his interests beyond screens, half-hearted participation in Scouts and basically chilling out most of the day?Check out this episode and see if you agree with Margaret's advice.Submit your questions to: questions@whatfreshhellpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aug 14, 2020 • 36min
Our Family Had Covid! Here's How It Went For Us (Bonus Episode)
In our back-to-school episode Amy dropped some news: her immediate family had Covid-19 back in March.Thankfully, Amy's family had "mild" or "moderate" cases of coronavirus. (Those terms officially include any course of illness that does not include inpatient hospitalization.)But even in a single household, their experiences ranged from asymptomatic, to 36 hours of fever, to three weeks in bed, to months and months of continuous long-term Covid-related illness.Because listeners expressed interest in hearing more from a fellow parent who's actually gone through Covid-19, in this episode Margaret interviews Amy on
how their symptoms progressed
what their recovery has looked like
and what she thinks you should have ready at home before you need it
Here's what we want you to know: it's worth it to have your kids wearing masks and taking other precautions. Their risk of serious illness is lower; it's not non-existent.As always, if you have concerns, discuss them with a medical professional!To find out more about "long Covid," search "long haul Covid," #longhaulers, or go to longcovid.org.Ed Yong wrote a great overview for The Atlantic: Covid-19 Can Last For Several Months- https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/06/covid-19-coronavirus-longterm-symptoms-months/612679/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aug 12, 2020 • 51min
Should I Send My Kids Back To School?
Our kids’ schools have sent plans. And revised plans. And codicils to the plans. Now it’s time to make our own decisions: if the choice is available to us, are our kids going back to classrooms this fall?Here are the factors that are driving our own decisions– knowing that the ‘right’ answer is fundamentally non-existent, and that this calculus is by definition personal. As Adrianne La France writes for The Atlantic:"All along, this disaster has been simultaneously wholly shared and wholly individualized, a weird dissonance in a collective tragedy that each person, each family, has to navigate with intricate specificity to their circumstances." Amy drops some big news in this episode: her family has had coronavirus. We'll be following up with a bonus episode specifically about that later this week.Here are links to some other writing on the topic that we discuss in this episode:New York Times: What Back to School Might Look Like in the Age of Covid-19Ann V. Klotz: This Is The Song That Never EndsClaire Cain Miller for the NYT: Nearly Half of Men Say They Do Most of the Home Schooling. 3 Percent of Women Agree.Adrianne La France for The Atlantic: ‘This Push to Open Schools Is Guaranteed to Fail’WGBH: Harvard Epidemiologist: 'Hybrid' Model For Reopening Schools Is 'Probably Among The Worst' Options Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aug 10, 2020 • 7min
Ask Amy - My Kid Is a Know-It-All!
Amy takes a question from a listener who wants to encourage her know-it-all daughter to speak up while discouraging her constantly correcting everyone in the family. Is there a way to support her daughter's knowledge and self-confidence, while correcting her annoying habit of having absolutely all the answers?Check out our other episodes on the topic:Asking for What We Want and Encouraging Our Daughters' to Do the Same: bit.ly/WFHWhatWeWantTeaching Our Kids Empathy: http://bit.ly/TeachingKidsEmpathy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aug 5, 2020 • 50min
Asking For What We Want, And Teaching Our Daughters To Do The Same (with guest Marisa Porges)
From board rooms to town halls to IEP meetings to doctor's offices, there are places where women speaking up for what they want or need are either ignored, resented, or just not taken seriously. (Anyone who's ever had been told by a contractor to "put her husband on the phone, and I'll explain it to him" can tell you that.)That's why our girls need to be trained in the arts of asking and negotiating– not only because those are things we don’t teach our daughters as well as we teach our sons, but also because the world often doesn’t reward women who speak up.We discuss how to value our daughters' voices– and teach them to do the same– with Marisa Porges, author of the new book WHAT GIRLS NEED: How to Raise Bold, Courageous, and Resilient Women. Here are links to other writing on the subject that we discuss in this episode:Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever Deborah A. Small et al: Who Goes to the Bargaining Table? The Influence of Gender and Framing on the Initiation of Negotiation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aug 3, 2020 • 7min
Ask Margaret - Is There Any Way to Get My Kid to Stop Throwing Stuff?
Margaret answers a question from a mom who is pretty freaked out by her 20-month-old's habit of throwing stuff when he's angry.If you have a question you'd like Margaret or Amy to answer submit to: questions@whatfreshhellpodcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jul 29, 2020 • 47min
Advice We Totally Hate
As soon as you become a mother unsolicited advice-givers are everywhere, telling you to “sleep when the baby sleeps.” Or “it gets easier.” Or “enjoy every moment.”Out of all the advice (parenting and otherwise) that we and our listeners have ever received, here is a selection of the very worst. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jul 27, 2020 • 7min
Ask Amy - How Can a New Mom Make Friends Right Now?
Each week Amy or Margaret answers one listener's most pressing question.This week Amy answers the question, "How can an introvert make new friends especially during the complicated social limitations of coronavirus?"Check out our Finding Your Mom Tribe episode:https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/2019/06/finding-your-mom-tribe-episode-110/Here's the link to the Catherine Price's Screen/Life Balance site Amy mentions in this episode. http://screenlifebalance.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jul 22, 2020 • 48min
Two Kinds of People- Which Are You?
We asked our listeners to divide the world into two kinds of people, and to stake out their claims on one side.Sleep cuddler or stop-breathing-on-me?Book finisher or life-is-too-short-er?Shoes on or off in the house?Many of you gave slightly judgmental “there’s me, and the crazy people” types of responses.Others gave "there's the right way to do it, and the way my spouse does it" sorts of answers.All of which, in this episode, we are totally here for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices


