Jo Jackson King was born in 1968 into a family in which child development, parenting and education have been a passion for generations. Jo grew up reading books collected over those generations: Froebel, Montessori, John Holt, A. S. Neill’s Summerhill. She then sat in libraries and read still more – along the way collecting a degree in literature and one in occupational therapy.
Jo next began working with families as an occupational therapist alongside her mother, Barbara, another occupational therapist. She discovered then that the most effective therapist for a child is an empowered and knowledgeable parent.
But none of her work and research prepared her for how parenting feels from the inside. With the arrival of her first baby she finally got it: how desperately parents want to help their children and how complicated parenting is made by a parent’s own emotions – and by conflicting information.
Jo lives on a pastoral property in Western Australia with her extended family – the subject of her bestselling first book, The Station at Austin Downs. She teaches her children on School of the Air, works as an occupational therapist, runs workshops for parents and professionals on child development and contributes as a speaker at professional conferences. Jo can also be heard on ABC radio.