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The first 1,000 days of life shape every day that follows.
We need to know more about them.
A beat by Irene Caselli
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Populism meets parenting
Childhood is political. The decisions about who has a child, when, and how go far beyond personal choices. Authoritarian and populist politicians the world over are despairing over falling birth rates. They are trying (and often succeeding) to set strict rules about conception and birth
Forever in the archive
Teacher Tom: Putting children at the heart of society
“Daddy, let’s go somewhere!“ It was 2-year-old Josephine that unconsciously pushed her father Tom Hobson to shift gears. After studying journalism, Hobson was working as a content writer while trying to publish his fiction. But when his wife Jennifer got pregnant, it became clear that
Popping a few bubbles – or some deep reflections prompted by screen time
Lorenzo has woken up with a fever. I felt it straight away when he got out of bed and hugged my legs to say good morning. His shoulders felt too hot – even for a warm summer morning. The thermometer proved me right. The paediatrician
Why do we judge parents?
It’s a sunny Sunday in winter. Greece is in lockdown, parks are closed, but the beach is open to all. I arrive at Kavouri, south of Athens, with Lorenzo; we carry a bag of buckets, spades, scoops and other beach toys. We sit down, and
Sweet summer memories, or the love between children and grandparents
In Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book, Grandmother and her grand-daughter Sophia co-exist on a tiny island in the Finnish Gulf as Father works away. Mother is dead, but none of that is spoken about explicitly, except for one mention and whatever the reader wants to
Eat, play, love: our first six months together at The First 1,000 Days
“Eat, play, love”: I first saw these words on a slide at a journalist workshop on early childhood development organised by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University. It was Charles A. Nelson III, a neuroscientist at Harvard, who mentioned it, explaining
Fathers are not “helpers”
If a man thinks he is “helping out”, this means he thinks he has no responsibility and that the responsibility falls on the woman. Let’s change that!
Pregnant – and harassed – in Japan
This post is public, so feel free to share it. Also, it is packed with information, so my recommendations will be back next week! It was the picture that caught my attention first. There was a guy sitting on a bed, wearing a vest that
What’s wrong with the idea of the “terrible twos”
I heard of the “terrible twos” way before I decided to have a child. The idea goes something like this: cute chubby, mostly benign babies turn into screaming, irrational, defiant dictators. The developmental shift that creates such an explosive potential is the child’s gradual understanding
What negative feelings about breastfeeding tell us about the struggles of motherhood
Even before becoming a mother, Zainab Yate was sure she would breastfeed her children until they turned two. It was part of her cultural and religious upbringing: born in Iran to a Persian mother and a London-based English convert to Islam, Yate grew up in
Taking the first steps (Or: why I dislike milestones)
I rarely mention milestones in my newsletters, which may be puzzling to some of you who have children or work with them. Milestones are checkpoints in a child’s development: taking the first step, using the toilet for the first time, saying the first word. They
Forever in the archive:
Wakeful and wanting – reflections on motherhood, fragility and privilege
A few nights ago I stayed awake, even though I was tired. I’d spent the whole day away from screens, and I’d run around in the garden as Lorenzo looked for colourful eggs I would hide in the grass, hold for him when he found
Tapping the same tune (Or: the principles behind my work and how you can help me)
**This week’s edition contains a lot of information that I deem necessary, so I’ve decided to skip recommendations. Recommendations will be back next week, but in the meantime, please take a few minutes to fill in the survey I created! If you’ve ever been around
How do we really listen to kids about their needs?
Some like to call children our future. It’s technically true: they will most likely outlive us adults. They have more time on earth and fresher, more innovative ideas. But children are also our present. If we stick to the United Nations definition of children as
On whether being born first or second affects you later in life
Our neighbours had a baby one stormy night in January. He was born at home, next door to us, some 500 metres from the Aegean Sea, just like his older sister four years earlier. We first met our neighbours when we moved to the area
Let’s remember our happy moments of play as children to regain our playful spirit as adults
Photo Credit: Drops of Joy / Maria Farinha Films Let me start off this week by welcoming those who are new to this community! Hallo to Jessica, Almaz, Alessio, Cara, Dina, Rania and Yoshie. I know some of you in person, but if you want
The first 1,000 days are my life’s mission. I want everyone to care as much as I do
Inequality starts early in life. If we take on the first-1,000-day prism to look at society around us, we can push to create change.
Who has the right to have a child?
When I was in my early 20s, an older friend of mine got pregnant with her ex-boyfriend who had no intention of being involved in raising a kid. When my friend decided to keep the pregnancy, I was terrified and puzzled. How would she go
The unconscious burden of our first names
Our family legend goes as such: the very day I was born, my parents almost split up because they argued about my name. You see, it was back in the times when parents found out a child’s sex at birth, and my mum had been
On umbilical cords and feeling at home
Before delving into this week’s topic, some good news: I got a Facebook scholarship to participate in the Journalism Creators Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY! This means that I’ll spend the next 100 days studying how to make this platform
I’m creating this space to mourn a loss
*Warning: This newsletter talks about miscarriage. If you find the topic triggering, maybe skip reading this edition, and check out this website for extra resources. I felt so tired when 2021 started. Sure, I thought to myself: I had been made redundant by The Correspondent, the
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