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

What words, phrases, or annoying habits do you wish your family would just quit once and for all? Here's what our funny mom friends had to say.Amy and Margaret discuss: What rules work in Margaret's house What behaviors cause them to "catch a bit of an attitude" Which tropical islands they would run away to if given the chance Read the original thread on Facebook hereListen to Molly and Blaire's new podcast Unsticking It!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/mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, toddler, baby, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're doing a "Deep Dive" into our past episodes on birth order and how it can shape both kids' personalities and their relationships with their siblings. Find the rest of the episodes in this deep dive series in this Spotify playlist. Is birth order a thing to fight back against? Is there a way to make the older child less stressed, and the baby maybe a little *more* motivated? And is it a problem if our own birth order has shaped who we are as adults and how we parent?We think the answer is: not really. These stereotypes are so ingrained because the effects of birth order are real. But that's not to say the things that result are all negative, or completely determinative, or that your middle kid is doomed to a life of unhappiness just because she was unlucky enough to get a younger sibling.Still, awareness of the effects of birth order seems important, if only to catch ourselves when we're inadvertently reinforcing those roles. That's when we can give the youngest a little more responsibility, the oldest a little less– and let the middle kid pick what’s for dinner once in a while.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/mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, middle child, birth order, siblings Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What does it mean to parent grown children? How can we embrace those changing relationships? Kelly Corrigan, host of "Kelly Corrigan Wonders", four-time New York Times bestselling author, and the host of PBS’ long-form interview show Tell Me More, talks with Amy about the process of letting our big kids go.Kelly and Amy discuss: why the thing our older kids might most want to hear from us is, simply, "I know" why mothers and fathers might get different versions of the same stories from their kids Kelly's top advice for younger parents Here's where you can find Kelly: https://www.kellycorrigan.com/ @kellycorrigan on IG Listen to Kelly's podcast "Kelly Corrigan Wonders" 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/mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, toddler, baby, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Need some new indoor activities for kids? Are you completely out of ways to keep your little ones busy while winter's cold and icky weather continues to drag on? Bundling up and going outside is worth the trouble, when you can make it happen—but when you can't, here's how to make those long and boring days inside more fun.Amy and Margaret discuss: The "third quarter phenomenon" How to change things up to create new experiences out of old toys for kids Listener tips for keeping kids occupied on cold, rainy, or snowy days Here are links to some of the things mentioned in the episode: Elmo checks in on all of us this week: Elmo on Twitter / X Watch this interview with Elmo and his dad Louie on TODAY Nathan Smith and Gro Mjeldheim Sandal for Astronautics: "The third-quarter phenomenon: the psychology of time in space" 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/mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, toddler, baby, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, activities for kids, fun activities for kids, winter activities for kids, indoor activities for kids Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What can we do to help our kids feel welcome and make friends in a new town? Margaret shares her own parenting tips for helping kids adjust after a big move.A listener asks:"We're about to move across the country and I'm wondering what are the steps we need to take to "make friends" and help the kids do the same. What are some ways you can suggest for them to "break into" the already formed groups that I'm sure their new schools will still have? Also, it will be a very strange dynamic because in the fall, I will have one in high school, one in middle, and one in elementary. Send help!"Margaret suggests reaching out to the community you're moving to ahead of time and trying to make connections before you get there. Even just one person to talk to in your new hometown can be really helpful.When it comes to your kids, find groups that they might want to be a part of, whether it's theater, soccer, or Scouts, and contact the leaders of those groups to tell them your kid will be coming. See if you can get one kid from that group over for a playdate in advance so your child has one familiar face to latch onto when they walk into their new school.If you arrive during the summer before school starts, sign your kid up for the town camp or other camps with kids from the school district.Lastly, check in with your kid (and yourself) at 3, 6, and 9 months out from the move. Assess how it's going for everyone and, if it's not going well, where you can redouble your efforts to make connections. It can take up to a year to feel fully rooted in a new place.Special thanks to our sponsor, Pampers!For trusted protection, choose Pampers, the #1 Pediatrician Recommended Brand. Download the Pampers Club App today to start earning free diapers.mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, problem solving, moving, moving with kids, prepping kids for move Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's the difference between being a father and being a dad? What does it mean for a man to become intentional about fatherhood as an integral part of his identity? Adam Flaherty and Marc Checket, co-hosts of the "Modern Dadhood" podcast, discuss how fatherhood has and hasn't changed in the last few decades.Amy, Margaret, Adam, and Marc discuss; Why women identify (and are identified) as moms more readily than men do as dads The difference between "dadhood" and "fatherhood" How to make parenting partnerships more equitable Here's where you can find Adam and Marc: http://moderndadhood.com Instagram: @moderndadhood YouTube: @moderndadhood TikTok: @moderndadhoodpodcast 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/mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, toddler, baby, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, dad, father, fatherhood Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why are the solutions to other people's problems so easy, while our own problems seem so much harder? Turns out this phenomenon is real, and even has a name: "Solomon's Paradox." In this episode we discuss how distance from a situation gives us clearer perspective, and how we might transfer that clarity to the problems in our own lives. Amy and Margaret discuss: Why it's easier to see other people's situations more clearly than our own Why it's easier for us to see what our kids need to do in sticky situations than for them to see it Why we sometimes may not be solving other people's problems as well as we thought How to apply the wisdom we bring friends' issues to our own situations Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode: Kean Poon: "Hot and Cool Executive Functions in Adolescence: Development and Contributions to Important Developmental Outcomes" from Frontiers in Psychology Journal Maggy Elsousou for Medium: "Why It’s So Much Easier To Solve Other People’s Problems Than Your Own" Jeannie Ngoc Boulware for University of Chicago: "Conversations on Wisdom: Igor Grossmann" Anne Lamott TED Talk: "12 Truths I Learned from Life and Writing" Caeleigh MacNeil for Asana: "How the sunk cost fallacy influences our decisions" Grossman and Kross: "Exploring Solomon's Paradox: Self-Distancing Eliminates the Self-Other Asymmetry in Wise Reasoning About Close Relationships in Younger and Older Adults" in Psychological Science 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/mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, problem solving Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How can we get our reluctant readers to read a wider range of books? Here are some parenting strategies for getting kids excited about reading.Jennifer asks:"Any thoughts on how to get my eight-year-old son to listen or read anything outside his go-to genre?"Although Jennifer doesn't specify, it sounds like the go-to genre for an 8-year-old boy is probably some books about gross bodily humor. But remember: kids have to learn to read before they can read to learn. At that young age, many kids are still working really hard to ingest information as they read, so they need something really engaging to make it worth the effort for them.You can also view the problem as: at least they're reading, and that's good! Even if it's not as educational as you wish it were. Some parenting strategies for encouraging your child to read include modeling reading at home, creating a visual representation of how many books your child has read for them to see, and taking them to the library to get the full book-borrowing experience that many of us loved as children.Amy suggests the "You Wouldn't Want To Be" series as particularly appealing AND educational for grade-schoolers... you can find those books here: https://www.youwouldntwantto.be/Join our Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/whatfreshhellcastSpecial thanks to our sponsor, Pampers!For trusted protection, choose Pampers, the #1 Pediatrician Recommended Brand. Download the Pampers Club App today to start earning free diapers.reading strategies, reluctant readers, chapter books, mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How can busy moms reduce their stress levels in a way that DOESN'T involve the word self-care? Dr. Linnea Passaler, author of the new book HEAL YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM, explains the biology behind the stress response and how to address it.Dr. Linnea Passaler is the founder of ‘Heal Your Nervous System,’ a platform that offers tools and resources to help individuals worldwide understand the root cause of anxiety, burnout, overwhelm, and physical and emotional symptoms.Dr. Passaler and Amy discuss: When and why our nervous systems become dysregulated Where most people run into trouble when trying to become more regulated Solutions for shifting to a more regulated state Here's where you can find Dr. Passaler: https://healyournervoussystem.com @healyournervoussystem on IG Buy HEAL YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780760385654 Listen to our interview with Carla NaumbergWe 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/mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, toddler, baby, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We each have those things that we don't hate, exactly; we just don't get them, don't get why everyone but us is so obsessed.Our listener Melanie posted in our Facebook group:I have a show idea! Things that it seems everyone in the world loves, but you don’t get it! For me….Taylor Swift. I don’t get why people lose their minds over her! One of my students went into debt to pay $4000 for a ticket to her concert….and it wasn’t even a good seat!As usual, hundreds of listeners weighed in about the things they just don't get, from Stanley cups to pretty cookies. Here are some of the widely appealing things that make them—and sometimes us—scratch our heads.One of the top things Amy doesn't get: Tom Waits.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/mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, toddler, baby, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices