Erika Christakis is an American educator and writer, specializing in early childhood education. She is author of "The Importance of Being Little".

Since the 1990s, Christakis has worked as a preschool teacher, college administrator and instructor, educational consultant, and writer and journalist.

From 2009-2013, Christakis was appointed Co-Master of Pforzheimer House at Harvard College. In 2013, Christakis moved to Yale University, where she was appointed Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at the Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy at the Yale Child Study Center.

Christakis has written on the developmental needs of children, young adults, and families, and on popular culture and other topics, for many venues, including The Atlantic, CNN.com, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post and more. She wrote a TIME.com Ideas column for two years. She has written in the defense of the rights of minors and criticized the increasing bureaucratization of American schooling.

Her book, "The Importance of Being Little: What Preschoolers Really Need From Grownups" was published in February 2016, and it debuted on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Bestseller List of February 28, 2016 at number 19.

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