About
Whyzz’s mission is to make honest & meaningful family conversations an everyday routine for parents and kids.
We help parents answer their kids endless questions and to talk about cultures, global challenges and serious topics. We want to foster family conversations on eye-level about what is going on in the world; about issues that current and future generations will be facing; about family values and family history. We want to help instill a deep respect for our wonderful Earth and the achievements of both the living and those who have come before us. We want to cherish our children’s innate curiosity and desire to learn.
Our children are exposed to more of what is going on around them than any generation before. Real-time information is readily available on the many devices they have at hand. Yet their ability to make sense of it might be missing. They live in a “global village”, one in which the interrelations of things, or cause-and-effect, are increasingly important, as is the ability to comprehend them.
The tools Whyzz is offering are meant to create an opportunity to discuss specific topics as they relate to your child and the world. Use the conversation starters at home, in the car, at the dinner table or while travelling.
Constanze Niedermaier, CEO & Founder
Constanze is a refugee, immigrant, mom, wife, animal lover, award winning author, global citizen and mother of two beautiful, curious kids. She started Whyzz when her first daughter was born, and she realized that she was in need of creative tools to answer her little girl’s questions and raise a curious, global-minded child of the 21st century.
Contributors and Advisors
Jake Goren
Jake is a digital thought leader and K-12 educator. As Technology Integrator at Avenues: The World School, he oversaw the education of 21st century skills for students through his coaching and mentorship of Avenue’s teachers. He is a Columbia University alumnus and former Teach for America Corps member.
Dr. Dawn Taylor
Dr. Dawn Taylor has a Ph.D. in developmental/child clinical psychology from Penn State University. She has over 35 years of experience working with children, youth, and families in residential and community-based settings, including parent education programs, group homes, afterschool centers, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Communities That Care. She edits and contributes to a parenting column that appears weekly in the Centre Daily Times. With two grown-up kids, three grandkids, and a professional career that has always been centered around kids, Dr. Dawn is happy to have the opportunity to contribute to whyzz!
Deborah Gilboa, MD
Dr. G (Deborah Gilboa, MD) is a board certified Family Physician and mother of four. Founder of AskDoctorG.com, a resource for parents and educators with child behavior questions, Dr. G leads seminars all around the country to empower parents to raise children they can respect and admire. You can find her with questions on her site, interact with her on Twitter, Facebook or Google Plus. Bring Dr. G to your business, community or faith-based organization for a powerful event that will help parents Get the Behavior You Want... Without Being a Parent You Hate!
Sallie Sanborn
Sallie Sanborn, MS, has been in private practice for the last eighteen years, specializing in issues of illness, injury, and loss. She was a Child Life Specialist (the psychosocial care of children in medical settings) at Bellevue Hospital for nine years, coordinating the Child Life program for the medical inpatient 6-12 year olds and training medical staff on the developmental responses of children to hospitalization and treatment procedures. She was an adjunct professor at Bank Street College of Education for 12 years where she taught the graduate courses in Child Life and assisted in the development of the Child Life Master’s Degree Program. She has co-written a chapter on the trauma of hospitalization for the book, Play Therapy for Children and Crisis, edited by Nancy Boyd-Webb, and most recently was featured in and wrote the afterword and resource guide for, The Goldfish Went on Vacation: A Memoir of Loss and Learning to Tell the Truth About It, by Patty Dann.
Mya Kagan
Mya has studied at NYU and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and holds a BFA. Mya has worked as a writer in a variety of mediums, including playwriting, animation, sketch comedy, webisodes, short stories, writing for kids and teens, blogging, and educational content. As a tutor and teaching artist, she has taught kids everything from creative writing to drama to culinary arts to algebra.