Things That Should Be Fun... But Aren't

11/15/23 • 40 min

1 Listener

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

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There are some things in life that sound more fun in the planning stage than they are in the execution, and those things are statistically proven to be done more frequently by parents.

We asked our listeners to tell us their lists of things that should be fun, but aren't. As the record will show, our listeners are sadly, completely correct. Don't say you weren't warned.

Here's the link to the episode of The Mom Hour episode a few of our listeners mentioned: We Hate Fun!

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Sign up for "What Fresh Hell + " to get every one of our episodes ad-free, plus monthly bonus episodes. Go to whatfreshhell.supportingcast.fm to subscribe in two taps: $4.99 a month, or $39.99 a year.

There are some things in life that sound more fun in the planning stage than they are in the execution, and those things are statistically proven to be done more frequently by parents.

We asked our listeners to tell us their lists of things that should be fun, but aren't. As the record will show, our listeners are sadly, completely correct. Don't say you weren't warned.

Here's the link to the episode of The Mom Hour episode a few of our listeners mentioned: We Hate Fun!

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/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Previous Episode

Ask Margaret: How to Foster Relationships with Grandparents

What can we do to foster relationships between our kids and their grandparents? A listener in our Facebook group asked:

"A question for those of you sandwiched between kiddos and elders in your home. How do you encourage interaction between the two ends of the spectrum? Our elder is old-school and equates time with our kiddo as a time to treat them with food and gifts. How do you support this relationship?"

It's important to realize that in any interaction that you are trying to foster, that you don't have a tremendous amount of control, Margaret says.

That being said, you can lay out guidelines and be very clear that, for example, "we only eat between these hours and this hour, and this is how we approach this kind of food. And so please limit the amount of treats you give my kid to one a day." You can go over this boundary with your kid as well.

If your child has overlapping interests with any of their grandparents, that's a great place to start. You can also direct your child to talk to their grandparents if they express curiosity about a topic or time period they're familiar with. It can also go the other way, in that you can suggest a grandparent play a game or engage in an activity that your child is passionate about.

Ultimately, you are a facilitator, not a controller, and you can't dictate the relationship between your child and their grandparents, but you can keep offering up opportunities for connection.

Here's the article Margaret references in the episode:

Susan Adcox for VeryWell Family: 6 Factors of Grandparent-Grandchild Closeness

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Next Episode

DEEP DIVE: Highly Sensitive (and Under-Sensitive) Kids

1 Recommendations

We’re doing a Deep Dive into our best episodes around a single topic. Find the Spotify playlist for this “Deep Dive” here.

This group of episodes is about parenting kids who don’t fit the mold. This week, we’re revisiting this episode from 2021.

When a parent first hears about highly sensitive kids– or their opposite, sensory seekers– it can provide a profound moment of recognition, of connecting the dots for things about our kids that up until now have baffled us.

We think understanding these sensory tendencies can help us parent our kids more effectively and compassionately. Not every kid who shows hyper- or hypo-sensitivity will go on to require occupational therapy, struggle in school, or anything else. But as childmind.org explains, ""These problems can be tough on kids, and get in the way of them functioning effectively, learning, and making friends."

Every kid who displays these behaviors and preferences can benefit from a parent who understands and can therefore effectively support and address for the otherwise confusing behaviors that might ensue. We don't have to accommodate every dictate of an extremely picky eater, or messy playroom caused by a sensory seeker– but it's worth exploring, because it can really help us as parents to understand where these things might be coming from.

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

This image from Miracle Maker Mom
Michael Rosenthal, PhD for the Child Mind Institute: Sensory Processing FAQ
Amanda Morin for understood.org: Sensory seeking and sensory avoiding: What you need to know

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