First Years Pilot Episode

Sydney Rainin, Host

Our host, Sydney Rainin, brings her natural warmth and own parenting experience to First Years. Sydney is a well-known voice actor, having lent her voice to Macy’s, Safeway, Clorox and many Disney characters for Disney Princess reading DVDs. Sydney received her acting training with the renowned American Conservatory Theater, Full Circle Productions and Cliff Osmond. She is the mother of two children, ages 4 and 2 ½.

Dr. Joshua Sparrow, Contributor

Dr. Sparrow, child, adolescent, and general psychiatrist, is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, Director of Special Initiatives at the Brazelton Touchpoints Center, and supervisor for outpatient psychiatry services at Children's Hospital, Boston. A graduate of Yale Medical School, Dr. Sparrow completed his residency training and child psychiatry fellowship at Harvard Medical School and is board certified in child/adolescent and general psychiatry.

Co-author with Dr. T. Berry Brazelton of eight books, including the bestseller Touchpoints Three to Six: Your Child’s Emotional and Behavioral Development, as well as a weekly New York Times Syndicate column, “Families Today,” Dr. Sparrow is also a regular contributor to Family Circle and Parent and Child.

Dr. Sparrow has served as consultant to the Discovery Channel’s “Ready, Set, Learn” children’s television series, Fox Family television show “Brazelton on Parenting”, the I Am Your Child Foundation video on “Discipline,” and has been called upon by a wide range of national and international media, including ABC World News, Boston Globe, CBS Early Show, Child magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, NPR, Parents, Parent and Child, People, Prime Time Live, Time, The Today Show, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, US News and World Report, among others.

Rona Renner, RN, Temperament Specialist

Rona Renner, RN, is an accomplished parent educator, temperament specialist and experienced talk show facilitator. She has appeared on national television segments on CNN and 20/20, and is a frequent keynote presenter at national conferences on Attention Deficit Disorder, Learning Disabilities and on Children's Temperament. Since 2002, “Nurse Rona” has hosted her own parenting radio show, Childhood Matters, which airs Sunday mornings on KISQ, a top 10 station in the San Francisco Bay Area. Rona’s knowledge and compassion has grown from her work at Kaiser Permanente, in the community and from her experience as the mother of four.

MP Dunleavey, Commentator

MP Dunleavey is a personal finance columnist for MSN Money, who now writes a financial reality column about six women and their day-to-day money struggles. Her column won a 2003 Clarion Award for commentary, and she occasionally appears on NPR’s Marketplace broadcast and CNBC, as well as on dozens of radio stations across the country. Dunleavey was a Contributing Editor for SELF, where she wrote about health and psychology and money. Her articles have appeared in nearly every women’s magazine known to…women (Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Ladies’ Home Journal, More, etc.) as well as Publishers Weekly, New York Magazine, Salon.com and many other publications here and abroad. She is a finalist for a group national magazine award this year, for SELF's breast cancer issue.

Jimmy Tingle, Commentator

Jimmy was the American correspondent for The Strategic Humor Initiative, Sir David Frost’s show for PBS and the BBC. He recently completed two seasons with 60 Minutes II on CBS as the humorist / commentator in the Andy Rooney spot. He worked as a contributor and satirist for MSNBC and has appeared on The Tonight Show, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, Larry King Weekend, The Late Show with Conan O'Brien, The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder, The American Comedy Awards, as well as his own HBO comedy special.

Tingle recently appeared as a television talk show host in Chris Rock’s film, Head Of State. Other film credits include Next Stop Wonderland, Boondock Saints, and By The Sea. Jimmy also starred in the Emmy Award-winning documentary, "Damned in the USA" and co-starred in the PBS "Travels" series specials " America with the Top Down," "But Seriously" and "But seriously 94", and Showtime documentaries featuring prominent social satirists from Lenny Bruce to the present.