Parenting and Personalities
One thing about being a parent – there’s no shortage of personalities to be surrounded by. Our kids, our partners, our family, our friends. They keep us laughing, growing, loving, and crying. If only they understood us. Like the musician Van Morrison once sang “When people understand what I mean, mama said there will be days like this.” Adelaide Australia’s Kate Mason is an author, wife, and mother who has spent her career studying personality and relationships. In this podcast she looks at why relationships work, and why some don't. She also looks at how our personalities impact our relationsh...
What Every Parent Needs to Know About Child Influencers
What if the photos and videos you lovingly share of your children online are entering a world you never imagined… and can't fully see?
Kate Mason sits down with Crystal Abidin; Malay-Australian professor of internet studies at Curtin University, anthropologist, and mother, to explore one of the most pressing and least understood challenges facing modern families.
Crystal's new book, Child Influencers: How Children Become Entangled with Social Media Fame, pulls back the curtain on the world of child influencers, from the mummy-blogging origins of the 1990s to the AI-doctored dangers of today.
Whether you'v...
REPLAY - Unlocking Effective Communication Between Teens and Parents
This is an episode originally published in October 2023. It is one of my most popular.
It’s so important for parents to have effective communication with their teenagers and using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) can help.
Kate and guest Jeanine Mouchawar discuss how understanding your own and your teen's personality type can improve communication and reduce conflict.
Jeanine shares a five-step process for effective communication: calming oneself before a conversation, stating observations without judgement, getting curious about the teen's feelings, validating their feelings, and asking for their ideas to make...
What Do Your Mistakes Reveal About Your Personality?
Have you ever forgotten something so obvious that all you could do was laugh and wondered whether your greatest frustrations might actually be the flip side of your greatest strengths?
Kate Mason flies solo and bravely opens the door to life inside her spontaneous, flexible, perceiving brain.
After 30 years of teaching personality, Kate shares her most memorable mistakes: leading the wrong child away at the zoo, concert tickets for the wrong day, and watching her cruise ship sail off without her, alongside the deeply moving story of navigating her mum's dementia and move into nursing ho...
REPLAY - A Cuppa With Kate n Tra – Why Opposites Attract
You don’t need to be opposites to attract. Sometimes two very like-minded people with like-personalities people find mutual attraction.
But it does seem odd that it’s often two people are not the same in many, many ways who find attraction.
For example, why does the introvert find attraction in the extravert? Do they help them learn to speak up more and join the party? And why does the extravert fall for the introvert? Do they help them learn to listen and reflect?
Kate and Tracy are coming at this from experience. Grab...
Matrescence: The Identity Shift No One Warns Mums About
What if the exhaustion and lost sense of self in early motherhood aren't signs you're failing but signs you're being remade?
Kate Mason welcomes Benita Bensch, author, certified Motherhood Studies Practitioner, clarity coach, farmer, and mum of four boys, for a warm, honest conversation about matrescence, the profound identity shift of becoming a mother.
Benita shares her own journey through postnatal anxiety and burnout, the "black hole" she hit with four children under four, and the science and language that finally helped it all make sense.
Together they explore why understanding this transition mat...
REPLAY - Empowering Parents: Tools for Raising Resilient Kids
This is an episode originally published in August 2024. It is one of my most popular.
Have you ever wondered what builds resilience in us and our children?
In this episode, Kate chats with Tania Johnson, co-founder of the Institute of Child Psychology.
Tania shares her journey, from fostering four First Nations children to her academic accomplishments and her profound insights into attachment theory and resilience.
Together, they explore the power of purposeful parenting, the importance of allowing children to fail and learn, and practical strategies to foster resilience in our young...
Your Partner Isn't Gaslighting You. Or Are They?
Have you ever walked away from a disagreement with your partner absolutely certain of what was said…only to have them remember it completely differently? What if that isn't manipulation at all, but simply the way human memory actually works?
Kate Mason welcomes back Associate Professor Celine Vangolde from the University of Sydney, whose research explores memory, trauma, child testimony, and psychological abuse.
Celine's work sits at the intersection of science and real-life relationships, examining how memories are formed, stored, retrieved, and yes, sometimes misremembered entirely…and what that means for the families and couples navig...
Your Child Doesn't Need Perfect Parents. They Need Connected Ones.
What if the secret to raising happier children wasn't about perfect parenting techniques…but about the quality of the relationship between you and your parenting partner?
Kate Mason is joined by author, family therapist, and family systems expert Dr. Jenny Brown for a return visit that builds beautifully on their first conversation.
Jenny brings decades of clinical experience alongside her deeply personal journey of applying this work within her own marriage and family.
Drawing on the groundbreaking family systems theory developed by psychiatrist Dr. Murray Bowen, she and Kate explore what really happens to re...
Why Does Modern Family Life Feel So Overwhelming?
Modern life is fraying us. But we can learn how to come back to ourselves.
In this thoughtful and deeply relatable episode Kate welcomes back educator, social worker, author, and speaker Stephanie Malia Krauss to explore why so many parents, teachers, carers, and children feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and disconnected.
Drawing from her book How We Thrive: Caring for Kids and Ourselves in a Changing World, Stephanie explains how chronic busyness, overstimulation, technology, anxiety, and modern pressures pull families away from regulation, connection, and truly human living.
Together, Kate and Stephanie unpack how...
The Truth About the Memory of a Child
Your memory might feel certain, but it is not a recording.
In this fascinating episode of Parenting and Personalities, Kate speaks with Associate Professor Celine Vangolde from the University of Sydney about how memory really works, especially in children.
Celine explains why two people can live through the same moment and remember it differently, why memories are reconstructed rather than replayed, and how emotions, context, language, stress, and other people’s stories can change what we recall.
The conversation moves from everyday family misunderstandings to child testimony in legal settings, showing parents how to li...
REPLAY - The Resilience Revolution: Raising Strong Kids
This is an episode originally published in November 2024. It is one of my most popular.
Are you raising resilient children?
In this episode, Kate Mason and Tania Johnson dive into the importance of building resilience and emotional strength in both parents and children.
From the benefits of play to the power of independent problem-solving, they explore how cultural differences impact our approach to parenting.
Discover practical strategies for fostering resilience and learn why it's crucial to let kids experience failure and take risks.
Listen For:
What Your Household Habits Reveal About Your Personality
What if the reason you and your partner drive each other absolutely crazy over the washing, the cushions, or even the toilet paper roll has nothing to do with bad habits and everything to do with personality?
Kate Mason takes a warm, witty, and surprisingly eye-opening dive into the everyday irritations that quietly shape our closest relationships.
Drawing on the melancholic and phlegmatic temperaments and the Myers-Briggs judging and perceiving preferences, Kate explores why some of us are natural organizers who feel genuine calm when things are in order, while others live happily in flexible, "g...
When “Good Parenting” Backfires
What if the real challenge in parenting is not about doing more, but about understanding how we show up?
In this conversation, Kate Mason speaks with family therapist Dr Jenny Brown about the quiet pressure many parents carry to get everything right and the self-doubt that often follows.
With decades of experience and a foundation in Bowen family systems theory, Jenny explores how a parent’s emotional responses, anxiety, and level of involvement shape a child’s development in powerful ways.
Rather than focusing only on changing children’s behaviour, she encourages parents to build...
Solo Mum By Choice: Lorena Otes on Redefining Family
What if the "right" path to parenthood looked nothing like the one you imagined and turned out to be exactly the one you were meant to take?
Kate Mason sits down with Lorena Otes, author of Solo Mum By Choice, dance teacher, and mother who made one of the most courageous choices a woman can make: to become a parent entirely on her own terms.
Lorena opens up about navigating 12 rounds of IVF, genetic discoveries she never expected, the emotional and financial reality of solo fertility treatment, and the quiet strength it takes to keep go...
When Shit Hits the Fan: A Guide to Surviving the Chaos
What if the hard weeks…the ones where nothing is catastrophically wrong, but everything still feels completely overwhelming…are actually telling you something important about yourself?
Kate Mason invites you into one of those weeks.
A solo episode unlike any other, Kate shares the real, raw, and sometimes messy experience of a family illness unfolding over Easter. Sick grandchildren, worried parents, a husband mistaken for a heart attack, and Kate herself, the last one standing.
With warmth and honesty, Kate connects everyday stress to the deeper work of understanding ourselves and those we love. <...
Re-Humaning Your Family: Is Modern Life Stealing Your Family's Wellbeing?
What if the overwhelm you feel as a parent isn't a personal failing but a signal that something deeply human is missing from your family's life?
Kate Mason sits down with Stephanie Malia Krauss, an educator, social worker, author, and mother of teenage boys, to explore the revolutionary idea of "re-humaning": reclaiming the connections, love, and belonging that modern life has quietly stolen from our families.
Stephanie's latest book, How We Thrive: Caring for Kids and Ourselves in a Changing World, draws on decades of working with young people and thousands of conversations with overwhelmed pa...
What Happens When Your Child Stops Believing
What if the moment your child stops believing isn't an ending… but the beginning of something even more meaningful?
Kate Mason takes a warmlook at one of family life's most tender rituals: Easter traditions.
From the egg hunts of her own Adelaide childhood to the night her son Jack and daughter Cassie discovered the truth behind the Easter Bunnyand the beautiful reframe that followed,Kate explores how traditions shape family identity across generations.
This episode is a gentle, heartfelt reflection on what makes family rituals matter, how to create ones that are doable and s...
The Science Behind Autism that Most Parents Never Hear
What if the biggest barriers to your autistic child's progress aren't the ones anyone told you about… and the solutions are already backed by science?
Kate Mason welcomes back Theresa Lyons, PhD, scientist, autism researcher, and founder of navigating AWEtism, for a conversation that goes beyond the diagnosis and into the biology.
Theresa unpacks three powerful areas that functional medicine research has identified as having real impact for children on the spectrum: gut health and diet (including gluten, dairy, and food additives), the role of genetics and environment in why two siblings in the same hous...
What Japan Taught Me About Personality (And Parenting)
What if the most powerful personality lesson of your life came not from a book or a podcast…but from a train in Tokyo?
Kate Mason shares warm, witty, and surprisingly profound reflections from her holiday in Japan.
Travelling with her family, Kate finds herself using the four temperaments: sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic, to make sense of everything from Tokyo's train etiquette to the way her travel companions plan (or don't plan) their days.
This episode is a beautiful reminder that understanding personalities isn't just an academic exercise, it's the daily practice of giv...
Are You Accidentally Raising Your Kids Differently Based on Gender?
What if the words you use every day…without even realising it…are quietly shaping who your children believe they can become?
Kate Mason sits down with communications expert, author, and mother of two boys, Kate Mason, to explore the hidden power of gendered language in parenting.
From "be careful" on the playground to "give grandma a kiss," the two Kates unpack the subtle, everyday phrases that send very different messages to our sons and daughters…often without us even noticing.
Drawing on research, real-life stories, and her new book Powerfully Likeable, guest Kate Maso...
The Perfect Parent Trap: What If Your “Worst Moment” Is a Clue?
Parenting isn’t a performance, it’s a relationship, and the messiest moments might be your best clues.
Kate talks with family therapist and educator Lisa Taylor about her new book The Perfect Parent Trap and why “losing it” doesn’t mean you’re failing. It may mean an old, tender part of you is getting “ignited.”
They explore Lisa’s “heartprint” framework (the deep beliefs we carry, like “I’m not enough”), how kids “borrow our nervous system,” and why the real shift often starts with regulating ourselves instead of “fixing” our children.
Listen For
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The Science Behind Mum Rage
What if the anger you feel as a mother isn't a character flaw…but a signal worth listening to?
Kate Mason sits down with Lauren Novak, award-winning journalist, mother of two, and author of the groundbreaking new book Meltdown: Why Motherhood Makes Us Angry and What to Do About It.
Lauren brings her two decades of investigative journalism to bear on one of motherhood's most taboo subjects: mum rage.
Drawing on a survey of over 200 mothers and cutting-edge neuroscience, Lauren unpacks why so many mothers feel consumed by anger they can't explain and why t...
It's Not You. It's Your Hormones…And Menopause Is Why.
What if the mood swings, the sleepless nights, the sudden irritation, and the loss of joy aren't signs that something is wrong with you…but signals that your biology is quietly staging a dramatic takeover?
Kate Mason sits down with Dr. Joanna Bruce, GP of over 25 years, clinical director of Myma Health, and passionate advocate for women's hormonal wellbeing, to talk openly about perimenopause and menopause.
Together they unpack why this decade-long hormonal shift is so often missed, dismissed, or misdiagnosed, and what women (and the people who love them) can actually do about it.
...
What the Autism Diagnosis Didn’t Explain…But Science Did
What if an autism diagnosis could actually open doors instead of closing them?
Kate Mason speaks with Dr. Theresa Lyons—a Yale-trained chemist and autism expert—about how her daughter’s diagnosis completely transformed her personal and professional life.
Drawing on her background in pharmaceutical research and medical strategy, Theresa refused to accept outdated assumptions and instead turned to the latest science for answers.
She shares the earliest signs she noticed in her daughter, why functional medicine played a pivotal role in her care plan, and how shifting language from “fixing” to “healing” can deeply impact...
Why Smart Women Still Struggle to Be Taken Seriously
What if the key to being heard isn’t changing who you are but learning how to be powerfully likeable without apology?
Kate Mason sits down with another Kate Mason—executive communications coach, world champion debater, and author of Powerfully Likeable, to unpack the invisible dynamics of communication, particularly for women navigating work, parenting, and presence.
Together, they explore why women often feel the need to adjust their tone, word choice, and emotions in ways their male peers don’t… and how we can break out of that conditioning.
From debating rooms to boardrooms...
How to Find Each Other Again After Baby
What happens when a baby changes everything... except one partner's life?
Kate Mason welcomes Amy Taylor-Kabbaz, author of Mama Rising, for a raw, insightful dive into the invisible shifts parenthood brings to relationships.
Amy unpacks the silent resentment many new mothers feel when their worlds are upended while their partners’ routines stay largely intact.
Together, they explore the mental load, the myth of maternal instinct, and the power dynamics of masculine and feminine energies in parenting.
With wisdom, humor, and personal vulnerability, they confront the struggles of settling a baby, keeping rela...
Is Burnout the New Normal for Women in Leadership?
Burnout does not arrive with a bang. It whispers until your body screams.
Kate sits down with Sinja Hallam to explore what it really means to move from surviving to thriving.
Sinja shares her remarkable journey from Germany to South Africa to Australia, her rise through high pressure global leadership roles, and the moment her body forced her to stop.
Through stories of career success, motherhood, burnout and recovery, this conversation re-frames overwhelm as a signal rather than a failure and offers a powerful reminder that leadership, parenting and life itself do not hav...
Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail for Different Personality Types
What if the problem is not your personality, but what happens when it takes the wheel without supervision?
Kate Mason walks listeners through the four classic temperament styles and reframes New Year growth as awareness rather than self-correction.
She explores how the sanguine thrives with intentional connection instead of overcommitment, how the choleric’s drive can turn into pressure without awareness, how the melancholic’s care can slide into perfectionism and delay, and how the phlegmatic’s calm can quietly become avoidance.
Kate explains how strengths only become problems when they run unchecked, and how r...
What Food Labels Won’t Tell You (But You Need to Know)
Is your child's “healthy” snack actually hurting their health?
Kate Mason welcomes back Mandy Sacher to expose the shocking truth behind food labels, Australia's Health Star Rating system, and the hidden dangers of ultra-processed foods.
With over two decades of experience in children’s nutrition and a background in investigative journalism, Mandy breaks down how misleading marketing tactics are manipulating parents—and how it’s impacting kids' health.
From advocating government change to launching her own Real Food Rating system and app, Mandy shares practical, empowering steps to help families make smarter choices at the superm...
Why Motherhood Feels So Lonely…and What You Can Do About It
What if becoming a mother wasn’t just a role, but a complete identity shift?
Kate Mason sits down with journalist-turned-coach Amy Taylor-Kabbaz to dive deep into the transformation that women experience when they enter motherhood, a transformation called matrescence.
Amy shares her personal story of burnout, identity loss, and the emotional upheaval that came with trying to be the woman she was before children.
From postpartum struggles to the silent pressure of “having it all,” Amy unpacks why mothers feel broken…and how understanding matrescence can help us heal, connect, and move forward wi...
How Our Childhood Christmases Shape the Way We Celebrate Today
Christmas can bring up deep emotions, powerful memories, and the challenge of balancing tradition with change.
Kate Mason opens up a thoughtful and moving conversation about what the festive season really means to different people. Through a series of deeply personal stories from guests around the world, this episode explores how families celebrate, mourn, adapt, and create meaningful holiday moments.
From honoring loved ones who are no longer here, to letting go of pressure and finding peace in presence, each guest reflects on their own traditions, some old, some new and what truly matters most d...
The 4 Christmas Personalities You Already Know
What if your Christmas chaos was actually a personality clash in disguise?
Kate Mason unwraps the four classic temperaments, choleric, sanguine, melancholic, and phlegmatic, and how they dramatically show up around the Christmas table.
With warmth, humour, and heartfelt wisdom, she explores how each personality type contributes to both the magic and mayhem of the holidays.
From the bossy boots with a stopwatch to the sparkle-loving storyteller, and the detail-obsessed decorator to the quietly supportive peacekeeper, this episode is a guide to understanding not only your family, but yourself.
Listen For<...
What Every Parent Should Know About Porn’s Influence on Children
Is your child's "sex education" secretly coming from free, violent online pornography?
Kate Mason and podcast producer Liz Keen, creator of The Reality Of podcast, joins us to uncover the shocking truth that children as young as eight, nine, and ten are accidentally, or intentionally, stumbling upon highly explicit content, citing the average age of first exposure in Australia as 13.
Liz reveals the most dangerous piece of content young people are consuming: the widespread depiction of acts like strangulation that is bleeding directly into real-life teenage sex, often without consent or knowledge of the severe, si...
What’s the Right Way to Talk to a Teen Struggling With Mental Health?
Content Warning: This episode discusses suicide, self-harm, and mental health. Please listen with care.
What if your teen’s big emotions weren’t the problem, but your response was?
Kate Mason sits down with licensed therapist and author Katie K. May, a leading expert in teen self-harm, DBT, and emotional regulation. Together, they explore the often-quiet struggles parents face when their teenager is overwhelmed by big, burning feelings, what Katie calls being “on fire.”
Drawing from her personal journey and professional experience, Katie explains why some kids feel more in...
Why Your Baby’s First Foods Matter More Than You Think
Is your baby really hungry—or just hooked on ultra-processed foods?
Kate Mason sits down with children’s nutritionist and author Mandy Sacher to unravel the tangled world of feeding babies and toddlers.
From decoding misleading food labels to tackling fussy eating head-on, Mandy shares her powerful journey, from developing childhood obesity programs with UK hospitals to launching Australia's first real food rating system.
She opens up about how her own child’s love of broccoli sparked a national movement for better children's nutrition.
Together, Kate and Mandy tackle the myths, the fears...
REPLAY - Adult Kids Moving Back Home: Is This the NEW NORMAL?
This is an episode originally published in November 2024. It is one of my most popular.
Are you tired of living with your adult kids? The phenomenon of adult children living at home with their parents has become increasingly common, leaving many to wonder: is this the new normal?
Kate looks at the realities of adults living with their parents, whether due to economic challenges or shifting cultural norms.
Joined by life coach Jeanine Mouchawar, they discuss how to navigate this complex dynamic with grace and mutual respect.
From reshaping communication styles to...
How to Set Boundaries with Family During Christmas Chaos?
Is Christmas your calm or your chaos?
Kate Mason welcomes returning couple therapists Helen and Shahn to unpack why the festive season so often becomes a pressure cooker and how couples can reclaim it with clarity and compassion.
They share their own blended-family reset, choosing Christmas morning at home to create sleep, sanity, and new traditions.
From end-of-year exhaustion to old family roles that snap back under one roof, they explain how reactivity takes over and how to stay “untangled” by planning ahead, agreeing on boundaries, and responding by values.
You will he...
How to Reconnect With Your Partner in Five Minutes
Is your partner your teammate… or just your roommate?
Kate Mason dives deep into why so many loving couples start to feel emotionally disconnected—not because of conflict, but because of neglect.
With warmth and insight, Kate introduces the "Five-Minute Personality Check-In," a powerful weekly ritual that helps couples realign, reconnect, and stay curious about each other, even when life gets chaotic.
She explores how our unique personality types shape how we connect (or clash), revealing practical tools to bridge the gap between introverts and extroverts, thinkers and feelers, planners and free spirits.
If...
How to Make Wellness Work Without Burning Out
What if your health isn’t something you do, but something you are?
Kate Mason sits down with wellness journalist and author Casey Beros to trace her path from a Perth uni student obsessed with health reporting to on-air roles with ABC’s evidence-based program Tonic and a dream daily TV gig that was axed 35 episodes in—followed by a grief-soaked reset that clarified her true mission.
Casey shares how building Paper Tiger health retreats gave her real-world empathy, why she trusts slow science over fast headlines, and how her “Headlines to Live By” cut through f...
Could 3 Questions Change the Way You Parent?
Are we expressing more than we’re actually coping?
Kate Mason poses three big, bold questions to five insightful guests—Cat, Cassie, Jack, Maryann, and Tracy.
Together, they explore what today’s kids are most missing: is it freedom, discipline, or connection?
They unpack whether our personality or our experiences shape us more deeply, and whether the current culture of emotional openness is fostering resilience or just performance.
With perspectives from teachers, parents, and leaders, this episode invites listeners to rethink the way they parent, teach, connect, and even scroll.
It’s hone...
