When I began my professional career after college, I almost instantly took on management roles. I managed people of all ages and backgrounds, ranging from young adults to those close to retirement. No matter the age, education or level of experience, I quickly realized that there were “gaps” in people’s knowledge and capabilities – and not necessarily areas that are taught in school. (To be clear, I am not exempt from this, and am always working to build my own set of skills for life situations.)

Fast forward 10 years later...
Following the birth of my third child, and the observation of continued (growing) deficiency in these “skills” amongst employees, friends, family and the general public, and I decided that I was going to try to help my own children and anyone else who wanted to prioritize these “life skills”. That’s how Playground Smarts™ was born.

Playground Smarts™ books are meant to teach and provide valuable “street smarts” lessons to our youth to increase individual thought, creativity, independence and growth.

The stories are simple enough to read to a young child, yet embedded with lessons to develop a strong base of “street smarts”. Many parents who read these books to their child say that they learn from them – and that makes sense as my adult employees/friends/family members are the inspiration for every book. I see the need for development in adults, and introduce those principles to children. The target age for these stories is 5-10 years, and ideally the children will grow with these books. The older they get, the more they will understand and take away from the lessons.

I hope you enjoy (and learn from) all of the lessons found in this series, and I will strive to continue to produce fresh content and countless principles to help all children build these skills to help them now and in the future.

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