Your essential resource for modern parenting
Providing researched answers with warmth and personalization, giving you the clarity you need to rediscover the joy of parenting
Karyn Marciniak, Ph.D.
Karyn has a doctoral degree in Child Development and Family Science
Ask me to:
Upskill your family - We have learned how to parent through our own families, a book or two, Instagram, and sometimes an inspired friend who seems to have it all together. We can supplement that with research-backed practical information given at just the right time for your current specific questions.
Research a topic that nags on your mind - Endless Google searches and scary group posts create stress rabbit holes. While crowd-sourcing advice is often a fast and easy way to find information, when it comes to your family's important and nuanced dynamics, you are worthy of personalized advice. Unfortunately, family science research is often buried in expensive academic journals behind paywalls. As a professor, I have access and interest in reading through them for you. As a mom, I know what is actually practical to implement. You benefit from my compulsive and exhaustive passion for research and get the punchline that is relevant to you.
Prepare you for a transition - I will provide guidance and a tailored to-do list for how to get through a pregnancy, move, new school year, etc. You’ll receive information optimized to come at just the right time so you aren’t overwhelmed with tasks needed in the future.
Keep you from getting blindsided, but also relieve you from the things you can stop - Are you ever blindsided by a sign-up date, developmental changes, or birthday season, and wish you had prepared a bit in advance? I’ll get you ahead of these tasks. You can even sign up for the yearly birthday tasks, where I’ll remind you of things your child might need, learn, and can start doing this year, as well as family-admin tasks you don’t want to miss. Just as importantly, families often find themselves stuck in routines or traditions that aren’t clicking right now. Get permission to let go, and try something new.
Help you figure out if you need a specialist - Kids are complex and complicated, and while so many of the challenging behaviors that happen in childhood are expected and natural, some could benefit from extra support. The varied types of support available is enormous and most adults are not aware of all that exists. I can increase exposure to various specialists and can use my developed network of referrals to make introductions.
Two personalized routes to solutions:
Parenting Project Plans
Feel ahead of the game for once! No more being blindsided with things you didn’t know you needed to have done months ago. Receive a personalized to-do list, with dates and dependencies defined, specifically for your family. Designed to get you from start to finish on a specific task (e.g., choosing childcare, applying to kindergarten, curating toys, etc.). These project plans will bring peace of mind and reduce your mental load enormously.
Parent Consulting
Gain confidence in your parenting decisions. Sometimes we all just need an expert to help us get through the overwhelming moments and parenting decisions. One-on-one time with Karyn means you get to ask your very specific parenting questions and receive answers that take into account your entire family, environment, and circumstances. In addition to getting to know your family, Karyn will do individualized research to give you tailored support for what might work best for you.
Choose a parenting stage to learn more:
1) Planning for, or expecting, a new baby
2) Infancy
3) Toddlers
4) Preschoolers
5) Elementary age or dynamic questions
What parents are saying:
New York mom of a toddler and kindergartener:
“Performing comprehensive research is part of Karyn's DNA. I wholeheartedly trust and respect her guidance, and would like to recommend Karyn's services to expecting parents, as well as, parents to young children; she's fantastic!”
New York mom of a toddler and baby:
“Everything was great, thank you! I’ve been using many things but one that sticks out is that it is totally fine to abandon something when it’s not the right time and try again later. It worked and was so drama free that I’m going to use this principle for many other things”
New York mom of a toddler:
“"As a new parent, Karyn has been a wonderful source of insightful information and tailored advice in learning about how children 'work' and making my mom decisions. From newborn through toddler stage it has been a comfort to be able to turn to Karyn for thorough and thoughtful research, ideas and forward planning. When our daughter was born I had the thought - Wouldn't it be great to have an expert to talk to about our specific context before issues arise (to avoid problems), and as they do?' And here she is! From sleep patterns, bottles, tantrums, developmental play, to super helpful school choices and more Karyn has become a much valued advisor. I tell every parent I know about her!"”
Midwest mom of 3 school-aged kids:
“After I saw that Karyn made a business to help families like mine, I reached out immediately. I found it difficult to navigate my way with my blended family…. Karyn's unique approach of providing suggestions during our initial meeting and then using research to back up her suggestions really gave me hope that I would finally be able to see some improvement. The ideas she provided were insightful and got me excited about building our relationships with each other back up to their full potential!”
New York mom of a toddler:
“Working with Karyn was an absolute blessing as we navigated the overwhelming process of finding the right pre-K for our toddler in NYC. From the start, Karyn was incredibly empathetic, supportive and took the time to truly understand our needs, concerns and what was important to our family. Karyn’s research based guidance was thoughtful, thorough and tailored to our family, and her incredible knowledge of the education landscape gave us confidence to make the best decision not only for our child, but for our family’s priorities. Thanks to her expertise, we couldn’t be happier with the outcome!”
Some recent questions I’ve been answering:
"Please explain the New York City Private and Public school options to me, I'm totally overwhelmed"
“How do I wean my child from the bottle gently?"
"What is the child-developmentally appropriate gym class on the upper Upper West Side?"
"What are the things I need to think about when planning the age-spacing of my kids?"
"My child has become really challenging, can you help me figure out what is normal and if not, which experts to call?"
“How do I get my toddler and baby to sleep in the same room and adjust after we move apartments?”
“Which of these two 3K programs should I send my child to? One is close but not as warm, the other is far but well-renowned”
“How do I help my child develop healthy eating habits when my step-son has different rules?”
“How many school transitions are too many?”
"I am completely unsure of what I actually need to buy when I have a baby in an apartment and all the lists seem to be for people with houses"
"Can you give me some resources to introduce baby-led-weaning to my very traditional husband and show him the value?"
"Can you help me put together an enrichment schedule for my toddler once I go back to work?”
"How can I stop the bedtime stalling?"
Custom-tailored parenting solutions.
Start today.