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“What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood” is a Webby-honored, Top 10 Apple Podcasts parenting podcast with over 6 million lifetime downloads! If you're looking for laughs, advice, and community, you've come to the right place.
We're Amy and Margaret, and we're each moms of three. We deal 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" on Mondays
Regular weekly episodes on Wednesdays
"Fresh Take" interview with experts on Fridays
Join us as we laugh in the face of motherhood!
May 25, 2022
Are you an Amy or a Margaret? AKA: are you an introvert or an extrovert? Turns out, you can enjoy socializing but still be an introvert or require some alone time but still be an extrovert. And there are ways to raise kids w…
May 23, 2022
What is with the turn-on-a-dime switch from the sweet, demure kid we had yesterday to the demon who woke up today? Is something really wrong or is this a phase? Here’s how to help your kids through the inevitable “red brain”…
May 20, 2022
We’ve all left dishes by the sink. Either that, or we’ve yelled at our partner for doing so. In this episode, Matthew Fray explains how leaving dishes by the sink caused his marriage to implode—hint: it wasn’t just about the…
May 18, 2022
What unwelcome surprises have you experienced on your parenting journey? We asked our listeners to tell us what they didn’t expect when they first started out, and they listed everything from torturous theme days to baby hea…
May 16, 2022
We all have relatives who demand big bear hugs when saying goodbye. That may all be well and good for some kids, but what if our kids just aren’t huggers? Margaret discusses how to protect kids’ autonomy while keeping the pe…
May 13, 2022
When anxiety is part of family systems, our well-meaning attempts to assuage kids can instead serve to further reinforce it. Psychologist Lynn Lyons and Robin Hutson, co-hosts of the podcast Flusterclux, explain what actuall…
May 11, 2022
When will things go “back to normal"? Is that even a question we should be asking ourselves anymore? How do we learn to live with a new normal? Amy and Margaret ponder over how to keep running a race where the finish line ke…
May 9, 2022
When others have easier experiences of parenting than we do, it's easy to get jealous. But is that wrong? Amy responds to a listener struggling with envy towards friends whose births and postpartum experiences were far easie…
May 6, 2022
KC Davis, author of the new book HOW TO KEEP HOUSE WHILE DROWNING, tells us how to move beyond stepping on LEGOs, confronting towers of dirty dishes, and feeling overwhelmed with a gentler method for home care and self-care.
May 4, 2022
Still mad about that thing from that time? In this "Best Of" re-release, we review listener grudges large and small, deciding once and for all if those listeners should let it go or no. That’s not the same as whether they ha…
May 2, 2022
Having kids means having visitors who can't wait to see them– which means that in addition to being a mom, you are now a part-time travel agent and innkeeper. Here’s how to create ground rules that will help keep the peace w…
April 29, 2022
Iris Chen is a recovering tiger mother and founder of the Untigering movement, which emphasizes shifting away from parenting that is rooted in power to parenting that is grounded in partnership. Iris explains how to begin th…
never miss an episode! and hear what's coming up
