DEEP DIVE: When Our Kids Are Bad at Making Friends

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

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood

Comedy, Kids & Family, Parenting

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When we have a kid who just doesn't seem to fit in—or who is a loner, if a fairly content one—it can be hard for parents. But putting our own anxiety about it aside, and getting clear on the lagging skills and social cues that may not quite be in place, is the best way to help kids get on a better path. This episode is full of specific and useful advice! Amy and Margaret discuss: all the reasons kids can have trouble making (and keeping) friends five "unwritten social rules" that some kids take longer to comprehend how figuring out the specific issues at play can lead to the most useful solutions This episode was originally released on May 29, 2024. Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode: Jamie Howard, et. al for Child Mind Institute: ⁠Kids Who Need a Little Help to Make Friends⁠ The Sue Larkey podcast: ⁠Promoting Social Understanding – Social Scripts⁠ Gwen Dewar for Parenting Science: ⁠How to help kids make friends: 12 evidence-based tips⁠ Christine Comizio for U.S. News Health: ⁠Understanding Kids' Friendship Struggles: Common Causes and Solutions⁠ Lexi Walters Wright for Understood.org: ⁠5 “unwritten” social rules that some kids miss⁠ Andrew M.I. Lee for Understood.org: ⁠Why some kids have trouble making friends⁠ ADHD Dude: ⁠"How to Help Your ADHD Child Keep Friends"⁠ What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Margaret Ables and Amy Wilson. 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/⁠ 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, friendships, making friends Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Indeed.
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0:22.2	Indeed.com slash SPANUK. Terms and conditions apply. Different people need different spaces from their
0:32.5	faces for the phone. What fresh hell. Laughing in the face of motherhood. They're not going to throw the conversation
0:39.4	to someone they know is going to take it to Pokemon Town with Margaret Ables and Amy Wilson. Don't
0:45.4	just be like, I know what you're doing is interesting, but look at what I'm doing. A podcast that solves
0:49.9	today's parenting dilemmas. So you don't have to. There's eight people in the room and seven of them
0:54.7	are talking. Like three people do not have a listener at this point. Hey everybody. Welcome to What Fresh Hell
1:01.4	laughing in the face of motherhood. This is Amy. And this is Margaret. And today we're talking about
1:06.6	when our kids are bad at making friends. I have a lot of thoughts about this.
1:11.9	This is a tough one.
1:13.2	This, right?
1:13.8	And it hits you in your soft places when you're a parent and you watch it happening.
1:18.5	Right in the fields.
1:19.7	Right in the, and it echoes as a kid who was bullied and had a hard time making friends.
1:32.5	It's also, we need a word that is PTSD light.
1:38.9	You know what I mean? Because I definitely know people who had bullying as children that was in the category of PTSD. It was serious. It was damaging. It was psychologically injurious to them. I had, but what's the word? It like evokes my not quite PTSD, but my very, very bad memories of. I believe that's a trigger. I believe a trigger is the word you're looking for. It triggers your own unpleasantness. Yes. Yes. It triggers me in the feeling of
2:06.5	both for myself and my sister was bullied as a kid, my younger sister. And it also triggers for me
	...

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