Parenting Coaching, Events, and Resources

Welcome to my profile! With over 35 years of experience in education and parenting coaching, I am passionate about helping parents transform their approach to raising children. As an award-winning parenting coach--both at Jewish Family and Children's Services and as founder of Joyful Parenting Coaching, I have guided numerous parents in developing effective strategies to foster family connection, communication, and cooperation. My book, "Parenting as a Second Language," offers practical exercises and insights drawn from my extensive experience, empowering parents to navigate the challenges of parenthood with confidence and joy. Whether you're looking to stop nagging, defuse power struggles, or simply become a more effective parent, I'm here to support you every step of the way. Let's work together to create a nurturing environment for your family—reach out to schedule a Getting to Know You call today!

Most parenting advice focuses on solving today's problem. I help moms build the kind of family that can handle tomorrow's challenges. My approach combines more than 14 years in education—including senior leadership experience at the school and district level—with the realities of raising my own family. Throughout my career, I've helped leaders create clarity, alignment, shared ownership, and sustainable ways of working together. I now bring those same leadership principles into the home. Together, we start by creating a clear vision for the family you want to build. From there, we strengthen the foundations that make that vision possible: alignment, shared leadership, ownership, healthy rhythms, and capacity. Rather than reacting to one challenge after another, we put proactive habits, conversations, and structures in place so your family is better equipped before life gets overwhelming. My goal isn't to help you become a more efficient mom. It's to help you build a family where everyone contributes, everyone grows, and home feels lighter, more connected, and more enjoyable.

Raising three young children in rapid succession requires those exact same elite skill sets: continuous risk mitigation, strategic scheduling, conflict resolution under pressure, and infinite adaptability. You don't just coach parenting principles in theory, I live them in real-time, managing high-stakes corporate responsibilities while actively navigating the most demanding, chaotic phases of early motherhood. Corporate strategy and dinner negotiations share the exact same foundation: high-stakes portfolio optimization. At work, you spend three weeks building a 40-slide deck on market synergy, only to have stakeholders fight over whether to pivot to apples or bananas—where the "apple" camp claims the "banana" strategy lacks long-term structural integrity, and the "banana" camp threatens to throw a tantrum and boycott the Q3 offsite. Ultimately, both end with an exhausted leader making an executive decision, deploying a compromised fruit salad, and watching key stakeholders refuse to touch it because "the melon is touching the grapes."

Welcome to my profile! With a PhD in Human Development from the University of Texas at Austin and over a decade of experience in child development, I am passionate about helping parents navigate the complexities of early childhood. As the founder of The Thoughtful Parent, I have built a community of over 13,000 subscribers, providing accessible guidance based on peer-reviewed research. My work with companies like Lovevery and BYJU’S has honed my skills in creating engaging, research-based content for parents. Whether you're looking for personalized advice or comprehensive resources, I'm here to support you on your parenting journey. Reach out to start a conversation about how I can help you and your family thrive!

I coach in this area because it brings together my professional experience, formal training, and my life as a father. As the founder of Ready To Dad, I help working dads who want to lead at home with more calm, clarity, and connection. So far, I’ve coached over 100 dads. My approach is shaped by training from the Jai Institute for Parenting and ongoing ICF-aligned coaching development. I also have over 20 years of experience in leadership, communication, partnerships, and people-focused strategy, including work with companies like LinkedIn and Pinterest. This background helps me coach fathers in a practical and thoughtful way, especially those facing pressure, big changes, or wanting to be more present at home.

As a working parent who has navigated high-stakes careers in tech and marketing while raising two daughters from infancy through childhood, I know firsthand that "balance" isn't a destination. It's a daily negotiation. I've spent the last decade figuring out how to show up fully at work and at home, through the newborn fog, the toddler chaos, and everything in between. Sleep is my foundation and my passion: wake windows, sleep cycles, and age-appropriate schedules aren't just talking points for me, they're tools I've lived by and refined through real experience with real kids. But beyond sleep, I'm here for the harder conversations about how to hold boundaries with warmth, how to build routines that actually stick, and how to parent with kindness on the days when you have absolutely nothing left. My coaching isn't drawn from a textbook. It comes from the trenches of back-to-back meetings, school pickups, bedtime negotiations, and the constant, beautiful challenge of raising small humans while building a career you love.