Margaret Ables and Amy Wilson
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When you're a parent, every day brings a "fresh hell" to deal with. In other words, there's always something. Think of us as your funny mom friends who are here to remind you: you're not alone, and it won't always be this hard.We're Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables, both busy moms of three kids, but with completely different parenting styles. Margaret is a laid-back to the max; Amy never met a spreadsheet or an organizational system she didn't like.In each episode of "What Fresh Hell" we offer lots of laughs, but also practical advice, parenting strategies, and tips t...
Based on 4 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables make parenting research and family dilemmas approachable through comic disagreement, personal reflection, and practical reasoning.
Amy Wilson and Margaret Ables turn parenting questions into lively arguments between two distinct points of view. Their humor comes through in quick corrections, personal stories, and the willingness to test their own assumptions, while the conversation still makes room for…
An after-school hoagie puts your nostalgia for simpler kid lunches on trial.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A clear, uneasy look at what gets lost when a child's private milestones become public content.
Fortessa Latifi's reporting on kidfluencers and reality-TV families gives this Fresh Take a clear pressure point: when a child's life becomes content, privacy is no longer a simple family choice.
A funny, grounded episode about the small handoffs that show children may be ready for more responsibility.
What Fresh Hell treats parenting milestones as small handoffs that can quietly redraw family life. Margaret and Amy build from Becca's Facebook group question, moving through everyday wins: kids waking up and turning on weekend cartoons, managing travel headphones, carrying…
Meg Zucker connects disability, bullying, and the work of supporting each child as an individual.
Meg Zucker's conversation with Amy moves from the physical facts of ectrodactyly into a more nuanced look at how parents help children understand difference without letting fear take over.
A warm college send-off conversation about naming the values families hope to carry forward.
Christina Geist's Before You Fly Away frames leaving for college as a family transition, not just a milestone for a graduating senior. In conversation with Margaret and Amy, the book's short lessons become prompts for saying blessings out loud, keeping achievement in…
A funny, grounded conversation about how imagined certainty can pull parents out of the present.
Uncertainty takes on a body here: shoulders tighten around a brother's wedding, and a small creek beside a possible home becomes a way to picture how a child might be hurt.
A brisk nostalgia debate that keeps circling back to the small parenting details that linger.
What Fresh Hell? treats the better-then-or-better-now question as a smart, easy parenting argument, moving from school lunches to music and the small routines that stick in family memory.
A grounded case for kin as the relationships that help family life work.
Sophie Lucido Johnson treats kin as the ties that hold family life together when blood or marriage does not tell the whole story. The conversation moves through chosen family, aunties, co-parenting, shared caregiving, and the plain fact that some children are raised by more than…
A calm reminder that the moment that feels final rarely stays that way.
The episode opens with a listener note from an older mom of two teenage boys, and that small detail does a lot of work: it makes the mess, noise, and constant motion in family life feel familiar instead of abstract.
Parenthood and bodies, told one honest story at a time.
Fortesa Latifi says family-influencer culture can turn a child's first menstrual cycle into a brand deal, and she says that pattern is not rare in her reporting.
["What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood turns Becca's Facebook-group prompt about \"parenting milestone no one told me about\" into a list of concrete thresholds parents actually feel.", "Margaret Aples and Amy Wilson frame the conversation around independence as fewer daily tasks for adults, not just bigger kids.", "The opening examples are children who wake up on the weekend, start cartoons, make breakfast, and buy their parents an extra hour of sleep.", "Katie, Melanie, Sammy Jo, and Tiffany add milestones like dinner out without kids, independent showers after eczema care, outdoor play by themselves, and a pasta attempt that ends with an induction-cooktop burn."]
Amy talks with Meg Zucker, founder of Don't Hide It, Flaunt It and author of Born Extraordinary, about parenting children with visible differences and disabilities.
Christina Geist turns senior-year panic into Before You Fly Away, Life Lessons from Home, a 50-lesson book that began as 150 phone notes and a graduation gift.
["Margaret Ables and Amy Wilson use What Fresh Hell to ask why the brain chooses the known downside, then connect it to Dori Clark's point that uncertainty can push people into lesser decisions.
Interview with Dr.
Hosts Margaret and Amy humorously debate whether various aspects of parenting and daily life were 'better then' or 'better now,' covering topics like jeans, Valentine's Day, music, and Halloween costumes, while sharing listener tips and personal anecdotes.
Sophie Lucido Johnson discusses her book 'Kin,' exploring how to build chosen family and combat loneliness through intentional friendships and community.
Hosts Amy and Margaret explore parables like the empty boat and feeding the wolf to discuss parenting stress, anxiety, and how we attach meaning to life's bumps.
Amy and Margaret explore research showing that declining independent play contributes to rising mental health issues in children, discussing factors like increased school hours, safety concerns, and the benefits of risky play for developing internal locus of control.
Amy Wilson interviews Dr.
This episode discusses the difference between stress and burnout in parenting, offering insights and humor for mothers.
Interview with Erica Suter about her book 'How to Have a Kid and a Life' and the myth of modern motherhood.
Two funny moms discuss back-to-school tips and answer listener mailbag questions.