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

What does dopamine actually do to our brains—and to our kids' brains? We welcome back science journalist and parenting expert Michaeleen Doucleff to discuss her latest book, DOPAMINE KIDS.

After years as an NPR science reporter, and after writing the bestselling HUNT, GATHER, PARENT, Doucleff began noticing something unsettling in her own life: even during beautiful moments with her daughter, she felt pulled toward her phone.

That realization led her to explore the powerful role of dopamine, the brain chemical tied to reward, motivation, and habit formation—and how modern technology and ultra-processed foods are designed to trigger it.

In this conversation, Amy and Doucleff discuss how the dopamine-driven design of both screens and ultra-processed foods affects both kids and parents, often making it harder for families to reduce the use of these things in the home.

They also explore practical ways families can reclaim attention, connection, and balance in a world full of digital distractions.

Here' s where you can find Michaeleen:

www.michaeleendoucleff.com

Buy DOPAMINE KIDS: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9781668049839

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/⁠

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, dopamine kids, Michaeleen Doucleff, dopamine and screens, parenting and technology, kids and smartphones, screen addiction kids, dopamine parenting, digital distraction families, parenting podcast technology, healthy screen habits kids, raising kids in the digital age
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First, we’re setting aside our own hopes and dreams to have (and raise) our kids. Then, we’re relentlessly mocked (perhaps correctly) for being overinvested in the fourth-grade luau. Are we living through our kids? And how do we stop?

Psychologists have long said that mothers transfer our own unfulfilled ambition onto our children. “Symbolic self-completion theory” suggests that we look to our children as symbols of ourselves, and transfer our ambitions to them— which is why we’re not jealous when they get the big part in the school play; we’re a little too thrilled. Sing out, Louise!

But as psychologist Wendy Mogel reminds us, our children are not our masterpieces , and pushing them towards our own notions of greatness prevents them from becoming the humans they are meant to be. In this episode, we discuss the pitfalls of “achievement by proxy distortion” and how to take a step back if you find yourself a little too enmeshed.

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

Our Fresh Take with Wendy Mogel

Wendy Mogel: BLESSING OF A SKINNED KNEE

Our episode "Pushing Kids the Just-Right Amount"

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/⁠

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, living through your kids, parenting psychology, ambition transference, symbolic self completion theory, achievement by proxy distortion, youth sports parents, parenting expectations, supporting kids passions, parenting identity, parenting advice podcast, parenting and ambition, modern parenting challenges
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In honor of Women's History Month, this "Deep Dive" series highlights some of our past interview episodes about raising daughters.

How do we raise our daughters to feel empowered, rather than helpless, in the face of gender bias? ⁠Dr. Jo-Ann Finkelstein⁠, PhD, author of book ⁠SEXISM AND SENSIBILITY⁠, offers parenting tips to prepare our girls for the modern world.

Dr. Finkelstein, Amy, and Margaret discuss:

The limits of the "girl power" line of thinking

How to teach girls what is and isn't in their control when it comes to sexism

How to recognize and combat sexism in our own parenting

Here's where you can find Dr. Finkelstein:

⁠www.joannfinkelstein.com⁠

@joannfinkelstein.phd on IG/TikTok

Jo-Ann Finkelstein, PhD - Author on FB

@finkeljo on Twitter

Buy SEXISM AND SENSIBILITY: ⁠https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780593581162⁠

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/⁠

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, sexism and sensibility, raising girls, feminist parenting, everyday sexism, end sexism, gender equality matters, smash the patriarchy, double standards, girl power, body positive, parenting teens, teen health, equal partnership, respect women, teen mental health matters
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What does it really mean to be a Black single mother in America? Why are the stories we hear and tell about that experience so often incomplete?

Margaret talks with cultural critic, writer, and editor Jamilah Lemieux, author of Black. Single. Mother: Real-Life Tales of Longing and Belonging.

Jamilah discusses the fears she initially had about writing openly about single motherhood—and how the process ultimately became one of healing, honesty, and connection.

Together, they explore the realities behind the stereotypes surrounding Black single mothers and the complicated mix of love, resilience, struggle, and community that shapes these experiences.

Here's where you can find Jamilah Lemieux:

https://www.jamilahlemieux.com/

@jamilahlemieux on IG/Threads/X

facebook.com/jamilahlemieux

Buy BLACK. SINGLE. MOTHER: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780593447543

See the locations and dates for Jamilah's book tour here!

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, Black single motherhood, Jamilah Lemieux interview, Black motherhood, single mother stereotypes, parenting and race, Black parenting stories, motherhood essays, cultural critic parenting, parenting and identity, race and motherhood, parenting interview, motherhood narratives
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Are screens ruining our kids' childhoods? Is AI going to rot our brains in the next thirty days? Or are these the latest examples of a very human tendency: the catastrophizing of change?

From the dawn of the printing press to the Satanic panic over heavy metal lyrics, we explore the long history of social panics, find familiar patterns, and discuss our findings, including:


Why parents are often thrust onto the front lines of new technology fears


Why each generation believes the newest media will cause moral or cognitive decline


The role of mass media and politics in amplifying fear


How parents can keep perspective while still setting healthy limits on technology

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

Brittany Wong for HuffPost: New Study Shows This Social Platform Can Shift Your Politics To The Right — And It Happens Very Fast

Wikipedia: definition of a moral panic

Jo Ellen Parker for Liberal Arts Online: Socrates on Technology

Christie Stratos: Why Did the Victorians Think It Was Dangerous for Women to Read Novels and Newspapers?

Ana Vogrinčič for Media Research Journal: The Novel-Reading Panic in 18thCentury in England: An Outline of an Early Moral Media Panic

Sarah Durn for Atlas Obscura: How Gruesome Penny Dreadfuls Got Victorian Children Reading

Miller Kern for Ball Bearings Magazine: The Downfall of Society

PS Art Books: The Comic Book Burnings of the 1940s: A Cultural Firestorm

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, parenting panics, moral panic parenting, screen time kids, technology and children, parenting fears, media panic history, parenting and technology, video games and kids, screen time debate, parenting anxiety, social media and kids, parenting trends history, generational parenting fears, digital parenting
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