1 . The challenge . 

 The problem I am looking to tackle is to do with parenting children in this modern age .   I am seeking to   uncover insights into what problems / challenges modern parents are facing and uncover truths about   what today ’s parents believe about childhood , parenting , and what success looks like .   The reason I am   scratching at this area is because I have been contemplating opening a daycare / preschool , but am   unconvinced that this is the best action . I would like to use design thinking to gather deep insight into   some problems modern parents like myself are facing . 

 As an undergraduate student earning my degree in psychology , and from a background of working in   various children ’s programs , I found the research around early childhood , notably the importance of   play in early childhood , particularly compelling .   Ten years later , as I was fully round with the   expectation of my first daughter and feverishly reading parenting books covering topics that ranged   from attachment parenting , sleep and sleep training , music for brain development , singing to the baby   in the womb , stress levels and the developing baby , sexual abuse and predators , the effects of marital   stress on children , language exposure and the brain , vaccinations , childhood disease , illness , SIDS ,   breastfeeding , bottle feeding and on and on ... and feeling utterly inundated with so much information   but having access to very little real life support .   The postpartum depression and isolation that I felt   following the birth of my little girl casts a dark shadow on what should have been a wonderful time in   my life ( sans the utter lack of sleep of the first six months ) .   All of the good ideas , and theoretical   intentions of what my parenting was going to be went out the window as every day , in the early days ,   we were just trying to survive the day and keep the little creature alive !   As the years have rolled on and   I have been a participant ( parent ) an observer ( navigating the world as a person shepherding small   human beings ) and a listener ( interactions with other parents in contact with ) . I have developed my own   opinions of what I think some of the problems and needs are , what I would have wanted for myself . 

 2 . Design Tool : Visualization 

 The visualization tool from week one , Angela Meyer discusses using pictures and words to diagram and   connect ideas .   I started with the topic “ healthy child development ” .   I first wrote out all the things that I   believe create a healthy childhood .   Things like : secure attachment , love , nutrition , sleep , music , play ,   reading stories , connection to nature , stable family life , and connection to a larger community , spiritual   practice , movement and running , building , and climbing .   I then wrote down things that I think are   challenges that parents are facing . Things like : working mothers have limited affordable and flexible   childcare options , stay at home mothers are isolated and need community and play groups , high risk   children have a lack of access to healthy developmental opportunities which perpetuates a negative   cycle of : school to prison pipeline , high school dropout rates and teen pregnancy .   Private preschools   have to charge high tuition to cover expenses or not keep teachers full time and therefore not providing   health insurance and benefits for working Americans , lower job satisfaction , lowers quality of work .   Schools and programs are under pressure to introduce academics despite a mountain of research   finding that play based programs are the most beneficial to healthy development .   I also added a couple   of ideas that came to mind as I was writing out all of these things .   Ideas like : need for a family   community center – what would meet needs in the best way ?   What about the elderly , retired ,   disabled … can they be part of the childcare solution ? 

 From here I realized that my assumptions about what I believed was important for the development of a   healthy child , was just that : MY assumptions based on MY experience and education .   I then tried to drill   down further and develop open ended questions to use when surveying both parents . 

 3 . Application 

 To begin , I decided to use the visualization tool to think more broadly about childhood and differing   childhood experiences .   I arranged pictures and words in groups .   From this activity I began to generate   bigger questions with the hopes that these are the questions used in a   Survey would get me closer to   the data needed to test if my assumptions : 

 The following questions were generated from the visualization tool : 

 1 . Children are   2 . The purpose of childhood is   3 . What things make childhood great ?   4 . What things make childhood less than ideal ?   5 . The 3 most important things I want to teach my children are 

 a.     b.     c. 

 6 . A successful adult has what qualities ?   7 . What is the best way to instill these qualities in young people    8 . One of the things that I am good at as a parent is   9 . One thing my parents were good at is :   10 . In a perfect world , I would want _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ for my child   11 . In a perfect world , I would have access to this type of support _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   12 . In a perfect world I would _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   13 . My fondest childhood memory is   14 . A memory or situation from childhood that impacted you negatively   15 . If I could start over with my children , what would I do differently 

 Rate these items on a scale of 1 - 5 on your view of their importance to healthy development . 1 being not   important and 5 being very important . 

 Socialization   Sports / team play ( organized )   Play ( unstructured ) 

 Daily rhythm   Good nutrition   Structure classes 

 Outdoor play   Climbing/ running   Religion 

 Connected to community   Pretend play with others   Television 

 Stability   Marital / parental happiness   Singing / dancing 

 Nap time   Reading   Exposure to languages 

 4 . Insight 

 The first questions I generated were more narrowly defined , and trying to drive at a point that I thought   was important , like play and sleep .   However , I realized that that approach to the questions may just get   me to answers I am looking for , which could just be confirmation bias . What answers would I get if I   were to give a broad question “ what is a child ” for example and leave space for parents to tell me   anything that comes to mind . 

 5 . Approach 

 I just sent the survey to different parenting groups , play groups , neighborhood groups that I belong to .     Depending on the response from that , I may change are add questions .   I am very excited to being to see   what people respond and what I uncover from there .   I am gathering more research and am hoping to   curate that information and organize an upcoming brainstorming session . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: 1 . The challenge . 

 The problem I am looking to tackle is to do with parenting children in this modern age .   I am seeking to   uncover insights into what problems / challenges modern parents are facing and uncover truths about   what today ’s parents believe about childhood , parenting , and what success looks like .   The reason I am   scratching at this area is because I have been contemplating opening a daycare / preschool , but am   unconvinced that this is the best action . I would like to use design thinking to gather deep insight into   some problems modern parents like myself are facing . 

 As an undergraduate student earning my degree in psychology , and from a background of working in   various children ’s programs , I found the research around early childhood , notably the importance of   play in early childhood , particularly compelling .   Ten years later , as I was fully round with the   expectation of my first daughter and feverishly reading parenting books covering topics that ranged   from attachment parenting , sleep and sleep training , music for brain development , singing to the baby   in the womb , stress levels and the developing baby , sexual abuse and predators , the effects of marital   stress on children , language exposure and the brain , vaccinations , childhood disease , illness , SIDS ,   breastfeeding , bottle feeding and on and on ... and feeling utterly inundated with so much information   but having access to very little real life support .   The postpartum depression and isolation that I felt   following the birth of my little girl casts a dark shadow on what should have been a wonderful time in   my life ( sans the utter lack of sleep of the first six months ) .   All of the good ideas , and theoretical   intentions of what my parenting was going to be went out the window as every day , in the early days ,   we were just trying to survive the day and keep the little creature alive !   As the years have rolled on and   I have been a participant ( parent ) an observer ( navigating the world as a person shepherding small   human beings ) and a listener ( interactions with other parents in contact with ) . I have developed my own   opinions of what I think some of the problems and needs are , what I would have wanted for myself . 

 2 . Design Tool : Visualization 

 The visualization tool from week one , Angela Meyer discusses using pictures and words to diagram and   connect ideas .   I started with the topic “ healthy child development ” .   I first wrote out all the things that I   believe create a healthy childhood .   Things like : secure attachment , love , nutrition , sleep , music , play ,   reading stories , connection to nature , stable family life , and connection to a larger community , spiritual   practice , movement and running , building , and climbing .   I then wrote down things that I think are   challenges that parents are facing . Things like : working mothers have limited affordable and flexible   childcare options , stay at home mothers are isolated and need community and play groups , high risk   children have a lack of access to healthy developmental opportunities which perpetuates a negative   cycle of : school to prison pipeline , high school dropout rates and teen pregnancy .   Private preschools   have to charge high tuition to cover expenses or not keep teachers full time and therefore not providing   health insurance and benefits for working Americans , lower job satisfaction , lowers quality of work .   Schools and programs are under pressure to introduce academics despite a mountain of research   finding that play based programs are the most beneficial to healthy development .   I also added a couple   of ideas that came to mind as I was writing out all of these things .   Ideas like : need for a family   community center – what would meet needs in the best way ?   What about the elderly , retired ,   disabled … can they be part of the childcare solution ? 

 From here I realized that my assumptions about what I believed was important for the development of a   healthy child , was just that : MY assumptions based on MY experience and education .   I then tried to drill   down further and develop open ended questions to use when surveying both parents . 

 3 . Application 

 To begin , I decided to use the visualization tool to think more broadly about childhood and differing   childhood experiences .   I arranged pictures and words in groups .   From this activity I began to generate   bigger questions with the hopes that these are the questions used in a   Survey would get me closer to   the data needed to test if my assumptions : 

 The following questions were generated from the visualization tool : 

 1 . Children are   2 . The purpose of childhood is   3 . What things make childhood great ?   4 . What things make childhood less than ideal ?   5 . The 3 most important things I want to teach my children are 

 a.     b.     c. 

 6 . A successful adult has what qualities ?   7 . What is the best way to instill these qualities in young people    8 . One of the things that I am good at as a parent is   9 . One thing my parents were good at is :   10 . In a perfect world , I would want _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ for my child   11 . In a perfect world , I would have access to this type of support _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   12 . In a perfect world I would _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   13 . My fondest childhood memory is   14 . A memory or situation from childhood that impacted you negatively   15 . If I could start over with my children , what would I do differently 

 Rate these items on a scale of 1 - 5 on your view of their importance to healthy development . 1 being not   important and 5 being very important . 

 Socialization   Sports / team play ( organized )   Play ( unstructured ) 

 Daily rhythm   Good nutrition   Structure classes 

 Outdoor play   Climbing/ running   Religion 

 Connected to community   Pretend play with others   Television 

 Stability   Marital / parental happiness   Singing / dancing 

 Nap time   Reading   Exposure to languages 

 4 . Insight 

 The first questions I generated were more narrowly defined , and trying to drive at a point that I thought   was important , like play and sleep .   However , I realized that that approach to the questions may just get   me to answers I am looking for , which could just be confirmation bias . What answers would I get if I   were to give a broad question “ what is a child ” for example and leave space for parents to tell me   anything that comes to mind . 

 5 . Approach 

 I just sent the survey to different parenting groups , play groups , neighborhood groups that I belong to .     Depending on the response from that , I may change are add questions .   I am very excited to being to see   what people respond and what I uncover from there .   I am gathering more research and am hoping to   curate that information and organize an upcoming brainstorming session .
### Output: 