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

This week we're talking about how modern teen "dating" has changed—starting with the word itself (it's called "talking" or "hanging out" these days), where today's teens are meeting romantic partners, and how they tend to communicate. We also explain how and why conversations about boundaries, consent, self-worth, and emotional safety should begin earlier than you might think.

We also discuss:

Why today’s teens are dating later but navigating more online pressure

How to encourage to kids maintain other friendships while dating

What to do when you dislike your child’s romantic partner

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

Emily Baumgaertner Nunn for the NYT: A Predictor of a Good Social Life? Your Parents.

Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU blog: Is your teen ready to date? 6 things to think about

Rachel Ehmke for Child Mind Institute: Teens and Romantic Relationships

Check out our Fresh Take with Ash Brandin, the Gamer Educator, who has great tips on keeping kids safe online!

What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.

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/
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This Deep Dive series revisits some of our past episodes on discerning what we need as moms, and then asking for it confidently.

Most of us know about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the pyramid pattern through which human needs and motivations generally move upward. We can't worry about what's at the upper levels of the pyramid until and unless the more basic needs at the bottom of the pyramid– food, warmth, safety– are met first.

Leslie Forde, founder of ⁠Mom’s Hierarchy of Needs⁠, has rethought that pyramid for the way we live our lives as mothers. There's a reason there's not enough bandwidth in our lives for fun and connection and self-actualization. Mom’s Hierarchy of Needs provides moms with products, research and community to reclaim time from their never-done to-do lists.

In this episode, Leslie explains:

Why mom's hierarchy of needs is a little different than Maslow's

When and why your hierarchy of needs might shift

How to prioritize your career, healthy relationships, and self-care in your own hierarchy

Leslie says that it's important to realize your health and wellbeing is equal in importance to your children's health and wellbeing, and once you internalize that, you can start to make room for your own needs without feeling guilty or frivolous.

Here's where you can find Leslie:

Facebook: @MOMSHIERARCHYOFNEEDS

Twitter: @MOMSHIERARCHY

IG: @MOMSHIERARCHYOF_NEEDS

⁠Leslie's TimeCheck app⁠

⁠https://momshierarchyofneeds.com/⁠

Our episode ⁠"Isn't This Supposed to Be More Fun?"⁠

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What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.

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/
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Is social media a good thing for isolated mothers? Or does it just give us more to worry about? Margaret talks with Rachael Shepard-Ohta and Caitlin Wilder, hosts of the podcast You’re So Right, about parenting in the age of Instagram, postpartum mental health, identity outside motherhood, and why parenting advice can feel both helpful and impossible at the same time.

Rachael, a former special education teacher and infant parent mental health specialist, and Caitlin, a full spectrum doula and former Bravo producer, explain how they built their podcast as a space for moms to feel less alone.

They discuss:

Why modern motherhood feels so performative online

The pressure to either “love every moment” or be a “hot mess mom”

Why nuance in motherhood conversations matters

Here's where you can find Rachael and Caitlin:

Listen to "You're So Right" wherever you get your podcasts

@youresorightpod, @heysleepybaby, and @wilderbeginnings on IG

What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.

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/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're often told that the American style of parenting is inferior—that we're doing it all wrong compared to, say, a laissez-faire Parisian whose kids eat whatever is served.

But is it our too intense/ too lax/ too snack-heavy parenting style that is making us (and our kids) so stressed? Or is it where we're doing that parenting?

In this episode, we explore the forces shaping parenting in America today, and the ways in which other countries offer parents more support. From the pressure to “do it all” to the lack of community support, we examine how our American struggles may be rooted in American ideals.

There's no doubt cultural expectations can shape our parenting decisions, leading to the "intensive parenting" that's so easy for others to criticize. But there's plenty about our circumstances as American parents that makes things harder.

Our friend Janelle Hanchett (whose writing inspired this episode) was exactly right when she wrote:

"As much as we may in the US give lip-service to universal healthcare, parental leave, labor rights, and childcare subsidies as key tenets of good parenting, just below these assertions is the implication that if American parents simply tried harder, they would not be so stressed and they would parent better.

The narrative bombards American parents relentlessly: Others do it better because they are culturally superior.

They are not better people. They live in societies with better policies."

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

Jannelle Hanchett on Substack: They aren't better parents because they're culturally superior

Claire Cain Miller for the NYT: Today’s Parents: ‘Exhausted, Burned Out and Perpetually Behind’

Reddit/attachmentparenting: Thoughts on “Bringing Up Bébé” book?

Kate Cray for The Atlantic: Parenting in America Keeps Getting More Intensive

Kate Juilan for The Atlantic: What Happened to American Childhood?

Joe Pinsker for The Atlantic: ‘Intensive’ Parenting Is Now the Norm in America

Patrick Ishizuka for Social Forces journal: Social Class, Gender, and Contemporary Parenting Standards in the United States: Evidence from a National Survey Experiment

Yu-Chin Her for Population Research and Policy Review: Having Fun or Having Kids? Leisure Aspirations and Attitudes Toward Parenthood in Europe

Susan Kelley for The Cornell Chronicle: Hands-on, intensive parenting is best, most parents say

What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.

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/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This Deep Dive series revisits some of our past episodes about the joys and the challenges that come with raising kids with differences and disabilities.

Olivia Martinez-Hauge is a marriage and family therapist specializing in the treatment of families, couples, and individuals who are caregiving for children or adults with neurodiversity. She is also a licensed occupational therapist with over two decades of experience helping children and their families.

She is also a mother of three children, two with neurodiversity.

In this "Fresh Take" interview, Olivia explains

the grief and isolation that might come with special needs parenting

her own journey moving past those emotions by parenting "from a place of present"

the team of support that a parent of a special needs child needs

how we can change our friend groups, schools, and societies to be more supportive of families with children who have special needs

Whether you're a parent of a special needs or neurodiverse child, or just want to be a better friend to someone who is, you'll learn so much from this interview.

Find out more about Olivia and her work at The Center for Connection and Neurodiversity here: https://www.thecenterforconnection.org/

What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.

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/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices