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

DEEP DIVE: Julie Lythcott-Haims on Becoming An Adult

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

🗓️ 16 February 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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. Julie Lythcott-Haims is the author of the parenting bestseller How to Raise an Adult, which opened the minds of loving but hovering parents everywhere. In this episode, we discuss her follow up book ⁠Your Turn: How To Be An Adult⁠, which Julie calls "a compassionate beckoning into the freedoms and responsibilities of adulthood." Adulting is a mindset. That might explain why many of us whose drivers' licenses indicate grown-up status still don't feel ready to be in charge of anything– including the children with whom we have somehow been entrusted. But trying and failing doesn't mean you're not ready to be an adult. Failing and trying again, Lythcott-Haims argues, is what makes us adults in the first place. This episode is full of advice on how to move the parent/child paradigm (gradually) from vertical to horizontal– and on why becoming an adult is actually a path to joy. As Julie explains in this episode: "Whether we're 8 or we're 18, or 28 or 38 or 48, we are yearning to make our way down a path that is ours to lay. We want to be loved and cared about along the way, but we do not want someone else to lead our lives for us." Find out more at ⁠julielythcotthaims.com,⁠ on social media ⁠@jlythcotthaims⁠, and find YOUR TURN in our Bookshop store: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9781250137777. This episode originally aired on April 16, 2021. 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, Julie Lythcott-Haims, How to Raise an Adult, Your Turn book, adulting mindset, becoming an adult, parenting young adults, overparenting, helicopter parenting, raising independent kids, transitioning to adulthood, parent child relationship, letting go as a parent, autonomy in adulthood, failure and growth, resilience skills, emotional independence, purpose and meaning, identity development, joy in adulthood, modern parenting, parenting teens, parenting adult children, life skills for young adults, boundaries with adult kids, self-directed life, compassionate parenting, personal growth podcast, psychology of adulthood, human development, mental health and growth Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Ready to launch your business? Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs.

0:04.8

Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run and grow your business with easy customizable themes that let you build your brand.

0:12.4

Marketing tools that get your products out there. Integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time.

0:17.4

From startups to scaleups, online, in person, and on the go. Shopify is made for

0:22.8

entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup.

0:32.2

Hello everyone and welcome to Fresh Take from the What Fresh Health podcast. This is Margaret.

0:37.1

And this is Amy.

0:38.0

And this week we are talking to Julie Lithcott Hames.

0:41.1

She's an author, speaker, and activist who believes in humans and is deeply interested in

0:45.9

what gets in our way.

0:47.2

She's the author of the anti-Helicopter Parenting Bestseller, How to Raise an Adult.

0:51.9

She's also the author of the memoir, Real American, about her experience as a black and

0:56.0

biracial person in white spaces.

0:58.2

She's a former corporate lawyer, Anne Stanford Dean, who serves on the boards of common

1:02.3

sense media and lean-in.org, among others.

1:05.4

And her new book is Your Turn, How to Be an Adult.

1:09.7

Julie says it's a compassionate beckoning into the freedoms

1:12.8

and responsibilities of adulthood. Welcome, Julie. Amy and Margaret, thank you so much for having me.

1:18.1

It's great to be with you. Thanks for being here. Julie, you literally wrote the book on young

1:23.8

adults who weren't ready for adulthood. And is it mostly our helicopter parenting that

1:30.0

made those kids that way? I think it might be, Amy. We're to blame, right? We did it. I'm certainly

1:36.3

not blaming them. Let's put it that way. I'm not blaming them. If you don't know how to adult

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright Š Tapesearch 2026.