What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Relationships, and Making Life Better, with Two Funny Moms

This Deep Dive series is all about reducing the friction between ourselves and our kids when trying to communicate with them, whether it's yelling less, finding real reasons for constant defiance, or picking our battles.

SHOULD we yell at our kids? No. Do we? Yes. Some of us perhaps a little too often. Kids are hardwired to push our buttons to get attention, and none of us are saints. But while verbal abuse is definitely horrible, hollering “you are about to miss the bus again” is perhaps a little more forgivable—and fixable, as it turns out. And it is definitely better to yell less, not just because you’ll have a more peaceful home, but because the more yelling your household has in it, the more it is likely to have.

In this episode Amy and Margaret discuss:

Why yelling at your kids might not be as universally toxic as some headlines have claimed

Why yelling is, in the end, ineffective

Why finding workarounds for the sources of tension might be a more effective path to change than berating yourself for (once again) having raised your voice

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

⁠Our Fresh Take with Carla Naumburg⁠

⁠Our Fresh Take with Emily Edlynn⁠

Lisa Belkin for NYT: ⁠Can Yelling at Your Kids Be Good?⁠

Sue Shellenbarger for WSJ: ⁠Talking to Your Kids After You Yell⁠

Ming-Te Wang and Sarah Kenny in the Journal of the Society for Research in Child Development: ⁠Longitudinal Links Between Fathers’ and Mothers’ Harsh Verbal Discipline and Adolescents’ Conduct Problems and Depressive Symptoms⁠

Dr. Emily Edlynn for Psychology Today: ⁠The Truth About Parents Who Yell at Kids⁠

Stephen Marche for NYT: ⁠Why You Should Stop Yelling at Your Kids⁠

Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to https://heypolo.com/hell or use code HELL and get 70% off your first year!

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/⁠

What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Margaret Ables and Amy Wilson.
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What if being a comedian is kind of great for most things, but not so much for parenthood? We talk with Sona Movsesian, co-host of Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend and author of the new book THE WORLD'S WORST MOM, about mom guilt, the mental load, and what becoming a mother taught her about her relationship with her own mom.

We discuss:

why Sona calls herself the “World's Worst Mom”

the special fresh hell of twin boys

how you see your mom differently as soon as you become one

Here's where you can find Sona:

@sonamov on IG

Buy THE WORLD'S WORST MOM: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9798217046706

Listen to the "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" podcast

Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to https://heypolo.com/hell or use code HELL and get 70% off your first year!

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

Youth sports used to mean riding your bike to your friend's house to play Wiffle ball in the backyard, with a tree for second base. Eventually you'd head to the rec center, maybe join the school team. But those days are long gone. Kids' sports have become so involved, specialized, and expensive that fewer and fewer kids are even able to participate— and those who do play have to opt in to grueling practice schedules and travel teams that prioritize achievement and winning above many of the lessons sports are supposed to teach kids in the first place.

Inspired by Caitlin Moscatello’s New York Magazine article “The Pay-to-Play Childhood,” we discuss how youth sports have shifted toward an increasingly expensive, competitive, and business-driven model, including:

Why travel teams and sports specialization have become the norm

The pressure parents feel to make their kids competitive at an early age

How the wealth gap informs youth sports and elite athletic teams

What parents and communities can do to make youth sports more accessible

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

Written Testimony of Katherine Van Dyck Before the U.S. House Committee on Education for a Hearing on “Benched: The Crisis in American Youth Sports and Its Cost to Our Future”

i9 Sports: Chances of Getting an Athletic Scholarship

Stephen Borelli for USA Today: Congress addresses 'crisis' in youth sports. Can we fix it?

Neglect of probability, defined

Ryan Huettel for These Football Times: US Soccer and the re-imagining of an elitist culture

Gabe Fernandez for SFGate: As youth sports costs soar, one Oakland neighborhood tries a creative solution

Reset as a sports parent: 5 ways to get (or keep) kids active

Our Fresh Take with Stuart Slavin on The Pressures Causing Depression, Anxiety, and Burnout in Our Kids

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

Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to https://heypolo.com/hell or use code HELL and get 70% off your first year!

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 is all about reducing the friction between ourselves and our kids when trying to communicate with them, whether it's yelling less, finding real reasons for constant defiance, or picking our battles.

We've all had times when our kids resist every. single. thing. you tell them to do. When is it part of a larger problem, and even if it's not, how do we manage the exhausting defiance?

Amy and Margaret discuss:

How to keep track of a kid's defiance in order to figure out where it's coming from

Gut-check questions to ask yourself to ascertain where ODD might be what's happening

the "two free requests" approach

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

Katherine Lee for VeryWell Family: ⁠Effective Ways to Handle Defiant Children⁠

Royce Flippin for Additude: ⁠Why Is My Child So Angry and Defiant? An Overview of Oppositional Defiant Disorder⁠

Dr. Douglas Riley: ⁠The Defiant Child: A Parent’s Guide to Oppositional Defiant Disorder⁠

Mount Sinai Parenting Center: ⁠Positive Opposites⁠

Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to https://heypolo.com/hell or use code HELL and get 70% off your first year!

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/

What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Back-to-school season doesn’t have to be a chaotic scramble. In this "Best of" episode, Margaret and Amy share practical tips to help parents make the transition smoother—without getting caught up in the “back-to-school industrial complex.”

From resetting sleep schedules to planning meals and snacks, here's what really matters for your child’s success and well-being this fall. You’ll hear strategies for easing morning stress, tackling "after-school restraint collapse,” and checking in on your family’s values to make sure those priorities are aligning with your new school-year schedule.

Margaret and Amy discuss:

How much sleep kids really need—and how to help them get it

Meal and snack strategies to keep your kid energized

Using visual schedules to stay organized

Share this episode with a fellow parent who's overwhelmed with all things back-to-school!

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

Drew DeSilver for Pew Research Center: ⁠‘Back to school’ means anytime from late July to after Labor Day, depending on where in the U.S. you live⁠

Rachel Murphy for PennState blog: ⁠The Medical Minute: Parents, add these health tips to back-to-school to-do lists⁠

Fousia Abdullahi for Fort Worth Star-Telegram: ⁠Expert advice for a stress-free back-to-school season for North Texas families⁠

⁠Bear in the Big Blue House potty-training episode⁠

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/

Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to ⁠https://heypolo.com/hell⁠ or use code HELL and get 70% off your first year!
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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices