The Process

The process of finding these resources began far before I even started my graduate program. My personal interest in the many topics around motherhood and parenting fueled my desire to gain higher education and to find both supportive and educational resources for parents on Instagram. This idea for this resource library was actually inspired by a friend who asked me for resources on infant/toddler nutrition for a parent newsletter. After looking through what I had to share with him, I was reminded of my dream to put together useful resources for parents. After voicing my idea to professors and friends, things quickly lined up in order for me to have the time and support to complete this project before graduation.

Putting together a website has required significantly more work and patience than I anticipated, but I am happy with how it has turned out. I used a free resource called Wix to create my website, which worked fairly well but was not without its frustrations. Overall, it has been an eye opening and educational experience to curate my own website for this resource library.

Part of my process was evaluating each resource with my spreadsheet of all the specific items I was looking for. This evaluation check-list is included in the “what went into this” section of my website to show the individualized process I went through in evaluating each resource. The specific items I was looking for in the process included; page and context expert name, credentials, organizational affiliations, number of Instagram followers, their stated purpose, the groups served, developmental appropriateness, recency of material, website link, website quality, Instagram page link, and Instagram page quality. All of the included resources ranked medium to high in quality of information and delivery. Many of the resources included have courses available for purchase if parents choose to do that. I have included them because of the amount of useful information they have solely on their Instagram pages. I, myself, have not participated in any of their trainings or courses.