How Parenting Advice Has Changed Over the Last 125 Years

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

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood

Parenting, Kids & Family, Comedy

4.6 • 962 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Is parenting today genuinely more difficult—or are we just overthinking it? Amy and Margaret explore the evolution of parenting over the last 125 years, tracing shifts from the rigid, hierarchical households of the early 1900s to today’s emotionally intense, overanalyzed parenting culture. These trends beg the question: What’s the real cost of trying to "optimize” every moment of our children's lives? In this episode: How parenting norms have changed since 1894 The impact of attachment theory and the rise of “gentle parenting” The shift from communal to isolated parenting and why it matters Why parents today feel so much more pressure to “get it right” How technology and information overload affect modern family dynamics What we might be missing by focusing too much on doing everything perfectly Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode: JM Finn: Changing Attitudes in Parenting Over the Last 150 years Conscious Mommy: Parenting Styles and their Evolution: Old, New, Recent Studies and Recommendations Claire Cain Miller for the NYT: How Parenting Today Is Different, and Harder Elizabeth Tenety for Motherly: Why parenting in 2025 feels much harder than it did in the ‘90s—this mom’s take hits home Our Fresh Take with Nancy Reddy, author of THE GOOD MOTHER MYTH 📺 Watch on YouTube: Search "What Fresh Hell Podcast" on YouTube and subscribe 🔗 Connect with Us: Join the conversation in our Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/whatfreshhellcast Follow us on Instagram: @whatfreshhellcast 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, history of parenting, parenting history Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Whoa! Look! Is that Dragonite? Dragon-type Pokemon have arrived. Discover in Happy Meal now!
0:10.1	Some fun, some food, it's all inside this Happy Meal. Until 17th of June, from 11 AM includes one pre-selected book or toy.
0:17.8	Pokemon range comprises toys only, whilst thoughts last.
0:21.9	My kids look at my high school year book like, you look crazy.
0:24.6	We look completely normal.
0:26.0	What fresh hell.
0:27.7	Laughing in the face of motherhood.
0:29.8	If you don't have somebody in charge, it can be anxiety producing.
0:34.5	With Margaret Ables and Amy Wilson.
0:37.0	This is so funny that at slow speed you
0:39.6	sound slow and I sound normal a podcast that solves today's parenting dilemmas so you don't have to
0:46.0	let's not treat these kids to more than one kiss a day lest they be spoiled hey everybody
0:52.2	welcome to what fresh hell laughing in the face of motherhood.
0:54.9	This is Amy.
0:55.9	And this is Margaret.
0:57.1	And today we're jumping right into the mailbag because I feel this has saved Kristen
1:01.8	and it could save others of you.
1:04.1	I'm going to read from our Facebook group, Facebook.com forward slash groups forward
1:08.7	slash What Fresh Hellcast.
1:10.0	Come and join us there the conversations
1:11.5	are great oh yes wait a minute time for mailback wait wait way yeah yeah check the mailback christin says
1:19.9	in a post for the past few episodes i have been genuinely concerned about margaret and why she
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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.