DEEP DIVE: Dr. Lisa Damour on Helping Kids Manage Anxiety

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood | Parenting Tips From Funny Moms

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood

Kids & Family, Comedy, Parenting

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2026

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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 turmoil can take over. In this episode we discuss: coping strategies for all ages and stages how anxiety in children can be easy to miss the negative behaviors anxious kids might exhibit why letting our kids avoid anxiety-causing situations is counterproductive how anxiety "lives in the future” We also interview ⁠Dr. Lisa Damour⁠ about her book ⁠Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls⁠. Dr. Damour’s book is full of empathetic insight and useful takeaways for helping our anxious daughters (and sons). Here’s links to other research and writing discussed in this episode: Lindsay Holmes for Huffington Post Life: ⁠10 Things People Get Wrong About Anxiety ⁠ Liz Matheis for anxiety.org: ⁠Identifying Signs of Anxiety in Children ⁠ CDC: ⁠Data and Statistics on Children's Mental Health⁠ Metropolitan CBT: ⁠About Anxiety⁠ 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/ 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, childhood anxiety, anxiety in kids, parenting anxious children, Dr. Lisa Damour, Under Pressure book, stress in girls, teen anxiety, kids mental health, coping strategies for anxiety, signs of anxiety in children, hidden anxiety, anxious behaviors, emotional regulation, anxiety and avoidance, resilience skills, helping kids manage stress, parenting teens, parenting girls, adolescent stress, school anxiety, social anxiety in kids, fear of the future, mindfulness for kids, mental health parenting, emotional support, psychology of anxiety, family mental wellness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.7	You have to learn to like new things. What fresh hell. Laughing in the face of motherhood. Why are you asking your anxious kid
0:39.4	what they want for breakfast to just give him something? With Margaret Abels and Amy Wilson.
0:44.1	No, just kidding. You're getting a shot at the doctor. A podcast that solves today's parenting
0:48.3	dilemmas so you don't have to. When you find yourself exasperated, there's a good reason.
0:57.1	Hey, everybody, welcome to What Fresh Hell laughing in the face of motherhood. This is Amy. And this is Margaret. And today we are
1:02.2	talking about helping kids manage anxiety. I need this one. I mean, all kids have anxiety,
1:08.5	but some kids have a lot of anxiety.
1:13.9	Yeah, I am an anxious and I have an anxious.
1:17.3	I have one of three who's really noticeably more anxious.
1:23.0	I have one of three is noticeably more anxious and all three have their moments, right?
1:24.0	Yeah.
1:28.1	I mean, we are like, I come from a long line of anxious people.
1:30.1	Irish anxious.
1:36.0	Irish anxious. And I remember, and I think I've said it before, my mom at some point,
1:41.0	I was like, I just can't stand this anxiety. And she was like, listen, the anxious bunny survives.
1:46.5	And I always like think of that. Like, anxious is not terrible. Like, you think of it as an only negative thing, but the anxious bunny survives. You know who would agree with you,
1:52.0	Dr. Lisa DeMore, who has a new book out called Under Pressure about managing stress and anxiety
	...

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