Is one morning of runny eggs and burnt toast really fair payback for 364 days of work? Does "Mother's Day" have to mean packing the kids for a two-hour drive to see your mom and/or mother-in-law? Why does Mother's Day often feel like it's more trouble than it's worth?

Margaret and Amy discuss:

Margaret mentions "The Lanyard" by Billy Collins in this episode.

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Mother's Day, making mom feel special 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, mothers day, mother's day gift ideas

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When we're faced with difficulties, how can we put them into perspective and move forward? Jessica N. Turner, author of the new book I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE BETTER THAN THIS, discusses the experiences that led her to look at life differently and how she has learned to make "imperfect choices."

Jessica N. Turner has spent the last two decades as a content creator and tastemaker for busy moms looking for hacks to live life with more intention and less stress.

Jessica, Amy, and Margaret discuss:

Here's where you can find Jessica:

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:

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

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, #betterthanthis, grief, trauma, stages of grief, disappointment

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"Maternal gatekeeping" usually shows up in pop culture as an overbearing, overprotective mother preventing everyone else from even touching the baby. But maternal gatekeeping is a multidimensional phenomenon that isn't as simple as anxious mothers needing complete control over their newborn's schedule. Here is what the studies on maternal gatekeeping say and how it can manifest in two-parent households.

Amy and Margaret discuss:

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

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:

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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, emotional labor, cognitive labor, maternal gatekeeping

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This Deep Dive series is all about why motherhood is so gosh darn hard. Turns out there are sociopolitical forces at play that make motherhood way harder than it needs to be. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify.

"Mom rage" is a thing, and it feels shameful because it feels so far from where we are supposed to be as mothers and as women. Writer Anne Lamott called it "a closely guarded secret, as if the myth of maternal bliss is so sacrosanct that we can't even admit these feelings to ourselves."

But it's more universal than we admit, and its triggers more predictable. There are also practical ways we can all recognize it sooner when it might be building within ourselves.

In this episode, we discuss:

If you found this episode useful, here are some other episodes of ours you might listen to next:

Fresh Take: Carla Naumburg Tells Us How To Stop Losing It With Our Kids (May 2021)

Sometimes We Lose It (Dec 2018)

How to Yell Less (Dec 2024)

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

@momuninterrupted on Instagram: "Nighttime Parenting"

Anne Lamott for Salon: "Mother Rage: Theory and Practice"

Pallavi Pundir for Vice: ‘It’s Like I Was Possessed’: Women Reveal the Deepest, Darkest Moments of Their ‘Mom Rage’

Minna Dubin for The New York Times: "The Rage Mothers Don’t Talk About"

Minna Dubin for The New York Times: ‘I Am Going to Physically Explode’: Mom Rage in a Pandemic

NBC Boston: What Is Mom Rage? Why Are So Many Women Feeling It?

Mairead Heffron for Image: The secret rage of motherhood: ‘I never imagined that my child could be both the trigger and target of my anger’

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.

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, mom blame, mom rage

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How can we show kids that their neighborhoods are wonderful places to explore, learn, and grow? Tamron Hall, author of the NYT-bestselling book HARLEM HONEY, discusses why fostering hometown curiosity in kids is so important.

Tamron Hall is a two-time Emmy Award-winning television host and executive producer of syndicated talk show Tamron Hall.

Tamron and Margaret discuss:

Here's where you can find Tamron:

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.

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, parental stress, emotions, kids emotions, parent emotions, uncertainty,

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What's something in your life that's made such a difference you wish you'd done it earlier? That's what we asked our listeners, and they came up with a range of excellent ideas, from big changes to tiny tweaks.

Amy and Margaret discuss:

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, emotional labor, cognitive labor, meal planning, grocery delivery, scheduling, family planner, family schedule

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This Deep Dive series is all about why motherhood is so gosh darn hard. Turns out there are sociopolitical forces at play that make motherhood way harder than it needs to be. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify.

Mothers have long been held at fault for anything that might occur in their children's lives, from autism ("refrigerator mothers") to colic, and everything in between. Why is there such a long history of blaming everything on Mom?

In this episode, we discuss how mom blame has manifested in both psychology and parenting advice over the years, and how we can start to push back on it in our own lives.

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

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.

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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How does disability affect parenting, and what can disabled parents teach us all about parenthood? Jessica Slice, author of the new book UNFIT PARENT, discusses her journey as a disabled parent and the incredible joy she's found along the way.

Jessica Slice is a disabled author, speaker, and essayist. She has been published in Modern Love, The New York Times and The Washington Post among many others.

Jessica and Margaret discuss:

Here's where you can find Jessica:

Rachel Fairbank for National Geographic: "What Is POTS? This Strange Disorder Has Doubled Since the Pandemic"

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.

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, parental stress, disability, disability awareness, disabled parenting, disabled parent, parenting while disabled

#jessicaslice #unfitparent #disabledparenting #booksbydisabledauthors

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There's a reason "gentle parenting" has become synonymous in some circles—and on social media—with never ever telling a child "no," even in the most extreme circumstances. But where did "gentle parenting" begin, what does the research really say about it, and what can it actually offer parents in the way of making their lives easier?

Amy and Margaret discuss:

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

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.

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, gentle parenting, permissive parenting

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This month's Deep Dive series is all about how much fun we are—or aren't—having while raising our kids. Listen to the whole playlist on Spotify.

There are some things in life that sound more fun in the planning stage than they are in the execution, and those things are statistically proven to be done more frequently by parents.

We asked our listeners to tell us their lists of things that should be fun, but aren't. As the record will show, our listeners are sadly, completely correct. Don't say you weren't warned.

Here's the link to the episode of The Mom Hour episode a few of our listeners mentioned: We Hate Fun!

Sign up for "What Fresh Hell + " to get every one of our episodes ad-free, plus monthly bonus episodes. Go to whatfreshhell.supportingcast.fm to subscribe in two taps: $4.99 a month, or $39.99 a 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.

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, parental stress, emotions, kids emotions, parent emotions, uncertainty, fun with kids, fun parenting

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