Talaris Institute launches new online service for parents of young children

New parenting website supported by nonprofit

Talaris Institute, a nonprofit organization in Seattle, Washington, is proud to announce the launch of the new online service for parents of children birth to five – www.ParentingCounts.org. After nearly a decade of analyzing research and millions of dollars spent developing factual and practical content for parents, Talaris Institute introduced the Parenting Counts Center in November 2009 as a source of research-based information about child development with an exclusive birth-to-five developmental timeline. The purpose of the developmental timeline is to help parents see upcoming milestones and find comfort in knowing that all children develop in their own ways.

After a tremendous reception from parents, Talaris has enhanced the Parenting Counts Center and is offering it as a free service. Furthermore, Talaris is thrilled to introduce the Center without any commercial advertisements or sponsors in order to maintain its objectivity.  

"The Parenting Counts Center offers the only online developmental timeline of its kind," says Katie Simons, Executive Director of Talaris Institute. "When we first unveiled it in November, we were overwhelmed by the level of excitement among parents. It became apparent that an easily accessible and comprehensive timeline was a resource parents wanted but did not have." Talaris Institute has spent the past several months improving the technology, enhancing its features and redesigning the website with busy parents in mind.  

Features of the Parenting Counts Center include:

• Developmental Timeline – The Talaris research-based timeline contains milestones about the ways a child thinks, feels, learns and grows from birth to five.
• Short video segments – These video segments include research commentary and parents talking about how they make their parenting count in everyday situations.
• Research summaries – For the parent who wants to know more, research summaries provide information about specific research studies and how the research relates to everyday life.
• Webcasts – Experts in the field of early learning provide engaging and interactive talks on some of the most significant research findings in such areas as brain development and temperament. These presentations make learning fun and interesting, and they are free and easy to access. www.ParentingCounts.org/webcast
• Online journal – Parents can create a secure online memory book that allows them to upload photos and create journal entries that record their child's growth and development. Parents can also record their child's measurements and medical information in the journal, making the records secure and easy to find.
• Private online community – Parents can also share their child's photos and experiences with family and friends by inviting them to join their private, secure community.

"The Parenting Counts Center has been absolutely invaluable to me," says Courtney Youngberg, first-time mother to six-month-old Landon. "It is understandable, easily accessible, intuitive and, most importantly, research-based and trustworthy. I have recommended it as a resource to dozens of friends with young children and it is particularly useful to working parents, like myself, with limited time to devote to reading parenting material."

SOURCE Talaris Institute