The holidays are the time of year we're most likely to spend time with our extended families— visits which can also bring guilt, frustration, and overwhelming expectations.

In this episode, Amy and family counselor Erin Cox dive into the challenges of holiday family dynamics: setting boundaries, splitting time between multiple households, managing difficult relatives, and trying to create a joyful season for our own kids without losing ourselves in the process.

We explore why returning home makes boundaries harder to keep, why the pressure ramps up this time of year, and how to stay grounded when everyone wants something from you. From travel burnout to critical parents, hosting fatigue, mismatched traditions, and even holiday pet drama, we’re talking through the real stories listeners shared — and how to protect your peace while still showing up with love.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode

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Amy and Margaret tackle one of women's most exhausting challenges: the nonstop onslaught of small asks, random requests, invisible labor, and mental load that quietly drains them. They break down why saying "no” to additional responsibilities is not laziness, and why "just say no to" is actually not a realistic option in many situations.

Drawing on real-life examples, Amy and Margaret explore the emotional calculus behind every “yes,” the hidden costs of over-accommodating, and why moms often feel pressure to be endlessly available. They offer practical scripts, boundary strategies, and mindset shifts to help you pause before automatically agreeing, tolerate the discomfort of disappointing others, and value your own limits.

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

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What Fresh Hell podcast, 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, parenting boundaries, saying no as a parent, invisible labor, mental load, emotional labor, moms and burnout, parenting overwhelm, how to set boundaries, family stress management, sustainable parenting, decision fatigue, time management for parents, household labor imbalance, parenting scripts, avoiding burnout, saying no kindly, realistic parenting expectations, parenting advice, family dynamics, parent mental health

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Is "helicopter parenting" actually a definable thing? Or is it just what we call parents who are being annoying? Overparenting is something that it's easy to be judgey about in other people, and a lot harder to identify in ourselves. Parents have to help. It's what we're there for. So how do we manage without micromanaging?

In this episode, we discuss:

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

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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, helicopter parent, snowplow parent

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Trigger warning: this episode contains mention of child abuse and suicidal ideation.

Amy and Margaret talk with Glen Henry—creator of Beleaf in Fatherhood and author of the new book Father Yourself First—about breaking cycles, reimagining fatherhood, and learning to parent with intention, grace, and community. Glen shares his journey from growing up in a difficult household to becoming a present, emotionally attuned father, and how mentorship, open communication, and self-work helped reshape his parenting.

They discuss navigating hard conversations with children about race and safety, deconstructing the voices we’ve internalized from our own parents, and why parents must learn to “father themselves first.” Glen also explores the importance of modeling real family life, finding mentors, building community, and creating an inner voice rooted in compassion instead of fear or old wounds.

This moving conversation is especially powerful for parents who didn’t grow up with healthy models and are working to create something new for their own families.

Here's where you can find Glen:

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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:

⁠Read the original thread on Facebook here⁠

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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

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Anxiety expert Lynn Lyons and co-host Robin Hutson created the podcast ⁠FLUSTERCLUX⁠ to help anxious kids and anxious families, which are usually one and the same. Lynn Lyons has trained hundreds of teachers, school nurses, counselors and parents about managing anxiety.

In this episode, Lynn, Robin, and Amy discuss:

Here's where you can find Robin and Lynn:

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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,
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Parenting today feels harder than ever—information overload, online anxiety, and constant pressure to “get it right.” Dr. Michael Milobsky, a pediatrician with 25 years of experience and host of the podcast "Your Kids Will Be Fine, " joins Amy and Margaret to talk about how raising kids has changed in today's society, and how parents can feel more confident.

Dr. Milobsky tells us how to separate the noise from the signal, and what pediatricians really wish parents understood about their own kids. From picky eating to teen mental health, this is a grounded, compassionate conversation for parents who just want to do their best.

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Parenting advice, pediatrician interview, Dr. Michael Milobsky, parenting anxiety, digital parenting, childhood vaccines, picky eating, neurodiversity, autism diagnosis, teen mental health, adolescent anxiety, parenting in the information age, trusting your instincts, parental overwhelm, modern motherhood, fatherhood, pediatric medicine, parent-doctor relationship, raising resilient kids, social media and parenting, What Fresh Hell podcast, 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

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Amy and Margaret share their and their listeners' best tips for making the holidays less stressful and more joyful. They discuss how to reimagine old traditions, simplify family gatherings, and the “law of holiday attrition," and how it work in your favor. From tackling family expectations to choosing what to let go of (and what’s worth keeping), this episode helps you create holidays that work for you.

You’ll learn:

The secret to surviving hosting duties without losing your mind

Ways to make holiday meals easier (and more fun!)

How to navigate changing family dynamics

See all of our listeners' holiday hacks in this Facebook thread!

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This week, we're revisiting our interview with Dr. Gabor Maté and Dr. Gordon Neufeld. In the revised edition of their book ⁠HOLD ONTO YOUR KIDS⁠, Dr. Maté and Dr. Neufeld explain the crucial importance of remaining attached to our children as they grow.

Dr. Gordon Neufeld is an internationally renowned psychologist and foremost authority on child development, and founder of the Neufeld Institute. Dr. Gabor Maté is a renowned speaker and bestselling author, highly sought after for his expertise on a range of topics including addiction, stress and childhood development.

Amy, Dr. Maté, and Dr. Neufeld discuss:

Here's where else you can find Dr. Maté and Dr. Neufeld:

Free resources from Dr. Gordon Neufeld: ⁠https://neufeldinstitute.org/resources/free/⁠ 

See presentations and talks from Gordon Neufeld: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@neufeldmedia⁠

Follow Dr. Gordon Neufeld's work on: Facebook:⁠ https://www.facebook.com/NeufeldInstitute⁠

Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/neufeldinstitute/

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Hold On to Your Kids, Gabor Maté parenting, Gordon Neufeld attachment theory, parent–child connection, child development, peer orientation, parenting teens, attachment parenting, emotional connection with kids, maintaining attachment with children, adolescent psychology, parenting challenges, family relationships, emotional intelligence in children, connection over correction, raising resilient kids, attachment and independence, conscious parenting, Neufeld Institute, parenting podcast, 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

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Amy and Margaret talk with Kate Baer, three-time New York Times bestselling poet, about her new poetry collection How About Now— a book born out of a season of unexpected change.

From sudden health crises to the shifting identity of motherhood, Kate invites us into the raw material of her life — and shows us how poetry can hold what the forms and boxes of everyday life cannot.

We talk about how time begins to accelerate in midlife, how our bodies both betray and reveal us, and how friendship, marriage, and motherhood become the scaffolding for truth-telling. Kate Baer's work makes the ordinary sacred and the chaotic strangely comforting.

Here's where you can find Kate:

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