Mieke loves working with kids and is passionate about helping parents and teachers create healthy and educational media environments for their children. After teaching children of ages ranging from preschool to high school, she earned a doctorate degree in Developmental Psychology from the University of Virginia. While there, she co-led a seminal study that examined how much babies actually learn from "educational" baby media (answer: not much!) and explored ways to begin teaching preschoolers important media literacy skills. After graduation, Mieke helped develop Common Sense Media’s digital literacy and citizenship curriculum. As an Education Technology consultant for SRI International, she field- tested and revised an innovative media-rich preschool science curriculum and co-wrote multi-million dollar grant proposals for the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences. She currently works as a parent coach and educator. When not thinking about kids and media, Mieke loves to cook. She also feels very privileged to have the opportunity to test out all the theories and advice about child development and media practices on her own unsuspecting kids.