Welcome to Smart Parent Advice!
Smart Parent Advice was started with one simple goal. We wanted to make parenthood more rewarding and enjoyable, while removing the excess stress and uncertainty.
The Beginning
Our parenting journey started in early 2015 with the arrival of our son. While our first few days as a family of three were exhilarating, they were also terribly overwhelming. I can remember distinctly that we were a little nervous about leaving the hospital after our son arrived. All of a sudden, we were in charge of taking care of a new life, and we no longer had a team of doctors and nurses around to answer all of our questions.
We had both done our homework in the months leading up to parenthood, but now that our son had arrived, it seemed that we knew almost nothing at all. Should we give our son a bath? If so, how do we go about it? Should we use soap? Can the umbilical cord stump get wet? This represents one of the millions of small strings of questions that we had in the early days.
So, we did our best. We researched every trivial detail and then methodically mastered one part of parenting after another. By the time our daughter arrived a couple years later, we were pros. And while our daughter’s arrival in this world was just as exciting, it came without all of the stress we experienced the first time around. As a result, we were able to soak up every second of parental bliss.
Our Team
Ryan Howard
Cristin Howard
Cristin is a co-founder of Smart Parent Advice, and the loving mother of two wonderful children. In her free time, she can often be found in a yoga studio or catching up on her favorite shows.
Sarah Caldwell
Sarah is a full-time freelance writer and mother of 4. She loves Jesus, cars, and coffee.
Barbie Carpenter
Barbie Carpenter is a writer, editor, and mom of three. When she isn’t writing, she’s enjoying the outdoors, watching her girls dance ballet, or cheering on her son on the soccer field.
Sandy Fargus
Sandy is mum to two energetic boys who are the embodiment of chaos. After 10 years of teaching Sandy now enjoys the flexibility of working as a writer. When she’s not playing with her kids she likes to read, lift weights, and learn new skills.
Dani Gallagher
Dani is a mom of two and loves the outdoors. When she's not working, she's enjoying an active lifestyle with her family in sunny Florida.
Emily Harrison
Emily is a former language arts teacher, turned professional stylist and freelance writer. She and her husband are high school sweethearts, raising their three boys in the same neighborhood where they grew up. In her free time, Emily enjoys running, baking, and singing along to Broadway soundtracks.
Sarah Poirier
Sarah Poirier is an elementary school teacher, freelance writer, and busy mom who is seeking a simpler lifestyle away from the everyday "rat race". Having recently completed a cross-country move, she now lives on her rural oceanfront paradise with her husband and two beautiful, energetic children. As a writer, she is passionate about finding ways to live a healthier and more holistic lifestyle, and she loves sharing helpful tips and tricks she's learned along the way on this parenting adventure!
Carolyn Siner
Carolyn finds immense joy in being a full-time momma to her three wonderful children. In her free time, she can be found painting or working on creative projects alongside her loving husband.
Our Mission
We started Smart Parent Advice as a trusted resource for mothers and fathers. While there is no shortage of parenting information on the Internet these days, this vast amount of information can be overwhelming. What’s more, if you type a simple question into the search bar, you might find dozens of different answers and it can be hard to know which one is best.
At Smart Parent Advice, we do an extensive amount of research in answering every question. However, we take things a step further by bringing in our own personal experience to provide practical real life advice. While some parenting sources might provide good advice to super parents, we try to also layer in practical advice for real life that takes into account the significant shortage of free time that new mothers and fathers suddenly have in their lives.
Ryan & Cristin Howard