I can count on one hand the things that I love: my irresistible, imperfect family; mom and dad’s home-cooked Jamaican meals; chocolate cake from The Little Daisy Bake Shop in my New Jersey town; and children – working in one way or another to make their lives better. No matter where I sit, advocating for kids and families is the work that occupies the center of my heart. So, whether you’re a mom, a dad, or someone charged with helping children as a part of your job, I’d really like to see you succeed. My book, SHAPE: The 5 Keys to Parenting from Research and Real Life, the parenting classes based on the book’s framework, and my family engagement workshops for professionals all provide tangible tools to make life better for children.
After nearly a decade of crafting teaching plans to help students in my classroom and later creating a school design plan to launch a thriving public school, I decided to create a family blueprint – a plan to lead me down a better parenting path at home. I was betting on my fancy degrees and my experience working with families to fuel my success. To be honest, it wasn’t much of a gamble because our family was in quite a slump with nowhere to go but up.
Happily, our lives improved from the moment I began using a frame to guide us. Everything changed when I chose to learn and love my way out of the corner that life had backed me into. I then became inspired to share the lessons of my journey…and that’s the short version of how SHAPE: The 5 Keys to Parenting from Research and Real Life was born.