One Bad Mother

The holidays are here! Biz and Theresa head into the festive season wondering: if we say what concerns us and ask for help and the opportunity to actually enjoy at least some of it... maybe we actually will? If that doesn’t work, there's always #HidingInTheBathroom...

Biz and Theresa wonder if everyone deserves a trophy or if the cut-and-dry world of "1st, 2nd and 3rd Place" make us stronger. Maybe just the act of having to explain winning and losing to our kids makes us strong enough. Plus, Biz takes it offline, Theresa runs away to the woods, and we get some help from Theresa’s mom, Marriage Family Therapist Beth Hossfeld, on how to go on parenting when we're scared or dealing with crisis. One Circle Foundation New York Times Article: Breathe. Exhale...

You've heard of the "'tween" years, but Biz and Theresa think there's another awkward in-between time that comes earlier and doesn't get as much attention. Those years after infancy but before total kid autonomy...Why didn’t anyone tell us they would be a little repetitive and boring…I mean magical in their own unique way? Plus Biz starts camp early, Theresa stops getting out of her chair and we talk to Seattle based writer Ijeoma Oluo about embracing being wrong...

Biz and Theresa talk about our decisions to stop having kids and how even these supposedly settled matters can leave us feeling uncertain. Oh and don’t forget, life can always laugh in our faces and find a way to remind us that we don't necessarily have the power to control the outcome of our decisions! Plus, Biz is scared of Halloween, Theresa looks great, and we talk to the queen of children’s music, Laurie Berkner.

Laurie Berkner: http://www.laurieberkner.com Superhero: http://amzn...

This week on a special Halloween episode of One Bad Mother: aaaaaahhhh!!!! Something is hitting you...and it's coming from within the house! Biz and Theresa talk about our toddlers hitting, how much it sucks and what, if anything, we can do about it. Plus Biz embraces her inner witch and there are no babies in Theresa's house! Happy Halloween!

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of MaximumFun.org. Our sponsors this week are ThirdLove and Bombas Socks...

Biz and Theresa explore how we try to change gears when we're stuck in a funk. “I know I am supposed to be enjoying this moment… why can’t I get out of my funk and enjoy it?” Is it the guilt, is it the need to carry every emotional triumph or difficulty around till we get recognized for it, or do we just need to be nicer to ourselves when a day is turned upside down by a toddler tantrum? It may be some of everything...

Biz and Theresa revisit potty training and delve into what really makes this a difficult milestone… us! Plus, Biz paints herself in a new light, Theresa has a kindergarten update, and we call the very funny and very real Jamie Glowacki. She's the author of Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right, and she joins us to help with some tough love...

Biz and Theresa discuss how major schedule changes, like dropping naps, later bedtimes, and new morning routines, are natural and unavoidable...not to mention mildly traumatic for us. Is it strange that our kids can roll with these changes better than we can? Nope...

Biz and Theresa explore all the ways in which transitions from crib to big-kid bed can make us crazy. From spending all evening by your child's bed making sure they don't get up to super-nanny-style walking your kid back to bed 10,000 times a night to just plain keeping that crib around long past its welcome, there are dozens of ways to handle toddler bedtime shenanigans and we have yet to meet the parent that finds any of it relaxing...

Watch your step! Biz and Theresa are talking about milestones this week. From those developmental ones like walking and talking to the more emotional ones like getting a big-kid bed or the first day of school, we explore the ways in which milestones can make us feel stressed, relieved, judgmental, and worried -- sometimes all at once! Plus, Biz does not want Ellis’s popcorn and Theresa has a dirty mouth...