Parenting and Personalities

This episode discusses suicide, so please listen with care. If anything raises concerns for you or someone you love, in Australia contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467, or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or call 000 if someone is in immediate danger. What if the child who says "I'm not coping" has actually been coping all along, and just needs so...

What if helping your anxious child avoid something today is quietly making it harder for them tomorrow?  Kate Mason sits down with Professor Vanessa Cobham, a clinical psychologist, University of Queensland professor, and one of the minds behind Fearless Triple P, a free program for parents of anxious children.  Drawing on years of research and clinical work in Brisbane's public Child and You...

What if feeling lost as a dad wasn't a sign of failure, but the first step toward becoming the father you truly want to be?  Kate Mason is joined by Jeff Hittner, leadership expert, executive coach, founder of Ambitious Dads, and devoted father of two boys.  After learning he could not become a biological father, Jeff discovered that changing his mindset about fatherhood meant we can change o...

What if your child's most frustrating behavior wasn't defiance at all but their survival brain doing exactly what it was designed to do?  Kate Mason sits down with Mary Willow, founder of Plum Parenting, parent mentor, author, and educator with more than 35 years of experience supporting children and families.  With a remarkable background spanning nursing, midwifery, and early childhood...

What if the arguments in your relationship weren't signs of failure but invitations to finally understand yourself and the people you love most? Kate Mason sits down with Amy Armstrong, family resolution coach and founder of the Center for Family Resolution.  Amy's journey began not in a textbook, but on her bathroom floor… heartbroken, disconnected, and reaching for something she couldn...

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, Ch...

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...

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...

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 f...

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 jour...

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 theo...

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...

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...

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 Chang...

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 repl...

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...

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 temper...

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 emo...

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 o...

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 par...

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...

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,K...

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 me...

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 etiqu...

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, ev...