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I'M JON
HEY THERE.
Author | Speaker | Pastor | Dad
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Not just who they’ll become someday, but who they are right now.​
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I care deeply about kids.
I believe they hold real value in our world today, not as “future adults,” but as full humans with thoughts, feelings, and needs that matter.
Let give you some more context...
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Why I started Whole Parent
For years, I dug into neuroscience, child development, and counseling during my graduate studies because I wanted to understand one thing:
Why do our kids act the way they do, and what actually helps?
What I discovered through research, thousands of conversations with parents, and lots of experimenting with my own kids changed everything:
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Kids don’t need bribes or punishments.
They need skills.
They need regulation.
They need tools that fit the way their brains actually work.
And the truth is, we can’t give kids what we don’t have. To teach regulation, we have to learn to stay regulated too.
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Whole Parent was born from that belief.
Where This Work Became Personal
​This is a photo of me and my dad. He received his cancer diagnosis when my wife was pregnant with our first child, and passed away before that baby’s first birthday.
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It’s a strange thing to step into parenthood while saying goodbye to the person who taught you what it meant to be a dad.
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A lot of the heartbeat behind Whole Parent comes from that season. The desire to show up fully for my kids, to build a home where emotions aren’t feared or brushed aside, and to remember that the way we respond to our children becomes part of the story they carry long after we're gone.​
Then: 16 & 17
Now: 32 & 33
my family.
Above is an old photo of my wife and me in high school next to one of us today. I offered her a ride home from marching band practice on a random Tuesday (yes… we were both in marching band lol), and we didn’t know it then, but that drive would turn into a whole life together.
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We didn’t just fall in love; we grew up side by side. Every chapter of our lives has unfolded with the other one standing just a few feet away.
My wife is the quiet, steady pulse of our family. She’s the one who notices the small things. The way one child withdraws when he’s overwhelmed, how another’s anger is really just fear, how our daughter’s defiance is actually her way of figuring out her place in the world. She is the one who taught me that love isn’t loud; it’s consistent.
It shows up and it keeps showing up.
When I talk about connection, emotional regulation, or parenting with presence, I’m not speaking as someone who has mastered any of it. I’m speaking as someone who is practicing it every single day with the people who matter most to me.
The ideas behind Whole Parent weren’t built in an office or a classroom, they were built in our living room, in our kitchen, in late-night conversations after the kids finally fell asleep.
My family is the place where I’ve learned everything I teach.
They’re also the reason I believe so deeply in this work, because if these tools can make life gentler, calmer, and more connected for us, I believe they can do the same for you.