Our Story

Hi, I’m Jill, a mom to three boys. I’m just like you, trying to juggle everything from home, work, and my kids’ activities. I started Parent Lab because with my first son, I had focused so much on raising a physically healthy child, that I hadn’t considered everything else that goes into raising a whole child. My lack of knowledge coupled with some big changes contributed to my son showing social and emotional issues that I was unprepared for.

After a lot of research, counseling, and many parenting books, I found tools to help both of my kids. These tools worked, and our family’s overall health and happiness improved. But it took a lot of time, money, and patience as we experimented with different methods.

I also spent a lot of time learning how to be reflective and introspective – hard for me as a mom who was always on the go. I realized that, as adults, we justify a lot of our actions with, “that’s just how I was raised”. We don’t realize how deeply our parents’ influence during our childhood contributes to our current overall happiness. I hadn’t realized how subconsciously the way I was raised impacted how I was raising my children.

During this time, I met Bo Shao, an entrepreneur who was wealthy and successful, but deeply unhappy. After a lot of research and practice in mindfulness and meditation, he also came to the realization that much of his unhappiness was rooted in his own childhood, and that was negatively impacting his relationship with his own kids.

So we came from different places, but we arrived at the same conclusion: If every parent, regardless of their background, could be equipped with the knowledge they need to raise happier children, then those children would turn into happier adults, and they could continue this positive cycle with their own children.

The question was, how? What could we do to positively impact parents like us? Because of our own parenting journeys, we knew we wanted to create something that was:

Simple. So that even the busiest parents could find time to learn and apply new ideas and concepts to their daily lives

Preventative. We help parents to build a strong parenting foundation so they feel prepared to understand and manage common issues, minimizing overall stress.

Adaptable. We provide the tools, but parents themselves are responsible for finding the approach that works for their own, unique families.

Trusted. There’s a lot of false information about parenting out there. That’s why it is so important that everything we create is evidence-based. We also partner with top neuroscience and child development experts to fortify our content with their insights.

Parenting is not an exact science. There’s no “one size fits all.” But we can use science and research to help understand both ourselves and our children better. And as we learn, we grow, for our children and with our children, with the hope that, in the end, we have raised happy, healthy kids.

I’m so glad you’re here. My company is created for parents, by a team made up mostly of parents. I am happy to admit that I am our first guinea pig, and so far, the journey in building this company has changed my life. I hope we can do the same for you.

Kind regards,
Jill CEO & Co-Founder