This blog has been something that I’ve thought about starting for a couple of years. This isn’t a “here is the right way to parent” blog…it’s more of a “have you thought about this?” blog. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Melodi Faris. I wear many hats. I am a wife. A mother. A daughter and a daughter-in-law. A sister and sister-in-law. A doctoral student and teaching assistant. A former kindergarten and elementary teacher. A workshop presenter.

The purpose of this blog is to present some ideas about parenting (and many other topics related to child development), backed up by research, and to generate some discussion. The information that will be presented is not based upon my personal experience as a parent although some of my experiences will be shared. Some of it I wish that I had known when my children were young. Two of my children are teenagers and one is about a year away from entering the teen years so I am by no means a seasoned professional when it comes to parenting but I do have 15 years of hands on experience. I also have had the enormous privilege of learning from some amazing professors while working on my PhD in Child Development and Early Education. My knowledge in the fields of child development, early childhood education, and neuroscience have increased beyond my expectations and I am looking forward to a few more years of continuing to learn from these educators.

I want the knowledge that I am gaining to serve a purpose greater than staying in the halls of academia or in the notebooks on my bookshelf. I want to get usable information to parents. Information that in many cases never leaves the pages of textbooks or research journals. What is the point of gaining new knowledge if the real consumers never know about it? Sort of like….if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it really make a sound?…if discoveries are made during research studies and consumers that could use the findings never hear about it, does the research really matter? Think of me as a “news reporter” of current research.

My first topical blog will be about responding to a baby’s cries. So in the format of the title of the blog, the topic will be….Respond quickly to a crying baby rather than letting him cry. Others will be: Read to your baby rather than trying to teach her to read and Let sharing be your child’s choice rather than making them share. Every topic won’t lend itself to being neatly packaged in a “do this not that” format but the purpose of the information will be the same…something to think about that might change the way you’ve always done something with your child.