June 29, 2025 • 10 mins
Reality TV with a purpose? Yes, please. Parental Guidance Season 3 kicks off tonight—and in this special preview episode, Justin and Kylie share everything you need to know before tuning in. From parenting styles to hot-button topics like body image, screen time, and AI bots, this four-night TV event dives deep into the challenges real families are facing right now. Whether you're a traditional parent, a positivity parent, or somewhere in between, this season is designed to spark honest conversations and offer hope for families doing their best in tough times.
KEY POINTS:
- Parental Guidance Season 3 airs over four consecutive nights on Channel Nine and 9Now.
- It’s not about winning—just eight families courageously sharing their parenting lives.
- Topics include:
- Screen time (including AI friends and bots)
- Body image (a heart-wrenching and inspiring episode)
- Mental health
- Peer pressure
- Unexpected insights into education
- Parenting styles this season include: Traditional, Protect, Active, Upfront, Authoritative, Hard Way, Life School, and Positivity.
- The aim: Honest, respectful conversations about what parenting looks like today—and what’s working.
QUOTE OF THE EPISODE:
“As parents, we need to believe in a positive future for our kids—and I think this show gives us the tools and the keys we need to get there.”
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
- Parental Guidance Season 3 (Channel Nine and 9Now)
- HappyFamilies.com.au for related resources and daily podcast reviews following each episode.
ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS:
- Watch tonight’s episode live (7:30pm on Nine and 9Now) to be part of the national conversation.
- Talk with your kids after each episode—what do they think about what they saw?
- Tune in to the Happy Families daily recap podcasts this week for expert insights into the challenges raised on the show.
- Share the show and the podcast with friends or family—it’s a powerful conversation starter.
- Reflect on your own parenting style and ask: What’s working? What might I try differently?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
It's happening, and it's happening tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hello and welcome to the Happy Families podcast, Real parenting
Solutions every day in Australia's most downloaded parenting podcasts. We
are Justin and Kylie Colson, except the solutions and not
on the podcast today. They're on the TV tonight nine
and nine. Now Monday June thirty, seven thirty pm. Our
kids are growing up in the world we never imagine.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Take a breath.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
This is confronting content. It is tonight seven thirty pm.
Parental Guidance Season three kicks off.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
I'm so excited. I'm so excited, Kylie.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Our kids are pretty excited too.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
We're having a big party in the backyard. We've told
everyone to bring their parkers. They're doingers whatever. We've hooked
up the TV. We've got on the standoutside. We're just
hoping that the weather will be good and we're going
to sit there and watch Ali Langdon and myself talk
about some of the biggest topics that are haunting challenging
parents today for Parental Guidance, a limited series four episodes
over four big nights on Channel nine. Can you tell
(01:14):
that I'm excited about this? I'm so bummed.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
So, if you haven't watched season one or two, can
you give us a brief synopsis of what the show's
actually about?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Okay, so a quick explainer today's podcast. We're just going
to give you a preview of tonight and parental guidance. Generally,
I don't know what questions Kyle's got for me. I'm
just going to answer them. So the quick explainer is
as follows. The last two seasons, we've got a bunch
of families who have been willing to do a whole
lot of challenges. Then we sit in the studio and
watch them as they participate in those challenges. They've already
(01:48):
been done. We're just watching the recordings of the challenges,
and then everybody passes non judgmental judgment on what they're doing.
In other words, they make comments to say, but why
are you doing that? Or this is an issue for me,
or genuine conversation is about parenting challenges like when the
kids are anxious, or what to do about screens, or
bullying issues and so on. Really compelling stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
So reality TV, yes.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
But non exploitative reality TV. Why because we've got parents
and families, there's children involved, here, and we need to
honor them in a way that too many reality TV
shows don't honor bear contestants and participants.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
So, if you've seen the trailer, the trailer is mind blowing.
In an Allie Langdon's words, we're diving into the biggest
parenting mind fields. Yet, how does it compare to the
first two seasons.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well, I haven't seen the whole thing yet. I mean,
it's on TV tonight. I've seen some snippets. I think
that it's the best we've ever done. And I'm not
saying that because I want people to watch it. Like
I the first season, we had no idea what we
were doing. We were the first people in the world
to run this show. We developed it ourselves. Well, actually
the production team did. I was just the parenting experts
sitting on the couch, But I didn't know what to do.
I'd never been on a TV show before. Ali didn't
really know what she was doing. There was so much
(02:58):
guesswork in season one. In season two we felt like
we really knew what we were doing, and I think
it was a really solid season. But this time we
just sort of it was like putting on a favorite
sloppy Joe. We sat on the couch and we were like,
here we go. This is going to be great. And
we've shifted at this time so that there's no competition.
It's not like we're looking for a winner. We've just
(03:20):
got eight really great families who are willing to vulnerably
put themselves out there in front of the nation to
have their parenting.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Go out of the microscope literally critique. Yeah, so that
we can.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Work out how we can deal with many of the
issues that so many parents are really struggling with today.
So hit me with your questions. What do you want
to know? Obviously I can't give any spoilers, but I
can tell you heaps about the show, and that's what
today's podcast is about. To get everyone amped for how
(03:54):
good it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, I'm really curious because as the show's parenting experts,
I'm wondering from the outset, what is the biggest take
home you want parents to take away from this?
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
So, I mean I've been doing a lot of media
over the last couple of weeks about the show, and
this is going to sound like something that we talk
about on the podcast all the time. The challenges that
parents face today, I think are some of the most
challenging that we've ever faced, if not the most challenging
that parents have ever faced, unless you're talking about existential threats.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Okay, so a country has gone.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
To war or something like that, but I'm talking about
in peacetime, as families just navigate the daily grind of
raising children. The stuff that we're dealing with today is unprecedented.
The body image challenges, the screen time issues, things like bullying,
mental health, like we've got lower levels of resilience and
poorer levels of mental health in this country among our
(04:46):
young people than we've ever had before. And so the
topics are really heavy. But the one massive take home
that I want parents to really take from this is
that there's a way through. Like this is a hopeful show.
We see one full redeeming conversations.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
There is hope, We hope builders.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
As parents, we need to believe in a positive future
for our kids, and I think this show gives us
the tools and the keys that we need to get there.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Did you have a favorite couple a favorite family?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I really enjoy every family for different reasons, and as
I've watched the snippets, I keep on I'm just cracking up.
I'm looking at this family on the screen, I'm going
I love that about them, or oh, this is going
to be a really sore point for these guys, and
I hope they come through it well because they are
a great family. So every single time, I mean, no
family shines all the way through. That's not how the
(05:38):
show is designed. It is designed to poke holes. It's
designed to have us asking hard questions, and therefore every
family will have a moment where they squirm, but they'll
also have wonderfully redemptive moments where they absolutely shine as well.
We should be very careful not to feminize our males.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Oh so in season one and two, we had some
really creative parenting styles. Yes, we had strict parents, we
had free range parents, we had homeschooling parents, we had
the traveling parents. Like, we've seen a lot of different
parenting styles.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Major parents, tiger parents, helicopter parents, we've had them all.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, so how does this season compare? What kind of
parenting are we going to see?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Okay, so there are eight different parenting styles. We've got
traditional parents, So Nathan and Joanne have a fairly traditionalist view.
Traditional roles for mum and dad they've got a strong
Christian background. Protect parents, protect parents, Courtney and John. They're
big on screens. They social media influences and work in
tech respectively. For Courtney and John, active parents, aiming Mark.
(06:41):
They're big on the kids being outside and staying away
from screens. The upfront parents. I just I love these guys, seriously,
they are so much fun. I said before, I don't
have any favorites, and I don't, but I just really
really enjoyed Mark and Tammy in the way that they
I just love the way they showed up on TV.
They were up for absolutely anything, and they are literally
(07:02):
upfront as in strong expectations, mutual respect. They just they
love their kids and you can see it. In addition
to that, we've got who else we got. We've got
authoritative parents, hard way parents, life school parents, and positivity parents.
Will be introduced to them over the next couple of weeks,
So I'm not gonna sort of labor all of those
(07:23):
now and talk them all up now, because we'll get
to see them over the next four weeks.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So the primary does a great job of helping us
see what's coming up.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, yeah, with the guy with the big big boys
over four powerful nights of event television.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I can't wait to see it all play out on
the big screen. But what are the big topics that
you're going to talk about and are there any specific
stories that you really want us to pay attention to.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, so all of them, and all of them is
what I'm There are some really big topics and we're
going to do all of them, and the specific parts
I want you to see all of them.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Peer pressure, body image. Oh my goodness. The body image
episode is going to.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Break your heart. Oh my goodness, and it will also
be so inspiring. I'm getting weepy just thinking about it.
The mental health topic is really really carefully addressed, and
I think we do a good job with that.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Tonight it's screen time.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I don't know that there's a bigger topic that parents
are frustrated with at the moment.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Screen time. Screen time, screen time, And we're going.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
To talk about AI, but specifically AI bots and the
AI friends that our kids are making. This thing is
going crazy at sweeping the world by storm, and there
are some really scary elements to it, So we're going
to talk about that.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
That blew my mind.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Also, the conversation that we have around screens generally is
just so important. There's also some really important discussions around
education that unexpectedly came up, and I just think every
parent needs.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
To hear it over all.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Oh my goodness, it's such compelling TV. I can't wait
for Tonight seven thirty nine and nine now.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Just wanted to mention that again, so we'll wrap it
up there.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Tomorrow will be our first of three review episodes where
we take a look at the big issues that arise
from this evening's episode. These podcasts reviews are going to
they don't miss it kind of stuff. So hopefully you'll
be able to get the time to jump on and
download the pod and have a listen each day as
we talk about the things that happen on Parental Guidance
(09:32):
on the previous Monday night Tonight nine Now and Channel nine.
If you can check it out live, that would be amazing.
If you're overseas, I'm so sorry at this point I
don't think you can see it, but we will play
as much as we can realistically in the pod to
create the conversations and fingers crossed. Sometime soon it may
be played in your country. Parental Guidance Season three Special
(09:56):
limited edition episode.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Because starts tonight seven point thirty on nine and nine Now.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
The Happy Family's podcast is produced by Justin Roland from
Bridge Media. We really appreciate the great work, research and
admin assistance from Mim Hammond's that she provides as well.
If you think your family will be happier because of
this episode, we would love for you.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
To share it.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Just click a couple of buttons, takes twenty seconds and
you can pass it along. And if you'd like more
information and more resources to make your family happier, you'll
find that all at happyfamilies dot com dot au
It's happening, and it's happening tonight.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hello and welcome to the Happy Families podcast, Real parenting
Solutions every day in Australia's most downloaded parenting podcasts. We
are Justin and Kylie Colson, except the solutions and not
on the podcast today. They're on the TV tonight nine
and nine. Now Monday June thirty, seven thirty pm. Our
kids are growing up in the world we never imagine.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Take a breath.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
This is confronting content. It is tonight seven thirty pm.
Parental Guidance Season three kicks off.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
I'm so excited. I'm so excited, Kylie.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Our kids are pretty excited too.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
We're having a big party in the backyard. We've told
everyone to bring their parkers. They're doingers whatever. We've hooked
up the TV. We've got on the standoutside. We're just
hoping that the weather will be good and we're going
to sit there and watch Ali Langdon and myself talk
about some of the biggest topics that are haunting challenging
parents today for Parental Guidance, a limited series four episodes
over four big nights on Channel nine. Can you tell
(01:14):
that I'm excited about this? I'm so bummed.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
So, if you haven't watched season one or two, can
you give us a brief synopsis of what the show's
actually about?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Okay, so a quick explainer today's podcast. We're just going
to give you a preview of tonight and parental guidance. Generally,
I don't know what questions Kyle's got for me. I'm
just going to answer them. So the quick explainer is
as follows. The last two seasons, we've got a bunch
of families who have been willing to do a whole
lot of challenges. Then we sit in the studio and
watch them as they participate in those challenges. They've already
(01:48):
been done. We're just watching the recordings of the challenges,
and then everybody passes non judgmental judgment on what they're doing.
In other words, they make comments to say, but why
are you doing that? Or this is an issue for me,
or genuine conversation is about parenting challenges like when the
kids are anxious, or what to do about screens, or
bullying issues and so on. Really compelling stuff.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
So reality TV, yes.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
But non exploitative reality TV. Why because we've got parents
and families, there's children involved, here, and we need to
honor them in a way that too many reality TV
shows don't honor bear contestants and participants.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
So, if you've seen the trailer, the trailer is mind blowing.
In an Allie Langdon's words, we're diving into the biggest
parenting mind fields. Yet, how does it compare to the
first two seasons.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well, I haven't seen the whole thing yet. I mean,
it's on TV tonight. I've seen some snippets. I think
that it's the best we've ever done. And I'm not
saying that because I want people to watch it. Like
I the first season, we had no idea what we
were doing. We were the first people in the world
to run this show. We developed it ourselves. Well, actually
the production team did. I was just the parenting experts
sitting on the couch, But I didn't know what to do.
I'd never been on a TV show before. Ali didn't
really know what she was doing. There was so much
(02:58):
guesswork in season one. In season two we felt like
we really knew what we were doing, and I think
it was a really solid season. But this time we
just sort of it was like putting on a favorite
sloppy Joe. We sat on the couch and we were like,
here we go. This is going to be great. And
we've shifted at this time so that there's no competition.
It's not like we're looking for a winner. We've just
(03:20):
got eight really great families who are willing to vulnerably
put themselves out there in front of the nation to
have their parenting.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Go out of the microscope literally critique. Yeah, so that
we can.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Work out how we can deal with many of the
issues that so many parents are really struggling with today.
So hit me with your questions. What do you want
to know? Obviously I can't give any spoilers, but I
can tell you heaps about the show, and that's what
today's podcast is about. To get everyone amped for how
(03:54):
good it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, I'm really curious because as the show's parenting experts,
I'm wondering from the outset, what is the biggest take
home you want parents to take away from this?
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
So, I mean I've been doing a lot of media
over the last couple of weeks about the show, and
this is going to sound like something that we talk
about on the podcast all the time. The challenges that
parents face today, I think are some of the most
challenging that we've ever faced, if not the most challenging
that parents have ever faced, unless you're talking about existential threats.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Okay, so a country has gone.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
To war or something like that, but I'm talking about
in peacetime, as families just navigate the daily grind of
raising children. The stuff that we're dealing with today is unprecedented.
The body image challenges, the screen time issues, things like bullying,
mental health, like we've got lower levels of resilience and
poorer levels of mental health in this country among our
(04:46):
young people than we've ever had before. And so the
topics are really heavy. But the one massive take home
that I want parents to really take from this is
that there's a way through. Like this is a hopeful show.
We see one full redeeming conversations.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
There is hope, We hope builders.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
As parents, we need to believe in a positive future
for our kids, and I think this show gives us
the tools and the keys that we need to get there.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Did you have a favorite couple a favorite family?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I really enjoy every family for different reasons, and as
I've watched the snippets, I keep on I'm just cracking up.
I'm looking at this family on the screen, I'm going
I love that about them, or oh, this is going
to be a really sore point for these guys, and
I hope they come through it well because they are
a great family. So every single time, I mean, no
family shines all the way through. That's not how the
(05:38):
show is designed. It is designed to poke holes. It's
designed to have us asking hard questions, and therefore every
family will have a moment where they squirm, but they'll
also have wonderfully redemptive moments where they absolutely shine as well.
We should be very careful not to feminize our males.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Oh so in season one and two, we had some
really creative parenting styles. Yes, we had strict parents, we
had free range parents, we had homeschooling parents, we had
the traveling parents. Like, we've seen a lot of different
parenting styles.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Major parents, tiger parents, helicopter parents, we've had them all.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, so how does this season compare? What kind of
parenting are we going to see?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Okay, so there are eight different parenting styles. We've got
traditional parents, So Nathan and Joanne have a fairly traditionalist view.
Traditional roles for mum and dad they've got a strong
Christian background. Protect parents, protect parents, Courtney and John. They're
big on screens. They social media influences and work in
tech respectively. For Courtney and John, active parents, aiming Mark.
(06:41):
They're big on the kids being outside and staying away
from screens. The upfront parents. I just I love these guys, seriously,
they are so much fun. I said before, I don't
have any favorites, and I don't, but I just really
really enjoyed Mark and Tammy in the way that they
I just love the way they showed up on TV.
They were up for absolutely anything, and they are literally
(07:02):
upfront as in strong expectations, mutual respect. They just they
love their kids and you can see it. In addition
to that, we've got who else we got. We've got
authoritative parents, hard way parents, life school parents, and positivity parents.
Will be introduced to them over the next couple of weeks,
So I'm not gonna sort of labor all of those
(07:23):
now and talk them all up now, because we'll get
to see them over the next four weeks.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So the primary does a great job of helping us
see what's coming up.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, yeah, with the guy with the big big boys
over four powerful nights of event television.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I can't wait to see it all play out on
the big screen. But what are the big topics that
you're going to talk about and are there any specific
stories that you really want us to pay attention to.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, so all of them, and all of them is
what I'm There are some really big topics and we're
going to do all of them, and the specific parts
I want you to see all of them.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Peer pressure, body image. Oh my goodness. The body image
episode is going to.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Break your heart. Oh my goodness, and it will also
be so inspiring. I'm getting weepy just thinking about it.
The mental health topic is really really carefully addressed, and
I think we do a good job with that.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Tonight it's screen time.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I don't know that there's a bigger topic that parents
are frustrated with at the moment.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Screen time. Screen time, screen time, And we're going.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
To talk about AI, but specifically AI bots and the
AI friends that our kids are making. This thing is
going crazy at sweeping the world by storm, and there
are some really scary elements to it, So we're going
to talk about that.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
That blew my mind.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Also, the conversation that we have around screens generally is
just so important. There's also some really important discussions around
education that unexpectedly came up, and I just think every
parent needs.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
To hear it over all.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Oh my goodness, it's such compelling TV. I can't wait
for Tonight seven thirty nine and nine now.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Just wanted to mention that again, so we'll wrap it
up there.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Tomorrow will be our first of three review episodes where
we take a look at the big issues that arise
from this evening's episode. These podcasts reviews are going to
they don't miss it kind of stuff. So hopefully you'll
be able to get the time to jump on and
download the pod and have a listen each day as
we talk about the things that happen on Parental Guidance
(09:32):
on the previous Monday night Tonight nine Now and Channel nine.
If you can check it out live, that would be amazing.
If you're overseas, I'm so sorry at this point I
don't think you can see it, but we will play
as much as we can realistically in the pod to
create the conversations and fingers crossed. Sometime soon it may
be played in your country. Parental Guidance Season three Special
(09:56):
limited edition episode.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Because starts tonight seven point thirty on nine and nine Now.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
The Happy Family's podcast is produced by Justin Roland from
Bridge Media. We really appreciate the great work, research and
admin assistance from Mim Hammond's that she provides as well.
If you think your family will be happier because of
this episode, we would love for you.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
To share it.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Just click a couple of buttons, takes twenty seconds and
you can pass it along. And if you'd like more
information and more resources to make your family happier, you'll
find that all at happyfamilies dot com dot au
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