episodes

Amy answers a question from a listener who wants her own mom to stop relying on screens when she's babysitting.

Do you have a social life outside of your kids? Are you nurturing your partnership? Are you overwhelmed just asking these questions? Journalist Ericka Souter discusses her new book, full of concrete solutions for creating a life outside of kids.

How do we find the strength to break harmful patterns from our own childhood with our kids? Why is it so hard? Do we truly have the ability to change? Amy and Margaret examine why we sometimes can’t help looking for pizza at a Chinese restaurant.

A listener who has very little familiarity with gaming wonders how to keep kids safe while playing online.

Jill Smokler, founder of Scary Mommy, is back with "She's Got Issues," a multimedia platform and now podcast for Gen X women. She talks with Amy and Margaret about her new space for women to come together and share their stories.

Poop or vomit? Kids' shows or kids' books forever? Long flight or long road trip with toddlers? The Hellions hit up our Facebook group with some pretty agonizing dilemmas - which will Amy and Margaret choose?

How do we handle emerging romantic relationships between young kids. It's possible to either overreact or under react. In this episode Amy responds to a listener whose 8-year-old has received a beautiful Target-brand locket from an admirer.

The Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women estimates that we will not achieve gender equality for 164 years. What gives? Kate Mangino, gender expert, discusses ways to make domestic partnerships truly equal.

How do we allow our kids to feel rejection without going full-on lioness or attempting to prune their disappointment into a bonsai tree of neat and tidy life lessons? Sometimes helping our kids deal with rejection involves getting out of the way.

Margaret answers a question from a listener who is worried that her son does not have a wide range of interests.

Evidence of the childcare crisis in America is all around us, including inside our own homes. But why is the system so broken, and what can be done? Gloria Riviera, news correspondent and host of podcast "No One is Coming To Save Us" explains.

Sometimes it’s the little things that make us the craziest: the plastic thingies on juice box straws. The never-ending “Mom?” with that question mark at the end. Here are all the teeny-tiny things about mom life that still manage to drive us insane.

Flying with little ones this summer? We’ve got tips for what to pre-load on your phone, how to manage takeoff and landing discomfort, and how to decide whether you want to get on the plane first–or absolutely last.

This week we brought in Kate Casey, host of the interview podcast "Reality Life with Kate Casey", to talk with Margaret about living with a big family, what the Kardashians are REALLY up to, and why America runs on true crime.

What fight are you no longer willing to have? Is it making the bed? Eating what you cook? Matching pants with shirts every day? Sometimes the smartest thing you can do in your endless tug-of-war over small things is to drop the rope.

LEGOs. L.O.L. Dolls. Barbies. The plastic is coming from inside the house. Is it possible to ask family and friends to stop giving our children so many cheap plastic toys? Margaret, who is firmly anti-plastic herself, weighs the pros and cons.

Amber Briggle is an activist, speaker, and proud parent of her transgender son. In this episode, she discusses how to support trans kids in today’s political climate as well as her own journey parenting her son through his transition.

Supporting us in our careers. Building sandboxes. Flossing. We love it when our partners knock it out of the park. We asked our listeners about times they caught their spouses being awesome, from big favors to small gestures.

Are you exhausted by how many times you have to repeat what you say to your kids before they listen? Usually only when you finally yell? In this “Ask Amy” Amy explains her top stop-yelling tip, which comes from the world of dog training.

It can feel scary to discuss racism with our kids. But it’s the best way for us to protect them from its harms– and as Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of HOW TO RAISE AN ANTIRACIST, explains, kids can approach this work more easily than we might expect.

The book is always better than the movie. Brunch is dumb. And wind chimes are mean. We asked you about the smallest hills you have died on—the issues you just won’t wave the white flag for no matter what. And we came across some fightin’ words.

Margaret gives an update on her famously picky eater. Does the kid who once rejected almost every food except pizza now eat a wider range of foods? Tune in to find out!

Kate Swenson started “Finding Cooper’s Voice”while searching for answers after her son’s autism diagnosis. Her book FOREVER BOY is about Kate’s journey to acceptance, and how sharing her own family’s triumphs and challenges became a road to advocacy.

Brave parenting doesn’t mean acting like what’s happening in our world isn’t scary, or that we must present our kids with perfect solutions. It means meeting our kids where they are, discussing their feelings, then deciding together what to do next.