I grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio. My mother, a landscape architect working for Antioch College, and a stone mason Carlos Ricciardi, designed and constructed the waterfall, steps and pond that are the spring as we know it now. My father ran his own industrial advertising agency and, with my mother, brother and sister, gave me a love of words, the world and life!
My goal in entering the Activating Empathy competition is to see parenting resources become universally available, accessible, affordable and attractive.
I am founder of Parents Forum and author of Where the Heart Listens, a handbook for parents and their allies in a global society, and serve on the boards of the National Parenting Education Network and the International Federation for Parent Education. I have a master’s degree in teaching French from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
I am the mother of three adult sons - and grandmother to two adorable little girls - and for many years I have hosted international visitors at my home in Cambridge, Mass. I will retire in 2012 from my job at M.I.T. as editorial assistant for a physics journal.
