Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Valencia Botto.
Sara, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I knew I wanted to pursue a career in psychology my first year at the University of Georgia. I loved all of my psychology classes and realized the power in understanding the various factors that influence human behavior. Coupled with a desire to have a career that would help children, pursuing a career in developmental psychology seemed like the perfect fit.
After graduating from UGA, I was accepted into Emory’s Cognition and Development Doctoral program, where I received my Masters and am currently finishing up my Ph.D. My research focuses on when and how we come to care about what others think of us, and how this unfolds early in development. My research recently got international media attention, because we found that by the age of two, children begin to strategically modify their behavior in the presence of others. In other words, before children can form complete sentences, they consider how others might potentially respond to their behavior, and use others’ expressed values to guide their behavior. This finding was surprising, considering that most research suggested this ability was not evident until the preschool years! I plan to continue exploring the emergence and development of our concern for other’s evaluations, and the factors that might influence this development at the Emory Infant and Child Lab.
My experience doing research was what fueled my passion to disseminate child development research to the public. Caregivers and teachers do not have access to the wealth of information available in empirical journals; even when they do have access, the language and jargon used in these papers make it difficult to understand! The media certainly shares some research, but it sometimes gets lost in translation or misconstrued. Because of this, my sister Catalina and I decided to create Adulting with Kids, a blog where we translate child development research in a way that is easy to read and implement. Our hopes is that moms can use research-based information to make informed decisions.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There are two aspects of my career: doing actual research and writing for the blog. Both have their particular challenges.
With research, you could spend a lot of time and effort designing and conducting a study, and you might not find what you were expecting to find. For example, I had to conduct four studies over the course of three years to really nail the phenomenon we were interested in. Science is a long, calculated process, which requires patience and discernment. However, when you really find something solid, it makes everything worth it!
Writing for the blog is rewarding because you immediately get the satisfaction of a finished product. However, making time to write timely articles, and writing them in ways that are easily digestible for parents can be challenging. Since I am used to writing empirical articles for scientific journals, it is hard to leave out the jargon and only include information that is truly important for parents.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Adulting with Kids – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Adulting with Kids is a blog that translates child development research in a way that is engaging and easy to implement! We know that there is a wealth of information out there, making it difficult to discern truth or what really is important. Our hope is to empower moms by providing research-based information about all things motherhood!
What sets Adulting with Kids apart, is that the information that is written about comes straight from empirical articles themselves. There are a lot of great blogs out there where moms share their experience and their own opinion on what works; however, what works for one child may not work for everyone. Research is unique because it takes into consideration several factors for what might be influencing a behavior or a certain outcome, and is meant to be generalized to a population, as opposed to a single individual. Our goal is not to give parenting advice (because we think that parents know best), but to provide parents with research-based information so that they can make the best decision possible when it comes to their children.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Right now, I am focusing on finishing up my Ph.D. at Emory and finishing up my research project. I look forward to continuing serving children and moms the best way I can by disseminating child development research. One way that I get to this in the Spring is to share my research at Tedx Atlanta on March 15th. I am so excited!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.adultingwithkids.com
- Phone: 4047314268
- Instagram: @adultingwithkids_
- Other: http://www.psychology.emory.edu/cognition/rochat/lab/
Image Credit:
For the image of me with a baby playing with a robot – Kay Hinton at Emory University
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
