A Note from the KidNurse: What You Should Know About Me

Hi Friends!

I’m very excited about all the new readers that have joined our community after my series on essential oils! If you missed it, here is part one and part two. Because of the influx of comments, thoughts, and opinions I’ve received over the past few weeks, I wanted to take a few minutes to describe myself and why I write here at KidNurse.

• For a more complete bio, I’d encourage you to go to the Meet Dani page. Here’s the synopsis though: I am a pediatric nurse practitioner that absolutely loves children. Children are my passion, which is why I dedicated my career to them! I finished years of college education early in life because I knew I was supposed to work with children; so why wait? As I conservatively have at least another 50 years to give to promoting children’s health, don’t expect me to go anywhere soon! KidNurse is here to stay. I love my family. Somehow the best man in the whole world found me and now I get to be his wife. I love every minute of marriage. Also, in case you missed it, I like wearing red.

• I love having the opportunity to educate parents. I think that online education can sometimes be just as beneficial as education given in a pediatric office. The reality of pediatric medicine doesn’t always present the best opportunity for parents to learn. Allow me to be honest. A typical visit with your child to your pediatric office usually requires 30 minutes to an hour of waiting to finally spend approximately 10 minutes with your pediatric provider. Those precious few minutes may often times feel rushed for both parties, not to mention that your sick child may be on the brink of a melt-down or in full-blown explosion mode. Also problematic is the fact that this environment is usually a germaphobe’s worst nightmare. While trying to fix your child’s current disease, you must simultaneously pray, while drenching your child in sanitizer, that they don’t pick up another disease on the way out. Let me reiterate that the content at KidNurse should NEVER replace the relationship you have with your pediatric provider (and you should read my disclaimer for more info). However, I just like to think of KidNurse as a place where I get to talk to you about all the educational things I wish I had time to talk to you about in the office. Kids don’t come with manuals, so it’s nice to have resources and a community to navigate that uncharted territory together. Also, parents can read content at KidNurse in a germ-free environment while your child is napping. That is glorious.

• I started this blog because healthcare in America is changing. My generation of millennials look online for health information first, and then they consult a healthcare provider if they feel like it is necessary. Some of my friends in the healthcare community are resistant to this change. Understandably, it is extremely difficult to dig through medical information in the current online world. Accurate medical information online is undeniably lacking. While I recognize that trustworthy online medical information is hard to find, simply telling people to stop looking online is a bandaid solution at best. Instead of stopping the inevitable, medical professionals should be adding to the online body of knowledge with accurate, evidence-based health information. As I feel that this is especially applicable when it comes to parents searching for education and advice for their children, I want to be among the trendsetters in online health care and information. Hence, KidNurse was born.

• I believe in evidence-based medicine like I believe that the sky is blue and children are precious. Evidence-based medicine is founded on the principal that all medicine and health care practices should have supporting, credible evidence endorsing the safety and efficacy of that practice. Why does this matter? Because children are the best gift that we can ever be given. They deserve to have medical practices that are both safe and effective. My job here at KidNurse is to simply let parents know about the practices that meet those standards. Keeping your children alive is typically a task that demands 24/7 parental attention, so I don’t expect parents to have the hours upon hours upon hours (not to mention the years of education) that I spend researching and studying children’s health.

• Best part about me: I share this information about children’s health and then want you to decide what is best for your family. I wish you nothing but love, joy, peace, and happiness in the process of doing so. I don’t pretend to be God. I don’t pretend to have the answer to every situation. Parenting is the hardest job in the world. I respect parental rights. While you might end up disagreeing with content here at KidNurse at one point or another, you have to do what is best for your family and ultimately you are the only one can make those decisions.

• I have NOT made a dime on this website since I started it last year. In fact, the day to day operation of running a website has cost me money. Many people have asserted that I am funded by someone. If that secret-funder is anyone, it would be my patient husband, who has provided hours of endless tech support and encouragement when I am in the thralls of a technology crisis and minutes away from throwing my computer into a wall. Thank you, Daniel. For the sustainability of KidNurse, as websites with this high amount of traffic are actually expensive to set up and run, I hope to have advertisers and affiliate relationships in the future. I promise to only support products I would use myself and fully disclose any financial relationships.
• Over the past year, I have learned that essentially every aspect of parenting is controversial. Even when it shouldn’t be, even when I don’t want it to be, even when I try my hardest to make the most boring, agreeable statements in the world, someone won’t like it. And that’s okay, because like I said above, I recognize that we are all different and need to make personal choices for our families. But as an author and nurse practitioner, I am entitled to my opinions and I will continue writing about children’s health and parenting topics that are sometimes seen as “controversial”. If you like to leave comments here, please remember that hurtful comments don’t help anyone.

I must confess, I’m rather addicted to blogging now. KidNurse is my baby, and through it I feel like I have friends all over the world now. I follow every like, every comment, and every share. I’m so thankful for each and every kind, encouraging message. I love every genuine question I get from parents. I love hearing about content that really empowered parents to help their children. I love it all. So thank you for making KidNurse what it has become today. Just shy of our first anniversary, I feel so blessed by your love and support! Thank you so much!

Love,

Dani
Dani Stringer, MSN, CPNP, PMHS – founder of KidNurse and MomNurse Academy

P.S. If you haven’t gotten a chance to like the KidNurse Facebook page, please take a minute to do so! Also, if you have friends that can benefit from the info here at KidNurse, I would love it if you would invite them to like our page. Thanks so much!