Parenting As Activism
Individual parent/family guidance
Discussion facilitation
Group workshops
Speaking engagements
Parenting as Activism:
An Overview
Jillian believes that parenting has the power to create long-term social change.
Simply put, raising and educating children shapes future adults. So, the choices we make influence the collective future. Whether grappling with complex topics such as race, gender, and capitalism, or the more mundane problems like sleeping, potty training, and sharing, the way that the adults behave and guide children can have lasting impact.
Weaving together her unique personal and professional experiences, Jillian offers guidance, advice, and perspective to families and educators to help them bring their values to life in their daily interactions with young children.
Jillian is now booking individual consultations and professional development trainings for September 2023 through June 2024.
Individual Consultations
Jillian provides parents with practical and emotional support to meet their goals, whether they’re looking to learn how to talk about racism with their children, build an allowance system that builds a healthy work ethic, or simply do less yelling to get through the day.
As our children grow, they experience “biobehavioral shifts,” or times when their physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development leaps forward. It can feel challenging to know how to adapt your parenting to match with their new skillset and needs. In her role as a parenting doula, Jillian provides reflective guidance and support during these periods of change and growth.
Professional Development
Jillian is an early childhood expert, having earned a Masters degree in Child Development from the renowned Erikson Institute. For over a decade, she put her knowledge to use training and coaching educators within the childcare and preschool industry. Jill has supported parents of young children through parent coaching sessions, facilitated discussions, and topic-driven workshops. Using a nonjudgmental, laughs-are-welcome-here approach, she guides parents and educators through the process of shifting their perspectives on everyday behaviors and commonly held beliefs about children and our interactions with them.
Jillian is the mother of three children and has learned a lot about parenting them in ways that meet their highly individual needs. Jill can speak with experience about a range of topics: she has given birth in a birth center with no medical intervention and she has had a c-section; she has breastfed and she has formula fed; she has co-slept and she has sleep trained; she has used childcare and she has juggled family-based care; the list goes on!
You can learn more about Jill’s life as a mom on the Parenting as Activism blog and podcast, as well as following her on Instagram @parentingasactivism or Facebook at Jillian Best Adler.