# The Real Mrs Happy Families (Happy Birthday Kylie!)

An episode of [Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1082244480), 4 Oct 2026, 16 min.

Audio: https://mgln.ai/e/187/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/fa326977-3de5-4283-9b8b-af3500c58607/b69b2795-5503-4de1-ac91-af460017906e/b85b4e04-3cbe-4ae9-8a6e-b4cd0073bc96/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=a05f1702-0c0e-4b0f-8014-af460017907c

It’s Mrs Happy Families’ birthday week, so Justin puts Kylie on the spot with questions she hasn’t seen before. There are childhood confessions, a $2 garage sale bargain, a surprising celebrity crush, competitive board games, laundry, parenting wisdom and one deeply meaningful question about how she hopes her six children will remember her. Kylie also opens up about setting herself a big goal, learning to value the progress rather than just the number, and the moment she realised she could be proud of herself. It’s funny, honest and unexpectedly moving. KEY POINTS: • Why Kylie thinks her daughter Abby is most like her • The $2 garage sale find that became a handmade baby quilt • Why laundry is Kylie’s favourite household job • Kylie’s surprising running anthem • The competitive streak Justin insists she has • The parenting moment that made Kylie most proud • What Kylie hopes her children remember about her QUOTE OF THE EPISODE: “I would rather be 10 kilos lighter at the end of the year and not reach my goal of 20 kilos than to be sitting where I was at the beginning of the year without any hope or a desire to make the changes necessary.” ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS: • Ask yourself what you hope your children will remember about you when they are adults. • Notice the progress you are making instead of focusing only on whether you have reached the goal. • Ask your children what they love most about you. Their answers might surprise you. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:05] Speaker 1: After all these years of doing the Happy Families podcast,
[0:08] Speaker 1: something stands out to me more than anything. People will
[0:11] Speaker 1: stop me in the street and I'll say, thanks. They say,
[0:14] Speaker 1: love the podcast. Thanks for the things you do about
[0:16] Speaker 1: screens or bedtime or teenagers or helping me to make
[0:19] Speaker 1: my family happier. And then every single time they ask
[0:25] Speaker 1: about Kylie. How's Kylie going? Tell Kylie we love her.
[0:29] Speaker 1: Everybody appreciates the stuff that I say, but everybody loves you, Mrs.
[0:34] Speaker 1: Happy Families.
[0:35] Speaker 2: I'm a bit nervous. Where is this going?
[0:37] Speaker 1: You are the reason that this podcast is what it is.
[0:41] Speaker 1: People listen to this podcast for the parenting stuff, but
[0:43] Speaker 1: they stay for you, which my poor ego struggles with,
[0:47] Speaker 1: but I can handle it. I've made peace with that.
[0:51] Speaker 1: Today on the podcast, we're going to celebrate Kylie because
[0:54] Speaker 1: this week, I won't say which day and I won't
[0:55] Speaker 1: say how old, but this week, it's Mrs. Happy Families. birthday?
[1:00] Speaker 1: And I have a pile of questions she hasn't seen.
[1:03] Speaker 1: I don't think any of them are about parenting either.
[1:07] Speaker 1: And these are going to be answers that I can't control.
[1:11] Speaker 1: There's about 20 years of material that I've been saving up.
[1:13] Speaker 1: I'm going to enjoy this very, very much. Stay with us.
[1:17] Speaker 1: We discover the real Mrs. Happy Families next.
[1:21] Speaker 2: You're the worst.
[1:25] Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Happy Families podcast, where you
[1:27] Speaker 1: get real parenting solutions, Every single day. We are Justin
[1:31] Speaker 1: and Kylie Coulson, the parents of six kids. It's birthday
[1:34] Speaker 1: week for Mrs. Happy Families. You're sitting in your chair.
[1:41] Speaker 1: You've gone bright red. You've got your arms crossed across
[1:44] Speaker 1: your chest. I get the sense that you're not looking
[1:47] Speaker 1: forward to today's podcast.
[1:48] Speaker 2: I hate being put on the spot.
[1:50] Speaker 1: It's going to be so much fun. I have a
[1:52] Speaker 1: handful of.
[1:53] Speaker 2: JR, I give you permission to use AI at any
[1:55] Speaker 2: point in my questions. My answers don't work.
[2:00] Speaker 1: There will be no AI in this podcast at all.
[2:03] Speaker 1: I've got a couple of easy warm-ups for you, Kylie.
[2:06] Speaker 1: I've got a couple of really, really heartfelt questions. I
[2:10] Speaker 1: think some smart ones about parenting because people love your
[2:12] Speaker 1: parenting insights even though I'm the one with a PhD
[2:14] Speaker 1: in parenting. And then a lightning round as well. So,
[2:18] Speaker 1: I don't know if we're going to get through it all,
[2:20] Speaker 1: but I can't wait to start. Let's go. As a child, Kylie,
[2:29] Speaker 1: what was the thing that you got in trouble for most?
[2:33] Speaker 2: I actually didn't get in trouble.
[2:35] Speaker 1: You were so perfect.
[2:38] Speaker 2: No, I might have just been a really sneaky kid.
[2:41] Speaker 1: Yeah, and you also blamed your sister for a lot
[2:42] Speaker 1: of stuff as well.
[2:43] Speaker 2: Yeah, I did.
[2:43] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. And your parents believed you because you were
[2:45] Speaker 1: apparently such a great kid. Okay. That wasn't quite as
[2:50] Speaker 1: fun as I thought it was going to be. I
[2:52] Speaker 1: was looking for something really juicy straight out of the gate.
[2:55] Speaker 1: What about this one? What food did you hate as
[2:56] Speaker 1: a kid that you absolutely love now?
[2:58] Speaker 2: Oh, well, that would be probably like almost most things.
[3:06] Speaker 2: I wasn't a very adventurous eater. When you and I
[3:09] Speaker 2: got married, we would go out to eat and I
[3:11] Speaker 2: would order lasagna or spaghetti bolognese.
[3:13] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. You did.
[3:16] Speaker 2: I'd never tried sour cream. I hadn't eaten avocado. What else?
[3:21] Speaker 1: What did your parents raise you on?
[3:23] Speaker 2: Made in Three Veg.
[3:24] Speaker 1: Yeah, wow.
[3:25] Speaker 2: It was mashed potato and green beans.
[3:29] Speaker 1: I remember when we were first married, I used to
[3:32] Speaker 1: ask for water and you would think I was weird.
[3:35] Speaker 1: You were like, nobody drinks water. Water's disgusting. You actually
[3:37] Speaker 1: didn't like water. You thought it was really, really gross.
[3:40] Speaker 1: Although you did grow up in Brisbane and Brisbane's water
[3:43] Speaker 1: back then wasn't that great. What's a job that you'd
[3:46] Speaker 1: be terrible at?
[3:47] Speaker 2: Anything with blood. We were talking about it at the
[3:51] Speaker 2: dinner table the other night.
[3:54] Speaker 1: Because our eldest daughter is trying to be midwife.
[3:57] Speaker 2: And I said, do you remember when you shot your fingernail,
[4:00] Speaker 2: like your finger in the door? We were on our
[4:02] Speaker 2: way to school and she was about five. She was
[4:06] Speaker 2: really young. And for whatever reason, she slammed to the
[4:10] Speaker 2: door and her finger got caught, literally lifted pretty much
[4:14] Speaker 2: the whole nail off the bed. And there was just
[4:17] Speaker 2: blood everywhere. And I took one look at it and
[4:20] Speaker 2: I said, go to Beth now. She was our neighbor
[4:23] Speaker 2: two doors down and she just happened to be a midwife.
[4:26] Speaker 1: Not that you need a midwife for a sore finger,
[4:28] Speaker 1: but that's better than the mum who's about to faint.
[4:30] Speaker 2: That's right. And so she raced down to Beth's. I
[4:34] Speaker 2: was following, and Beth took one look at me, and
[4:36] Speaker 2: she said, just take a seat.
[4:39] Speaker 1: I've got two more easy warm-up questions for you. What's
[4:41] Speaker 1: the best money you've ever spent?
[4:43] Speaker 2: The best money I've ever spent? I think it was
[4:47] Speaker 2: the $ 2 that I spent at a– I love this.
[4:51] Speaker 1: $ 2?
[4:53] Speaker 2: The $ 2 I spent at a garage sale where I
[4:56] Speaker 2: was allowed to fill an entire garbage bag with every
[5:00] Speaker 2: denim item I found on the table.
[5:02] Speaker 1: I remember that.
[5:04] Speaker 2: And I then turned that into a baby's quilt for
[5:07] Speaker 2: my nephew. Yeah, yeah.
[5:09] Speaker 1: You sewed it, you chopped it all up, turned it
[5:11] Speaker 1: into a patchwork quilt of some kind.
[5:12] Speaker 2: And I used sort of belt loops so that they
[5:14] Speaker 2: could attach the toys to the to the loops so
[5:18] Speaker 2: that they wouldn't roll away.
[5:19] Speaker 1: So creative. So creative.
[5:20] Speaker 2: Okay.
[5:21] Speaker 1: What's something small that makes you ridiculously happy?
[5:24] Speaker 2: Can I cheat and say Indy? Yes.
[5:27] Speaker 1: Indy is our three-year-old granddaughter and she makes you ridiculously
[5:29] Speaker 1: happy and she's only three, so she's small. I love
[5:32] Speaker 1: that answer.
[5:33] Speaker 2: Okay.
[5:33] Speaker 1: Let's get a little bit more. I mean, that's a
[5:35] Speaker 1: really fun answer, but I want to get a bit
[5:37] Speaker 1: more sort of heart focused now because this is why
[5:40] Speaker 1: people love you so much. What's the last thing one
[5:43] Speaker 1: of the children said that you wrote down or wanted
[5:46] Speaker 1: to write down?
[5:47] Speaker 2: It was the last Father's Day that we celebrated a
[5:50] Speaker 2: few weeks back. Just sitting around the dinner table and
[5:53] Speaker 2: listening to each of our girls sharing individually, but uniquely theirs,
[5:58] Speaker 2: the recognition that the thing that they love about you
[6:01] Speaker 2: the most was the way you love me. And in essence,
[6:05] Speaker 2: the way you elevate me in every aspect of our lives. Yeah,
[6:11] Speaker 2: I can't think of a greater gift that you as
[6:13] Speaker 2: their dad could give them for them to recognize and see.
[6:17] Speaker 2: a man who makes the woman he's chosen to spend
[6:21] Speaker 2: his life with the most important thing in his world.
[6:25] Speaker 1: Now that you've said that, I kind of don't want
[6:26] Speaker 1: to ask any more questions because I feel like that's
[6:29] Speaker 1: just such a valuable and beautiful thing to say and
[6:32] Speaker 1: to have that recorded because our kids hopefully will get
[6:34] Speaker 1: to listen to this podcast episode. That's really meaningful. Kylie,
[6:38] Speaker 1: which of our children is most like you? I want
[6:40] Speaker 1: you to say it. I want it on the record.
[6:42] Speaker 2: I can't believe you're doing this to me.
[6:44] Speaker 1: I'm not saying who's better or who's worse. I'm not
[6:46] Speaker 1: asking you to pick favorites. I'm just saying who's like you.
[6:48] Speaker 2: I think Abby is.
[6:49] Speaker 1: Our second daughter.
[6:51] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[6:52] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[6:53] Speaker 2: When I look at her, I see a girl who's
[6:58] Speaker 2: beginning to see who she is and understand the goodness
[7:02] Speaker 2: in her heart, but she has spent a lot of
[7:06] Speaker 2: her kind of growing years doubting her capacity and I
[7:11] Speaker 2: guess her worth. And it really resonates with me as
[7:18] Speaker 2: a young girl and into young motherhood, doubting. And that's
[7:24] Speaker 2: the thing that stands out to me the most.
[7:26] Speaker 1: People say that our children look like me a lot.
[7:28] Speaker 1: I don't see it. But more than anything, I think
[7:32] Speaker 1: that they are all so much like you. They embody
[7:36] Speaker 1: so many of your wonderful characteristics. So I would have
[7:38] Speaker 1: been really stuck trying to answer that question. But now
[7:41] Speaker 1: that you've said that, I can definitely see that. Kylie,
[7:44] Speaker 1: when's the last time that you felt properly proud of yourself?
[7:48] Speaker 2: Right now. I don't think I've ever been more proud
[7:50] Speaker 2: of myself. At the beginning of the year, I set
[7:53] Speaker 2: a goal to lose 20 kilos. And I talked to
[7:57] Speaker 2: my PT about it. I talked to a nutritionist about it.
[8:00] Speaker 2: I even talked to my doctor about it and asked
[8:02] Speaker 2: them whether or not they thought it was a realistic goal.
[8:05] Speaker 2: They all pretty much poo-pooed me and said, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[8:11] Speaker 2: They were not very positive about my prospects of being
[8:14] Speaker 2: able to do it. And the further along this path
[8:19] Speaker 2: I've taken, I now recognize and understand why they felt
[8:23] Speaker 2: the way they did. It's not because it's not possible.
[8:27] Speaker 2: It's because the average person just doesn't stick at it
[8:29] Speaker 2: long enough.
[8:30] Speaker 1: It's because it's really hard.
[8:31] Speaker 2: Because it is. It's really hard. But even that's not
[8:35] Speaker 2: what I'm most proud about. As I've gone through this process,
[8:39] Speaker 2: I've had weeks where I've lost myself. lost weight, I've
[8:41] Speaker 2: had weeks where I've put on weight. I've had weeks
[8:44] Speaker 2: where it's felt hopeless and I've wondered why I'm doing this.
[8:50] Speaker 2: But as I have progressed through it, I've got to
[8:53] Speaker 2: a point where I have recognized that I'm really glad
[8:57] Speaker 2: that I set the goal, but it actually doesn't matter
[9:00] Speaker 2: if I achieve the number. What matters is that I'm
[9:04] Speaker 2: working towards it. And I would rather be 10 kilos
[9:08] Speaker 2: lighter at the end of the year and not reach
[9:10] Speaker 2: my goal of 20 kilos than to be sitting where
[9:14] Speaker 2: I was at the beginning of the year without any
[9:16] Speaker 2: hope or a desire to make the changes necessary. That's
[9:20] Speaker 2: what I'm proud of.
[9:22] Speaker 1: It's interesting as well how many people, when they see
[9:24] Speaker 1: you after not seeing you for a while, they've said,
[9:25] Speaker 1: oh my goodness, you look great. And pretty much everyone's like,
[9:29] Speaker 1: what are you taking? Is this as empty as this
[9:31] Speaker 1: will go? Which GLP-1 drug are you on? And it's
[9:35] Speaker 1: been really, really gratifying, actually, to be able to say,
[9:40] Speaker 1: I'm doing it the hard way. And it feels good.
[9:42] Speaker 1: I'm so, so impressed with what you're doing. Hey, coming
[9:45] Speaker 1: up after the break, I've got some cheeky questions for you.
[9:48] Speaker 1: We've got a lightning round. And one or two more
[9:51] Speaker 1: really heartfelt questions as we celebrate your birthday this week.
[10:04] Speaker 2: We're back.
[10:05] Speaker 1: This is the Happy Families podcast. Okay, Mrs. Happy Families,
[10:08] Speaker 1: let's do a lightning round. What is your most used emoji?
[10:10] Speaker 2: A love heart.
[10:11] Speaker 1: What is the song that you turn up every time
[10:14] Speaker 1: you get to hear it?
[10:15] Speaker 2: Just about all of them.
[10:17] Speaker 1: You do love turning up your music. Do you not
[10:20] Speaker 1: have a single one?
[10:21] Speaker 2: When I'm running, it's Eye of the Tiger.
[10:23] Speaker 1: Really? Yeah. Really? Yeah. That is so funny. I didn't
[10:26] Speaker 1: even know that. Who was your teenage celebrity crush?
[10:31] Speaker 2: I didn't really have one.
[10:32] Speaker 1: Oh, no. Your parents really stayed away from any pop media,
[10:35] Speaker 1: mainstream media, didn't they?
[10:37] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[10:37] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[10:38] Speaker 2: There was an actor called Edward Furlong in Terminator.
[10:42] Speaker 1: Eddie Furlong.
[10:43] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[10:43] Speaker 1: Things didn't work out so well for him.
[10:44] Speaker 2: No.
[10:45] Speaker 1: No. Good thing you ended up with me.
[10:46] Speaker 2: But one of my friends liked him. And so I
[10:48] Speaker 2: got to see lots of pictures of him.
[10:51] Speaker 1: And so because your friend liked him, you were supposed
[10:52] Speaker 1: to like him? Yeah. Yeah, okay. What's a household job
[10:57] Speaker 1: that you secretly enjoy?
[10:59] Speaker 2: It's actually the laundry. Yeah, right.
[11:02] Speaker 1: And why is that?
[11:04] Speaker 2: It's just brain numbing. You actually don't have to think
[11:10] Speaker 2: about anything while you're doing it.
[11:13] Speaker 1: Favorite thing to order in a cafe?
[11:16] Speaker 2: A chai latte.
[11:16] Speaker 1: Okay. Weirdest thing that you're competitive about? You are very competitive.
[11:21] Speaker 2: Weirdest thing?
[11:22] Speaker 1: Well, just something you're competitive. I was going to say something,
[11:24] Speaker 1: but then I went for weirdest because you're competitive in
[11:26] Speaker 1: almost everything. I can't believe you said that. Oh, you
[11:29] Speaker 1: are so competitive.
[11:30] Speaker 2: What am I competitive in?
[11:31] Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what it is. You've got to be better, faster, whatever,
[11:35] Speaker 1: than everyone. You get really sour grapes if you're not winning.
[11:38] Speaker 1: You're very competitive.
[11:39] Speaker 2: Oh.
[11:40] Speaker 1: I can't believe you're saying that about me. If we're
[11:42] Speaker 1: playing board games or card games, you cheat to win.
[11:45] Speaker 1: I do not. Oh, my goodness. I can't believe that
[11:48] Speaker 1: you're saying that you don't cheat. You taught our children
[11:52] Speaker 1: to cheat. They're all being cheats because you cheat.
[11:54] Speaker 2: I can't believe you're saying this.
[11:56] Speaker 1: You know one of the reasons that I don't like
[11:57] Speaker 1: playing board games and card games is because I can't
[11:59] Speaker 1: beat you because you always cheat because you get so competitive.
[12:02] Speaker 2: How do I cheat?
[12:04] Speaker 1: You take too many cards. You pick cards up and
[12:06] Speaker 1: put them down if you don't like them. You move
[12:09] Speaker 1: spaces along the board beyond what you're supposed to.
[12:11] Speaker 2: I don't play board games, so I don't know what
[12:12] Speaker 2: you're talking about.
[12:13] Speaker 1: So you don't go down the snake. I thought this
[12:14] Speaker 1: was supposed to.
[12:15] Speaker 2: Be a nice podcast. I can't believe you're saying these
[12:17] Speaker 2: things about me.
[12:18] Speaker 1: It's supposed to be a lightning round as well. What
[12:20] Speaker 1: would the kids say your catchphrase is?
[12:22] Speaker 2: I don't know.
[12:23] Speaker 1: Really? What would they say my catchphrase is?
[12:26] Speaker 2: Go to bed.
[12:26] Speaker 1: You're so funny.
[12:29] Speaker 2: Turn the TV off.
[12:30] Speaker 1: Get off that screen. And my last one, what do
[12:35] Speaker 1: I say on this podcast that makes you want to
[12:37] Speaker 1: reach over and mute me?
[12:38] Speaker 2: That I cheat? Right.
[12:41] Speaker 1: Of course.
[12:44] Speaker 2: I'm still reeling.
[12:45] Speaker 1: I'm curious.
[12:46] Speaker 2: Just because I'm better than you doesn't mean that I
[12:48] Speaker 2: have to cheat to get there.
[12:49] Speaker 1: Oh, there's that competitive streak coming out right there. We
[12:52] Speaker 1: were married at 22 and 19. I was 22, you
[12:55] Speaker 1: were 19. So let's go back to then. What's something
[12:59] Speaker 1: that I do? that you just found so wonderful and
[13:02] Speaker 1: charming and delightful back then, and now you find it
[13:06] Speaker 1: quite deeply annoying?
[13:08] Speaker 2: When we first met, you used to ask me lots
[13:11] Speaker 2: and lots of questions. We called it hypotheticals. You'd ask me.
[13:15] Speaker 1: What would you do if....
[13:17] Speaker 2: Well, we're now dealing with those hypotheticals in real life.
[13:25] Speaker 2: And what I used to really enjoy... was the conversations
[13:29] Speaker 2: around what we might do. I don't enjoy the conversations
[13:32] Speaker 2: about what we're going to do anymore. It's much harder
[13:36] Speaker 2: than it was before.
[13:39] Speaker 1: Yeah, fair enough. Hey, we need to wrap this up.
[13:41] Speaker 1: I'm so excited it's your birthday this week and really
[13:45] Speaker 1: excited to be able to celebrate with you and spend
[13:46] Speaker 1: this great time with you. I just have one last
[13:52] Speaker 1: question that I think is, well, hopefully a really meaningful
[13:55] Speaker 1: and valuable question. So much of parenting is about thinking
[13:59] Speaker 1: about the future and raising these kids so that they
[14:01] Speaker 1: can become awesome kids. And one of the things that
[14:04] Speaker 1: I love about the way you raise our children is
[14:06] Speaker 1: that it's never really about you. It's always about the
[14:08] Speaker 1: kids and them being the best version of themselves that
[14:11] Speaker 1: they can be. My question for you is this. What
[14:15] Speaker 1: do you hope that our children will say about you
[14:19] Speaker 1: when they're 40 years old or 50 years old, when
[14:22] Speaker 1: they're around about the age that you are now?
[14:25] Speaker 2: That's really tough. I think that if my children can
[14:29] Speaker 2: look back at their experiences with me as a mum
[14:33] Speaker 2: throughout their early childhood and to their teenagehood and then
[14:37] Speaker 2: into adulthood with an element of grace and recognise that
[14:44] Speaker 2: while I wasn't perfect, my heart was pure and my
[14:48] Speaker 2: desire to bless them with goodness was evident, that would
[14:54] Speaker 2: feel like something to treasure.
[14:58] Speaker 1: Well, people love you on this podcast. People love you
[15:01] Speaker 1: in this house. And after this episode, my suspicion is
[15:05] Speaker 1: that they will love you even more because you are
[15:08] Speaker 1: so dignified and so graceful and so wonderful.
[15:11] Speaker 2: Mrs.
[15:11] Speaker 1: Happy Families, happy birthday this week. Thank you. And I
[15:19] Speaker 1: can't wait to podcast with you all week long and
[15:22] Speaker 1: talk about all the great stuff that we've got coming up.
[15:24] Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. We hope that you've
[15:25] Speaker 1: enjoyed today's episode. The Happy Families podcast, sound and audio engineering,
[15:30] Speaker 1: is by the wonderful Justin Roulon from Bridge Media. We
[15:33] Speaker 1: have additional support from Mim Hammonds. She's Kylie, Kylie Coulson.
[15:38] Speaker 1: We just think the world of her. Thank you again
[15:40] Speaker 1: for being along for this journey, and we'll talk to
[15:43] Speaker 1: you tomorrow.

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