“Fire & Wire" With Dr. David Walsh

Dr. David Walsh of Saint Paul, MN, psychologist, speaker, author & founder of the National Institute on Media & the Family (now part of the Search Institute) discussing the Mind Positive Parenting programs on specific efforts to help parents raise kids in the digital age.

Mind Positive Parenting sprang from Dr. Dave and Monica Walsh's decades of work with children and parents.  Both started their careers as teachers. 

Realizing that media and technology were becoming powerful forces in the lives of children and families, they started the National Institute on Media and the Family in 1996.  Its mission was to “maximize the benefits and minimize the harms of media’s impact on children’s health and development.” In the mid-nineties, it was hard to imagine the digital landscape that would soon unfold for families, schools, and policy makers in the coming decades. Dr. Dave and the Institute staff spend 14 years leading the national conversation about media’s impact on children and families.  They brought critical information, research, and tools to parents, teachers, caregivers, and policymakers. The Institute’s award winning programs and compelling workshops sparked community conversations, helped foster understanding and connection between youth and adults, and translated research into easy to understand parenting advice.

The mission continues as a family affair. Dave and Monica's daughter, Erin, has worked on these issues since she volunteered in the office during high school. She is now a nationally recognized speaker in her own right and joins her parents as a full partner in the work of Mind Positive Parenting.