Prior to moving to London, Annie was the parenting correspondent for ABC-TV's "Good Morning America" and the host of the weekly program "Parenting Perspectives" on ABC- NOW. From November 1998 to 2010 over 400 of her 'American Family' segments aired before 5 million viewers.
Annie's book, The 7 Stages of Motherhood: Loving Your Life Without Losing Your Mind, was published in 2004 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Her second book, The Secret of Play; How to Raise Smart, Healthy, Caring Kids from Birth to Age 12, was published by DK Publishing in 2008.
A well-known magazine journalist and editor, Annie was Editor-in-Chief of Parents magazine from 1988 to 1998 and a Contributing Editor from 1998 to 2002. She wrote a monthly parenting Q&A column for Family Circle from 2002 to 2005. During her tenure at Parents, Annie edited several ancillary publications, including Parents Expecting, Parents Baby, and Target the Family. She also edited The Parents Answer Book, an 800-page reference on children's health and development.
Annie is a cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she majored in psychology. She also holds a Master's degree in psychology/child development from New York University. From 1995 to 2009, she chaired the board of the Greyston Foundation in Yonkers, which provides housing, social services, and childcare for formerly homeless families. She has served on the board of Zero to Three for 15 years, most recently as Board President. Zero to Three is the leading US organization dedicated to promoting the wellbeing of infants and toddlers. From 2010 until 2012, she served on the board of the Tavistock Center for Couple Relationships in London.
She and her husband Steven Murphy have two children, Madeleine and Nicholas.
A sought-after speaker, Annie addresses such topics as: Discipline Strategies that Really Work; Partnership Parenting; Trying to Do It All: How to Minimize the Stress; Getting Your Children to Sleep Through the Night – So You Can, Too!
The 7 Stages of Motherhood: Loving Your Life Without Losing Your Mind
Motherhood is the defining event in a woman's life, a seismic transformation, and a continuous one: The mother your infant knew is not the same ten months, let along ten years, later, and child number three experiences a different mum to the one his older siblings knew.
Each stage of motherhood has its own challenges and opportunities and the experience of raising our children forces us to hone muscles we never knew we had; to question our choices and goals; to reshape our relationships with family, friends, our spouses; and, most important, to rethink who we are and where we’re going.
Drawing on my years as a psychologist, parenting educator, and the parent of two children, as well as hundreds of interviews in the UK and US, I offer advice and practical tips on how to manage each stage of motherhood, from the roller-coaster ride of our children’s early years through the tumult of the teen years.
The Secret of Play
Parents know and experts agree that playtime enables children to develop an understanding of who they are, make exciting discoveries about the world, build their vocabularies and math skills, strengthen relationships, and experience the healing power of a shared laugh.
Unfortunately, we live in a world that too often is over-scheduled and increasingly wired, which can confound our best efforts to make unstructured play a priority.
This book highlights the key developmental milestones that affect the way our children play and describes the kind of play that best enhances their development.