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

What is emotional intelligence, exactly? Is it the yin to IQ's yang? Is it equally crucial to our success and well-being? In this episode we talk about what EQ (or EI, depending on who you're asking) actually means, why it matters, and whether it can be taught to both adults and kids. We discuss: The four core components of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness,...

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. Kate Swenson writes and creates videos about her life as a mother of four and and an autism advocate for ⁠"Finding Cooper's Voice⁠," a living, thriving community of people who not only advocate for autism, but also make the world a better place f...

What happens when childhood becomes content? Journalist Fortesa Latifi, author of the new book LIKE, FOLLOW, SUBSCRIBE, discusses the rise of influencer families and the growing world of kid influencers. We explore how parenting content has evolved from "mommy blogs" to today’s visual and monetized social media landscape, where children are often at the center of viral content. Fortesa explains wh...

What are the parenting milestones no one tells you about—but that completely change your daily life? We asked our listeners about the little wins of parenting that make a huge difference in reducing the day-to-day chaos, from kids pouring their own cereal to finally being able to leave them home alone. Listen to our interview with Christina Martin here Subscribe to our YouTube channel! What Fresh...

This Deep Dive series is about embracing the joys and acknowledging the challenges that come with raising kids with differences and disabilities. How do we celebrate and encourage kids with disabilities and differences, without letting our fears and preconceptions dictate what we think they can do? How do parents of kids with less understanding of differences and disabilities allow for children's...

As kids prepare to leave home for college, we tend to wonder: have we taught them everything they need to know? Christina Geist—author of Before You Fly Away: Life Lessons from Home—shares how this transition can feel like a “parental report card.” Christina's late-night reflections and “mini panic moments" as her child prepared to leave for college became a collection of concise life lessons mean...

Why do we cling to what’s familiar—even when it’s not working? In this episode we explore why humans are wired to avoid uncertainty, and how that shapes our decisions and our parenting. We discuss the Ellsberg Paradox, which explains why we often choose “the devil we know” over potentially better—but unknown—options. Whether it’s staying in a situation that no longer serves us, avoiding difficult...

In honor of Women's History Month, this "Deep Dive" series highlights some of our past interview episodes about raising daughters. Janice Johnson Dias⁠ is a professor of sociology at John Jay College, and author of ⁠PARENT LIKE IT MATTERS: HOW TO RAISE JOYFUL, CHANGE-MAKING GIRLS⁠⁠. Her collaborative work on black girls’ mental, sexual, and physical health issues earned her a special Congressional...

Why is it so hard to read more—even when we want to, even when we have stacks of books awaiting us on our bedside tables? We sit down with Meredith Monday Schwartz—co-host of the The Currently Reading Podcast—to talk about how to reconnect with reading in a way that feels joyful, flexible, and realistic. If you’ve ever felt obliged to finish a book you hated, or berate yourself for the time you sp...

Why is it so hard to get some kids to read—and is it even our job to make them love it? We tackle the reality of raising reluctant readers in a world dominated by screens. From decoding disorders to disinterest, we break down the different reasons kids struggle with reading—and why understanding the “why” matters more than forcing the habit. We share practical, judgment-free strategies to help kid...

In honor of Women's History Month, this "Deep Dive" series highlights some of our past interview episodes about raising daughters. Donna Jackson Nakazawa is an award-winning science journalist whose work explores the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and emotion. In, ⁠GIRLS ON THE BRINK: Helping Our Daughters Thrive in an Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression, and Social Media⁠, she unpacks...

How can we best support our neurodivergent kids? Jessica Shaw, host of the podcast Everyone Gets a Juice Box, discusses the realities of raising neurodivergent kids—and the emotional, practical, and often isolating journey parents navigate along the way. Jessica shares how the concept of neurodiversity has evolved, why the “big tent” of neurodivergence can feel both supportive and lonely, and how...

What does it really mean to “age gracefully”—and who decided that was the goal in the first place? We unpack the cultural pressure on women to look younger for longer—and what we can do to resist it. From celebrity beauty standards and the billion-dollar anti-aging industry to the “mask of aging,” we explore why the gap between how we feel and how we look can become so jarring. We dig into: the ri...

In honor of Women's History Month, this "Deep Dive" series highlights some of our past interview episodes about raising daughters. Why are stereotypes of teenage girls rarely flattering? And even worse, what important traits are we not acknowledging in these young women? ⁠Chelsey Goodan⁠, author of ⁠UNDERESTIMATED: The Wisdom and Power of Teenage Girls⁠, explains what teenage girls really want and...

What does dopamine actually do to our brains—and to our kids' brains? We welcome back science journalist and parenting expert Michaeleen Doucleff to discuss her latest book, DOPAMINE KIDS. After years as an NPR science reporter, and after writing the bestselling HUNT, GATHER, PARENT, Doucleff began noticing something unsettling in her own life: even during beautiful moments with her daughter, she...

First, we’re setting aside our own hopes and dreams to have (and raise) our kids. Then, we’re relentlessly mocked (perhaps correctly) for being overinvested in the fourth-grade luau. Are we living through our kids? And how do we stop? Psychologists have long said that mothers transfer our own unfulfilled ambition onto our children. “Symbolic self-completion theory” suggests that we look to our chi...

In honor of Women's History Month, this "Deep Dive" series highlights some of our past interview episodes about raising daughters. How do we raise our daughters to feel empowered, rather than helpless, in the face of gender bias? ⁠Dr. Jo-Ann Finkelstein⁠, PhD, author of book ⁠SEXISM AND SENSIBILITY⁠, offers parenting tips to prepare our girls for the modern world. Dr. Finkelstein, Amy, and Margare...

What does it really mean to be a Black single mother in America? Why are the stories we hear and tell about that experience so often incomplete? Margaret talks with cultural critic, writer, and editor Jamilah Lemieux, author of Black. Single. Mother: Real-Life Tales of Longing and Belonging. Jamilah discusses the fears she initially had about writing openly about single motherhood—and how the proc...

Are screens ruining our kids' childhoods? Is AI going to rot our brains in the next thirty days? Or are these the latest examples of a very human tendency: the catastrophizing of change? From the dawn of the printing press to the Satanic panic over heavy metal lyrics, we explore the long history of social panics, find familiar patterns, and discuss our findings, including: Why parents are often th...

Based on a recent listener question about letting go as your kids get older and gain more independence, we're highlighting some of our past interview episodes that address this topic. Anxiety is a natural response to stress. Sometimes it’s even useful, like when it alerts us to danger. But when anxiety grips our children, they often don’t (can’t) explain how they’re feeling, and their inner turmoi...

What do we misunderstand about teen mothers? How does stigma contribute to the difficulties teen mothers face? This week we're talking to Susan Sutton about her nonprofit The Ember Project, which supports teen and early mothers through mentorship, financial literacy, education support, and small but powerful financial grants. Susan shares her own story of becoming a mother in 10th grade and how th...

We talk a lot about how to manage kids when they are being impossible. But it's supposed to be the terrible twos, not the terrible forty-somethings. What do we do when we're the one in the family who's dysregulated? In this episode, we discuss: How to know if you're emotionally dysregulated Why parents (especially moms) are particularly vulnerable How dysregulation can show up both as anger and as...

Based on a recent listener question about how to start to let go as our kids get older, this "Deep Dive" series highlights some of our past interview episodes on the topic. As moms, we're often given tons of societal pressure on how we have to give our kids all the right things—then told to "chill out" when it comes to the worrying part. ⁠Gabrielle Blair⁠, author of ⁠THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT⁠, is he...

How do we get kids to *want* to put their phones down? This week we're talking to bestselling author Catherine Price about her latest book, The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World, co-written with social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. Instead of focusing on parental controls and screen-time battles, The Amazing Generation speaks directly to kids, inviting them...

Do siblings really need to get along as children to have healthy relationships as adults? We challenge one of parenting’s most deeply held assumptions: that sibling closeness is the ultimate goal. We explain why sibling rivalry is developmentally normal and how fighting can actually be a sign of connection—not failure. Finally, we talk about what parents can influence—and what they can’t—when it c...