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PODCAST

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

kids & family parenting

All Episodes

47:35

Family Meetings (and Why You Should Do Them)

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/03/19

Does your quality time with your spouse sometimes/always devolve into discussions about finances, kids, or future plans? Here's how focused weekly meetings—both for our partnerships and for our families—can strengthen, deepen, and save the sanity of our relationships. Amy and Margaret discuss: How marriage/family check-ins improve the day-to-day health of relationships Best practices for successful marriage/family check-ins How they tailor their own marriage/family check-ins to work for

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37:07

DEEP DIVE: Is There Just Too Much Information?

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/03/17

This month's Deep Dive series is about parenting through uncertainty. Listen to all of the episodes in the series with this Spotify playlist. “Information overload” is defined as the tipping point when the input of information exceeds an individual’s capacity to process it all. When we begin to feel overwhelmed and stressed by the amount of information that is available, we can end up feeling more stressed and overwhelmed than knowledgeable. For parents, the urge to find certainty through online

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38:54

Fresh Take: Mary Catherine Starr on Truly Sharing the...

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/03/14

Women take on the lion's share of housework in heterosexual partnerships, and that gap in labor becomes a chasm once a child is born. Once Mom is the default parent, it becomes very difficult to even out the distribution of housework and parenting more equally. Mary Catherine Starr, author of the new book MAMA NEEDS A MINUTE, has renegotiated the distribution of labor in her own marriage post-kids and has tips for how other women can do the same. Mary Catherine Starr is an artist, graphic designer,

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45:51

How to Feel Less Starved for Time

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/03/12

As moms, it feels like we're always crunched for time without a moment to ourselves in a given day. And that really takes its toll on our mental health. Here are some tips for getting more "time affluence" in your day—and no, it's not about being more productive! Time affluence is about structuring your to-do list so it feels more manageable and working time for yourself into the fabric of your day-to-day so that you're not going months without any me-time. Margaret and Amy discuss: The difference

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44:59

DEEP DIVE: Dealing With Uncertainty as a Parent

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/03/10

This month's Deep Dive series is about parenting through uncertainty. Listen to all of the episodes in the series with this Spotify playlist. How do we prepare for a future that isn’t clear? How do we prepare our kids for their future when what that might look like is also unclear? Uncertainty is an unavoidable part of the parenting journey, but in this episode we’re talking about those really uncertain times: the “this might be nothing, but we’d like to run more tests” times. The “we actually

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39:52

Fresh Take: Nicole Graev Lipson

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/03/07

How can women grapple with society's unattainable standards for beauty, femininity, and motherhood? Nicole Graev Lipson, author of the new book MOTHERS AND OTHER FICTIONAL CHARACTERS, discusses how she has started to divorce herself from these ideas and get more comfortable with uncertainty.Nicole Graev Lipson's essays have appeared in The Best American Essays 2024, The Sun, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Gettysburg Review, River Teeth, Fourth Genre, The Boston Globe, and more. Nicole, Amy, and

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49:17

BEST OF: So What Do You Do All Day?

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/03/05

If you're a stay-at-home parent, how do you answer to the people who frequently– and annoyingly– ask, "So, what do you do all day?"A listener in our Facebook group posted? "During Covid, I quit my job and I’ve been home. I drive my kids to school, work out, and manage the house and family. I’m very happy and fulfilled, especially knowing that my eldest will be leaving for college soon, I’m soaking up this time. My problem is trying to explain this to others. I have a good college degree and worked

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42:43

DEEP DIVE: Brave Parenting in a Scary World

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/03/03

This month's Deep Dive series is about parenting through uncertainty. Listen to all of the episodes in the series with this Spotify playlist. Gloria DeGaetano, parenting expert and founder of the Parent Coaching Institute, recently wrote: "There's almost not a word to express the stress parents are under right now. 'Overwhelmed' doesn't cut it. It's beyond anything we've ever experienced." This really is a strange and scary moment for all of us, and parenting through our own anxiety is proving a

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41:20

Fresh Take: Melanie Shankle

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/02/28

How do we navigate raising children when we were not set a good example by our parents? Melanie Shankle, author of the new book HERE BE DRAGONS, discusses how we can disrupt the harmful parenting patterns that we grew up with and do better by our own children.Melanie Shankle is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, co-host of the podcast, The Big Boo Cast, and creator of The Big Mama blog. Melanie, Amy, and Margaret discuss: What Melanie's relationship with her own mother taught

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46:30

What We Call "People Pleasing" Might Really Be...

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/02/26

"People pleaser" is usually both a gendered and pejorative term. Some people really do love taking on the lion's share of work in a given situation. Some people do it but are secretly resentful that they always have to spearhead endless event planning, committees, and get togethers. Here's what "people pleasing" really means and how to unwind yourself from it if it's getting to be too much. Amy and Margaret discuss: The actual definition of people pleasing versus how it's commonly used Demand

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26:16

HAPPY TO HELP free audiobook preview from libro.fm!

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/02/25

The audiobook reviews of HAPPY TO HELP (written and read by our own Amy Wilson!) are in, and they're amazing. Libro.fm has chosen Happy to Help as a "Bookseller Pick," and this week they're giving What Fresh Hell listeners a free audiobook chapter! It's Amy's favorite essay in HAPPY TO HELP, and in the intro she explains why.Libro.fm's review comes from a bookseller at Alexandria on Main in Elkins, WV: “Did we just become best friends? I mean, seriously Amy, you absolutely nailed type A extrovert

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46:30

DEEP DIVE: When It's Okay To Be Emotional In Front of...

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/02/24

This month's Deep Dive series is about parenting through uncertainty. Listen to all of the episodes in the series with this Spotify playlist. Is it okay for us to be emotional in front of our kids? Julie, one of our podcast listeners, asked this question in our Facebook group: Is it good for kiddos to see their moms have emotions? And how can we talk through our emotions with our kids? My grandmother lost her husband when my dad was 11 years old. She had four kids, no job. She had to take care of

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43:45

Fresh Take: Renee Reina, "The Mom Room"

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/02/21

How do social media influencers themselves manage their expectations around parenting and their consumption of parenting content online? Renee Reina, creator and host of the "Mom Room" podcast, discusses how her ADHD diagnosis, her PhD in psychology, and her social media presence all shape her parenting. Renee, Amy, and Margaret discuss: How parenting norms have changed since they were children How Renee's ADHD diagnosis has impacted her work and her parenting How Renee manages her consumption of

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46:53

We Settle Your Arguments (Part 2)

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/02/19

Did you know? Happy to Help is available on Audible- with Amy doing the narration! Should you brush your teeth with hot or cold water? Do you cut sandwiches horizontally or diagonally? How tightly should you screw on jar lids? We asked our listeners for their most longstanding, totally low-stakes disagreements with their spouse or parenting partner. And there were just too many juicy arguments for one episode! Here's part two of our final rulings on important topics. Join our Facebook group and be

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46:18

DEEP DIVE: Changing the Stories We Tell Ourselves

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/02/17

This Deep Dive series is about reflecting on our trajectories as mothers - looking back, reflecting on where we are now, and thinking about the future. Listen to the whole playlist on Spotify. We are the protagonist in our own story, but what happens when we become the antagonist in stories we weren't even aware of? Or when we assign antagonist roles to unsuspecting partners or kids? Amy and Margaret discuss why we as humans need to tell ourselves stories, when the stories we tell ourselves might

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46:33

Fresh Take: Ashley Graber and Maria Evans on Raising...

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/02/14

Anxiety is diagnosed much more frequently than it used to be; that goes for our kids as well. Our parental instincts are usually to reassure them, but as it turns out, that actually isn't the solution to making them worry less.Ashley Graber and Maria Evans, child and family psychotherapists and authors of the new book RAISING CALM KIDS IN A WORLD OF WORRY, explain how to have tough conversations with your child, and how to teach your child coping skills for their anxiety. In this episode Ashley,

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45:08

We Settle Your Arguments (Part 1)

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/02/12

Did you know? Happy to Help is available on Audible- with Amy doing the narration! Should ketchup be refrigerated? Is dryer-lint cleaning a before or after job? We asked our listeners for their most longstanding, totally low-stakes disagreements with their spouse or parenting partner. In this episode, we render judgments. People, we're calling balls and strikes. Our determinations are final. Join our Facebook group and be part of our next episode! We love the sponsors that make this show possible

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46:34

DEEP DIVE: Is This a Midlife Crisis?

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/02/10

This Deep Dive series is about reflecting on our trajectories as mothers - looking back, reflecting on where we are now, and thinking about the future. Listen to the whole playlist on Spotify.What does it mean to have a midlife crisis? What exactly counts as "midlife," and (yikes) are we already in it? Can we avoid the disenchantment and the rash decision-making that stereotypically accompany such times in our lives? A listener in our Facebook group asked: "Who has been thru their midlife crisis

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46:01

Fresh Take: Neha Ruch, "The Power Pause"

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/02/07

So many women feel that when they leave the workforce to become a stay-at-home parent, "Mom" becomes their primary and only identity. But Neha Ruch, author of the new book THE POWER PAUSE, reframes the shift from paid work to stay-at-home parenting—and sometimes back to the workforce— in a way that expands identity and possibilities for women going through these transitions. Neha, Amy, and Margaret discuss: Why the period of "stay at home momness" can be a great challenge to identity How the

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45:13

Multitasking: Turns Out We’re ALL Bad At It

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood |... ·

2025/02/05

We're talking about some of the topics in Amy Wilson's new book HAPPY TO HELP. Get it in our Bookshop bookstore, or wherever you buy books! Ask most people if women are "just better" at multitasking, and they'll probably agree. Didn't some study say that at some point? Aren't women from Venus and men from Mars? Aren't our brains completely different? Here's what the research really says about multitasking. Turns out we may have been bamboozled into doing more work all this time WITHOUT being any

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