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

DEEP DIVE: What Kind of Mom-ster?

December 29, 2025

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  • Many mothers identify as the 'momster' in their household, often engaging in minor, relatable domestic infractions like leaving half-filled cups everywhere or failing to break down recycling boxes. 
  • Mothers often exhibit hypocrisy regarding household standards, demanding order from children while neglecting small organizational tasks themselves, such as leaving garbage or failing to replace empty toilet paper rolls. 
  • The pressure to respond thoughtfully to communications (like texts or birthday wishes) can lead to avoidance, resulting in being perceived as a 'momster' for leaving people 'on red' while waiting to formulate the 'worthy response.' 

Segments

Momster Confessions: Half-Filled Cups
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(00:02:58)
  • Key Takeaway: Leaving half-filled cups containing various beverages scattered throughout the house is a common ‘momster’ crime, sometimes referred to as ‘wife water’ by spouses.
  • Summary: Many listeners admitted to leaving multiple half-filled cups of water, Diet Coke, tea, or LaCroix around the house. The COVID-19 era has made the habit of drinking from a spouse’s or child’s abandoned cup risky. Spouses often silently collect these glasses for the dishwasher.
Pet Pics for Proof of Life
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(00:05:51)
  • Key Takeaway: Mothers resort to sending pictures of the family pet to college-aged children as a low-effort method to solicit a response and confirm they are safe (‘proof of life’).
  • Summary: One listener admitted to bribing her college freshman with pet pictures just to get a thumbs-up response, illustrating the anxiety of separation. The concept of being ’left on red’ (read receipt without a reply) applies to both friends and children. The desire to formulate a ‘worthy response’ often leads to avoiding replying altogether.
Shower Hair Clumps
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(00:09:38)
  • Key Takeaway: A specific ‘momster’ behavior involves conditioning hair in the shower, removing the shed hair clump from the drain, pasting it onto the shower wall for later disposal, and sometimes forgetting the final step.
  • Summary: This practice is done to prevent hair from clogging the drain, though it results in unsightly clumps stuck to the shower walls. The hosts humorously lamented the lack of a magnetic device that could collect loose hair throughout the house. One listener confessed to doing this even while sharing a hotel room with a friend.
Garbage and Recycling Hypocrisy
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(00:11:28)
  • Key Takeaway: Mothers frequently leave garbage (like granola bar wrappers) down temporarily, expecting to pick it up later, which mirrors the behavior they criticize in their children.
  • Summary: A common ‘momster’ crime is setting down garbage temporarily and forgetting to return for disposal, often justified by the fact that the mother is usually the one who cleans up everyone else’s messes. Another related issue is failing to break down large cardboard boxes before placing them in the recycling bin, leading to overflowing bins and extra work for others.
Panic Tipping and Digital Payments
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(00:20:22)
  • Key Takeaway: The convenience of digital payment screens that prompt immediate tipping often causes consumers to panic and select high default percentages (like 25%) even for small purchases like a bottle of water.
  • Summary: The hosts noted that using phones for payment removes the tangible feeling of spending money, making it easier to over-tip unconsciously. There is a perceived ‘pandemic hangover’ where people feel obligated to tip extra for basic service provision. The hosts questioned the reliability of digital tips reaching the service worker.
Family Picture Preparation Chaos
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(00:23:13)
  • Key Takeaway: Taking family pictures, especially after dinner, inevitably involves frantic scrambling, yelling, and forced smiles, proving there is no truly pleasant time for organized family photos.
  • Summary: The preparation for family photos usually involves yanking on clothes and furiously brushing hair while simultaneously demanding everyone look happy. Teenagers often resist participation, requiring threats to ensure compliance for the picture. The key to survival is divesting from caring too much about the final appearance of the photo.
Screen Time During Baby Feeding
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(00:25:04)
  • Key Takeaway: The parenting advice suggesting mothers must make eye contact and avoid phones while feeding infants is widely rejected by mothers who spend significant time breastfeeding and need distraction.
  • Summary: Mothers argue that spending hours feeding a baby necessitates using the phone for entertainment, such as scrolling TikTok or watching TV. They assert that they get plenty of bonding time otherwise and that demanding constant engagement during feeding is unrealistic. The hosts noted that they watched shows like Dr. Phil or Roseanne while feeding.
Hiding Items in Their Proper Place
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(00:26:21)
  • Key Takeaway: A form of ‘momstering’ involves putting a family member’s misplaced item into its designated storage spot, only to have that person later claim the item is missing because they never look where it belongs.
  • Summary: This behavior is often reciprocal, as hosts noted they also find their own items hung up when they would never look there. The hosts noted that they and their spouses constantly move each other’s glasses, suggesting a need for a ‘glasses magnet’ system. One listener admitted to losing an eyeshadow brush under the bathtub and not caring enough to retrieve it.
Dishwasher Loading Disputes
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(00:27:41)
  • Key Takeaway: Disputes arise when one partner unloads only a few dishes from a clean dishwasher, disabling the ‘clean’ indicator, or when one partner refuses to load dishes efficiently, leaving space unused.
  • Summary: One listener’s husband freaks out when he loads dirty dishes into a machine that appears clean because only one dish was removed. The hosts noted that some people, like Margaret, do not fully rinse dishes before loading, which leads to dirty residue on ‘clean’ items. The inability to manually reset the ‘clean’ light on dishwashers is a source of frustration.
Subscription Trial Avoidance
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(00:29:24)
  • Key Takeaway: A common ‘momster’ habit is signing up for free trials of apps or subscriptions, knowing they must be canceled on time, but then avoiding checking the bank statement to prevent seeing the recurring charge.
  • Summary: This behavior results in paying small monthly fees for forgotten services, sometimes escalating to yearly charges if the initial trial period is missed. The hosts agreed this is a form of financial avoidance, often stemming from the desire to watch one specific show on a new platform. They suggested creating phone wallpaper reminders to curb this impulse.
Cookie Hiding and Cringe Affection
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(00:32:32)
  • Key Takeaway: Peak ‘momster’ behavior includes secretly eating cookies after telling children none are left, singing Disney songs loudly in the car, and publicly declaring affection for teenagers in front of their friends.
  • Summary: These behaviors are described as horrifyingly embarrassing to the children, such as singing songs like ‘Driver’s License’ too late, making the kids feel cringe. Other examples include leaving half-eaten food in the minivan and ordering unnecessary items on Amazon when the spouse is not looking.
Ice Cube Kicking and Lost Items
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(00:33:59)
  • Key Takeaway: When ice cubes spill from a malfunctioning ice maker, an angry reaction involves kicking the cubes under the refrigerator or into random areas, creating future slip hazards.
  • Summary: One host admitted to kicking ice cubes around the kitchen floor, creating ‘patches of doom’ that cause others to slip later. Another related monster moment involved losing an eyeshadow brush under the bathtub and deciding it was easier to leave it there than retrieve it. The hosts also discussed the horror of finding a car infested with fruit flies due to a forgotten piece of fruit.
The Perfect Wife/Mom
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(00:43:43)
  • Key Takeaway: A listener named Emily reported that her husband could not name a single ‘momster’ behavior she exhibited, suggesting either perfection or extreme fear of reprisal.
  • Summary: Emily’s husband’s inability to name any faults was met with humorous speculation about whether she was truly perfect or simply intimidating. The hosts encouraged listeners to strive for this level of perceived perfection, or at least the fear that inspires it.