• 39 minutes 27 seconds
    Fresh Take: Meg Stone on Campus Sexual Violence and Empowerment Self-Defense

    This episode includes discussion of rape and sexual assault.

    As parents, we have been horrified by the reports of sexual violence on Cornell’s campus in 2024, and dismayed that so little seems to have changed since we were in college ourselves. How do we teach our children to protect themselves from sexual violence on campus? And how mad do we get to be at the institutions that still aren’t protecting them?

    On this episode we interview violence prevention expert Meg Stone, executive director of IMPACT Boston and author of The Cost of Fear: Why Most Safety Advice is Sexist, and How We Can Stop Gender-Based Violence and Don’t Fight Back and 10 Other Myths About Crime, Personal Safety, and Gender-Based Violence.

    This conversation explores why sexual violence is usually committed by someone the victim knows, why common safety advice can be both ineffective and victim-blaming, and what research says about empowerment-based prevention.

    Meg also discusses practical skills, boundary setting, bystander responsibility, and the role parents and institutions can play—without placing responsibility for violence on those targeted.

    We discuss:

    • Why the “stranger jumping out of the bushes” is a misleading picture of sexual violence
    • Why one-time online campus trainings often fail to change behavior
    • How victim-blaming has shaped conversations about sexual violence
    • What empowerment-based self-defense programs teach—and why practice matters
    • How stress can make it harder to respond in the moment
    • Why refusal skills and boundary setting can be protective
    • How friends, bystanders, and institutions can interrupt abuse
    • Where families can look for empowerment self-defense and comprehensive sex education

    The conversation emphasizes practicing refusal and interruption under stress, bystander responsibility, and finding trainings via the Empowerment Self-Defense Alliance and the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation.

    Here’s where you can find Meg Stone’s work and the resources mentioned:

    If you or someone you love has been impacted, help is available. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-800-799-SAFE or by texting "START" to 88788. RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline can be reached at 1-800-656-HOPE.

    ____________


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

    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/

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    23 October 2026, 9:30 am
  • 31 minutes 41 seconds
    You Might Also Like: Zero Reject from Understood.org

    Beth Gellman-Beer spent her whole career fighting for kids with disabilities — first as a student written off as “lazy,” then as a federal civil rights attorney who found her dream job protecting students like her younger self. But on one ordinary night, a phone call changed everything: Her entire office had been eliminated.

    In the premiere of Zero Reject, reporter Anya Kamenetz traces Beth’s journey from an unfair fourth-grade classroom to the front lines of a sweeping overhaul at the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights — the agency families turn to when a school isn’t meeting their child’s needs. Anya breaks down the reduction in force that gutted OCR’s staff, what it means for the 25,000 families still waiting for a response to their complaints, and the plan to dismantle the Department of Education altogether. With fewer people to enforce the law, what happens to the students the system was built to protect?


    https://lnk.to/zerorejectFD!whatfreshhell

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    21 October 2026, 3:22 pm
  • 46 minutes 54 seconds
    Conflict Resolution: How to Fight Fair and Repair Relationships

    How do we handle conflict with those closest to us without damaging the relationship or going in circles? We discuss why some people avoid conflict while others escalate quickly, how our family of origin shapes the way we handle disagreements, and common triggers for starting conflicts.

    We discuss:

    • What happens in the brain during conflict
    • Practical conflict-resolution strategies, including the EAR method and the BIFF method
    • Why sometimes the conflict is over before you’re done being angry and how to handle that


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

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

    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/

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    21 October 2026, 9:30 am
  • 37 minutes 33 seconds
    Deep Dive: When Our Kids Have Different Relationships with Our Parenting Partners

    This Deep Dive series revisits some of our previous episodes about dynamics with our parenting partners.

    Do you feel like the odd parent out in your house? Or do your kids want only you to do everything with them all the time? A listener in ⁠our Facebook group⁠ asked:

    "Is there an episode about one parent having a very different relationship with a child than the other parent? My 12yo and I seem to have a pretty functional (not perfect) relationship, but he and my hubs seem to end up arguing constantly. Thought at first it was a phase, but if it is, it’s a LOOOOONG one. Would love some perspective on this!"

    Margaret and Amy discuss:

    • How preferential treatment plays out in younger vs. older kids
    • Why kids save their worst behavior for their primary caregiver
    • Which one of them is conflict-averse and who's conflict-attracted (one guess which is which)


    Preferring one parent over the other can be developmentally appropriate, but there are times when ganging up on one parent can become too much and needs some course correction.

    Links!

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

    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/

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    19 October 2026, 5:30 am
  • 31 minutes 19 seconds
    Fresh Take: Sam Kelly on Teaching Kids About the Mental Load

    What if kids didn't need chore charts and constant supervision in order to participate in the lives of their households? What if the "mental load" was seen as a family-wide issue, where everyone could contribute to the solution?

    Sam Kelly, creator of the "Notice and Do" method and author of the new book NOTICE AND DO: Raise Capable Kids, End Motherhood Burnout, and Lighten Your Mental Load, is here to tell us there's another way.

    Amy and Sam discuss:

    • The "delegator trap"—why constantly assigning tasks keeps moms responsible for the "noticing"
    • Using a "learning ladder" to teach kids of all ages how to take over household tasks, step by step
    • Handling the pushback you might receive as you roll out the "notice and do" method
    • How kids who "notice and do" have agency and take initiative beyond the walls of your home

    Here's where you can find Sam:

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

    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/

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    16 October 2026, 5:30 am
  • 46 minutes 38 seconds
    Episode 1,000! How Doing This Podcast For a Decade Has Changed Our Parenting

    What have 10 years of doing this podcast taught us about being better parents? In this, our 1,000th episode(!), we look back at the biggest parenting lessons we’ve learned from a decade of conversing with guests, listeners, and each other.

    Thank you for listening and being on this parenting journey with us!

    We also reference some of our favorite interviews:

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

    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/

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    14 October 2026, 5:30 am
  • 46 minutes 53 seconds
    Deep Dive: We Caught Our Spouses Being Awesome

    This Deep Dive series revisits some of our previous episodes about dynamics with our parenting partners.

    We asked the listeners in ⁠our Facebook group⁠ about all the times they caught their spouses being awesome, and here are just a few: supporting their partners through difficult career choices. Reading up on issues that affect their kids. Learning how to do their kids' hair.

    Awesome parenting partners, all!

    Here are links to the resources mentioned in the episode:

    ⁠"Flying the Coop" episode from Reply All podcast⁠ (Margaret's rec)

    ⁠Our Fresh Take episode with Matthew Fray on Strengthening Our Relationships⁠

    ⁠The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children⁠, by Ross Greene


    ⁠Check out our merch!⁠

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

    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/

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    12 October 2026, 5:30 am
  • 42 minutes 51 seconds
    Ectopic Pregnancy and the Increasing Danger to Mothers' Reproductive Health

    Trigger warning: On today's episode we will be discussing pregnancy loss, abortion, and maternal death. Please be advised if those topics are difficult for you.

    What happens when pregnancy complications become a life-threatening emergency? Margaret’s sister Anne joins us to share her powerful story of nearly dying from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.

    Margaret and Anne discuss:

    • What an ectopic pregnancy is and why it can become life-threatening
    • How Anne's experience connects to the current landscape of abortion restrictions
    • The challenges doctors may face when treating ectopic pregnancies and other pregnancy emergencies, given current abortion bans
    • Why policies made far from the exam room can have profound consequences for women and their doctors

    Here is the ProPublica article referenced in the episode, by Andrea Suozzo and Agnel Philip: Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.

    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.

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    9 October 2026, 5:30 am
  • 43 minutes 4 seconds
    When Kids Hate Transitions

    Why do some kids completely fall apart when it’s time to leave the playground, get ready for school, or switch activities? We dive into why transitions are particularly difficult for some kids and what parents can do to make them easier.

    Here's what we discuss in this episode:

    • how anxiety, ADHD, autism, and OCD can cause unique issues with transitions
    • reframing a child’s behavior as a "signal" to help parents focus on the underlying problem
    • how parents can validate emotions while still setting clear boundaries
    • practical strategies for helping kids transition, including verbal "previews," visual schedules and timers, and predictable routines

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

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

    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/

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    7 October 2026, 5:30 am
  • 42 minutes 1 second
    Deep Dive: Is This Battle Worth Fighting?

    This Deep Dive series is all about reducing the friction between ourselves and our kids when trying to communicate with them, whether it's yelling less, finding real reasons for constant defiance, or picking our battles.

    Parenting is a series of everyday battles. But which ones are truly worth fighting? In this episode we discuss the Sisyphean nature of the overuse of the word 'like', to a cleaned-up playroom, to the unending struggle of getting tweens to wear pants—and which of these battles might be 1) winnable and 2) worth the work.

    Some things really do matter for the long-term success of our kids (and peace of our households); some might be worth letting go in order to let our kids have that win once in a while. In this episode, we unpack how to tell the difference.

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

    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/

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    5 October 2026, 5:30 am
  • 43 minutes 53 seconds
    Fresh Take: Dr. Siggie Cohen on Setting Boundaries Without Dismissing Kids' Feelings

    We want our kids to feel validated and heard. We also don't want to engage in five-hour negotiations every time they have to do something they don't want to do. Where's the happy middle?

    Child development specialist Dr. Siggie Cohen, author of YOU ARE THE PARENT, explains how parents can create a balanced approach. Dr. Cohen explains why well-intentioned parents can end up overexplaining, over-fixing, over-advising, and trying too hard to prevent their children from experiencing difficult emotions.

    Dr. Cohen and Margaret discuss:

    • The difference between validating emotions and accommodating behavior
    • Why children need to learn both emotional awareness and the ability to function even when they don't feel like doing something
    • How parents can respond when kids are overwhelmed and why stopping inappropriate behavior doesn't mean stopping the emotion behind it
    • Why happiness shouldn't be the ultimate goal for children
    • How to make true, authentic repair after parenting mistakes

    Here's where you can find Dr. Cohen:

    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.

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    2 October 2026, 5:30 am
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