
Hosted by Kate Mason, Stories and Strategies · EN
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 relationships and examines what compels our children, husbands, wives and others to behave the way they do. This podcast is designed to help you understand those you love. A half hour listening on your own, will connect you with the ones you care about the most.

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:5:03 Teaching Conflict Resolution9:22 Overprotection and Online Dangers16:56 The Importance of Family Togetherness27:00 Fostering Hope in Children Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one click Guest: Tania JohnsonWebsite | LinkedIn | The Parenting Handbook | Instagram |Contact Kate:Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | XSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, "good enough" mode. Through hilarious real-life stories from laundry debates at a dinner party to her 94-year-old mother's enduring love of perfectly folded clothes, Kate reveals how understanding your partner's or family member's personality type can transform daily conflict into genuine connection. This episode will leave you asking a different question: am I loving them, or am I reorganizing them? Listen For4:14 What everyday moment reminded Kate how strongly our personalities show up in daily life?6:07 Are you a folder or a scruncher and what does it actually reveal about your personality?7:10 What are the key strengths and challenges of the melancholic and phlegmatic temperaments?12:00 How do judging and perceiving types experience time differently and why does it cause conflict?15:02 What does Kate's 94-year-old mother teach us about how deeply personality is woven into who we are? Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one clickContact Kate:Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X

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 awareness, steadiness, and confidence in themselves, creating an environment where children can develop resilience and independence. Listen For3:20 What inspired Dr Jenny Brown to shift from law into social science and family therapy?4:50 Why is understanding humans in their social context so important for parenting?5:16 What do parents often realise later about what they wish they had known earlier?5:42 Is it ever too late to improve your parenting approach and relationships?6:13 Why did Dr Jenny Brown write The Parenting Paradox and who is it for? Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one click Contact Dr Jenny Brown:Email | Website | Dr Jenny's Book "The Parenting Paradox" | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedInContact Kate:Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X

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 going when life doesn't follow the script. Her story reframes what family can look like and will leave listeners understanding that love, consistency, and showing up are what truly define a parent.Listen For:2:52 Was becoming a parent always something Lorena had envisioned for herself?7:03 What did Lorena discover about her own genetics when she began the IVF process?13:46 What did 12 rounds of IVF really feel like emotionally and practically for Lorena?20:06 How does a fiercely independent personality shape the solo parenting experience?36:12 What advice does Lorena have for anyone considering the solo parenthood path?Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one click Contact Lorena Otes:Email | Website | Lorena's Book | Instagram | Facebook | TikTokContact Kate:Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X

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. This episode offers personality-aware tools for getting through life's quietly destabilising moments. Not by fixing everything, but by staying steady while it passes. Listen For2:01 How did a vomiting bug over Easter turn into a week Kate will never forget?5:24 What happens when you're the main caregiver for everyone and you can't even be near them?8:53 How do other families quietly carry these kinds of exhausting, invisible weeks?12:34 What practical tools can help you get through a week when everything feels like a lot?15:22 Why does acknowledging your stress, rather than minimizing it, actually help you recover faster? Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one clickContact Kate:Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X

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 parents and caregivers worldwide. Together, Kate and Stephanie unpack the science behind why our children are struggling, and the beautifully simple, practical shifts that can transform your family's wellbeing starting today. Understanding your child and those you love has never felt more urgent…or more hopeful. Listen For2:59 What personal experiences shaped Stephanie's lifelong commitment to caring for children?10:20 How did the pandemic reveal what overwhelmed parents and children truly need?23:37 What does the science tell us about connection, love, and belonging as human essentials?30:50 How does the story of Eastern European orphanages show us what children cannot survive without?41:06 What small intentional actions can parents take this week to rebuild belonging in their family? Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one clickConnect with guest: Stephanie Malia Krauss, M.Ed., MSW | Author | Speaker | Strategist LinkedIn | Website | YouTube | Instagram | Book: How We ThriveContact Kate:Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X

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 sustainable, and why understanding the people you love means holding the magic carefully… and then passing it on. Listen For1:40 What makes Easter traditions worth keeping, even as life gets busier and children grow?4:33 What does Kate say traditions actually need to be to last across the years?9:21 How do you handle the moment a child starts questioning whether the Easter Bunny is real?11:20 What happened the day Kate's children found out the truth — and how did the family recover?15:59 How can grandparents, aunties, and uncles join in traditions without stepping on parents' toes?Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one clickContact Kate:Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X

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 house can have completely different outcomes, and a groundbreaking discovery called cerebral folate deficiency… a condition affecting up to 70% of autistic children that may be dramatically limiting speech. Parents who feel overwhelmed, confused, or like they've already tried everything will find this episode both deeply informative and genuinely hopeful. Listen For3:50 What is the real science behind going gluten-free for a child with autism?7:31 Why is diet change so overwhelming for autism families, and how should parents approach it?12:16 How can genetics and environment explain why two children in the same household experience autism so differently?14:29 What is cerebral folate deficiency, and how could a simple blood test unlock speech in non-verbal children?18:34 What should parents do right now if they think cerebral folate deficiency could be a factor for their child? Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one click Connect with guest: Theresa Lyons, MS, MS, PhD | Founder & CEO Navigating AWEtismWebsite | LinkedIn | Instagram| YouTube| FacebookContact Kate:Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X

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 giving people grace. You will come away with fresh insight into why the people you love move through the world differently, and why that difference is worth celebrating. Listen For1:02 How does travelling to a very different culture reveal your own personality?3:52 What does Japan's approach to rubbish and shared spaces teach us about parenting?7:28 Why is riding a quiet Japanese train a surprisingly confronting experience for a sanguine?9:49 What happens when a choleric personality meets the Tokyo train system?11:44 How do temperament differences show up when a group travels together and what can that teach families?Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one clickContact Kate:Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X

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 Mason offers parents practical insight and a simple but transformative question: Would I say this to the other gender? This episode is for every parent who wants to raise emotionally confident, connected, and capable children. Listen For2:21 How can better listening instantly improve the way we communicate with others?7:59 Why do we tell girls to be careful more often than boys?14:31 How does praising girls for being pretty shape their identity over time?18:44 Why are boys taught hierarchy while girls are taught rapport?34:09 How can parents teach body autonomy without forcing children to hug or kiss relatives? Leave a rating/review for this podcast with one click Connect with guest: Kate Mason, Communications Coach | Author, Powerfully Likeable | World-champion DebaterWebsite | LinkedIn | Instagram | LinktreeContact Kate:Email | Website | Kate’s Book on Amazon | LinkedIn | Facebook | X