The First 1,000 Days is a project run by Irene Caselli and powered by Slow News.
Irene Caselli is a journalist. Slow News is the first Italian “slow journalism” project.
You can contact Irene at irene[at]slow-news.com.
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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
When writer met Correspondent member: Irene and Stephen
From Greece and the US, a writer and a doctor came together for a 15-minute chat about how they have worked together to ‘memberfully report’ on a beat which they both care deeply about: our first 1,000 days. “Anything we can do in that first
My last day as your First 1,000 Days correspondent – and where to follow me next
“Can you imagine what it’s like to experience a city when you’re only 90 centimetres from the ground?” I knew that I was doing something right when I saw how my new colleagues reacted to the question I asked during one of our first newsroom
Why the world shouldn’t be split into child-having and childfree people
This week, Jonathan, a member, sent me an email with a provoking subject matter: “The first 1000 days of childlessness”. He told me about having felt like an “outsider” when he and his partner decided not to have kids. “In younger years, we had to
The boy that showed the world that childhood dreams can come true (and the insides of a VHS tape)
I’m writing these notes at 6am, after having slept in short intervals throughout the night. My son Lorenzo is teething and he only accepts me comforting him at night. Lucky me! Somehow I feel awake, and lucid. I debate whether I should sleep some more,
Do you also love someone who’s had an abortion?
Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández wore a green tie last week to announce he was sending a bill to legalise abortion to Congress. This is the ninth time a bill makes its way into Congress in Argentina – but this time there are high hopes that
Listen, love and educate: here’s how to talk about our toughest issues (like abortion)
Activists and legal experts from around the world shared their work on reproductive rights, and how we can best understand one another on divisive issues.
Dear parents, stop organising your kids’ playtime
2020 has been a trying year for parents, with many struggling to arrange a schedule for schooling and playtime. The good news: play doesn’t need to be planned – and it shouldn’t be. On World Children’s Day, it’s the perfect time to remember and value the importance of play.
What I learned about handling 2020 from the tortoise who chose a different path
I was starting to like 2020. After a slow start, a major change of plans because of coronavirus, a long and difficult lockdown, I felt that my family and I had taken all the possible steps to be better prepared for what was to come
The importance of care and empathy
I’m writing this newsletter after being awake most of the night. My son was in pain. He cried and cried. He would only settle in my arms while I walked around. He refused his father’s arms and kept calling for me. I think that even
Breast is best for me, not for you: how you changed my thinking around breastfeeding
I’ve been breastfeeding every day for the past 20 months, since my son Lorenzo was born, for many hours a day. So you’d assume that I’d already done all the necessary thinking around this very foundational experience: after all, human milk is the first food we
Forever in the archive:
The creative process vs productivity
Hey folks, I can write! For those of you who are new to this space, thanks for being here. The idea is that on a weekly basis I tell you what is happening behind the scenes of my journalistic work, I talk about what I
This is a hard newsletter to write
*Warning: This newsletter is about stillbirths, miscarriages and abortion. If you’ve experienced them and find this issue triggering, maybe skip it, and check out this website for some extra resources. It’s hard to imagine death when you think of the beginning of life. It seems cruel,
Clean shits on my bed (and other communication struggles)
“mamma mamma mamma mamá” On repeat and growingly dramatic. This is what my son Lorenzo does to get my attention these days, or how he looks for me when he suspects I’m hiding away in the house and working. It’s not dissimilar from this Family
If the sex you’re born with affects how you’re treated, I don’t stand by it
I’ve just come back from a trip to Gethen – a cold place, with beautiful glaciers and a society of people that are devoid of sex and gender for most of the time. They are simply *people*, undefined by what they have in between their legs
Celebrate our one-year anniversary by asking us anything!
We’re turning one year old tomorrow on 30 September! My journey as your First 1,000 Days correspondent started out way before The Correspondent was even a reality. For years, I dreamed about writing about how unequal our life is from the very start, and even
Everybody was a child once. Remember that when they turn into your political foes (or worse)
The boy was two years old when his mother disappeared from his life. Struggling to recover from the birth of a younger son, she constantly went in and out of hospital. Without her, the boy relied on his eldest sister, 12 at the time, who
So, what if you find play boring?
It’s time to lay it all out, folks. I will confess: sometimes, when my son Lorenzo picks up his copy of The Gruffalo to hear me read it out loud while he plays with the animals that appear in it (he owns a stuffed toy
My one-year review of myself
Let me tell you a secret about a rather useless skill I have: I have an incredible memory for people’s birthdays! You tell me the date, and somehow it just sticks to my internal hard drive. This includes people I haven’t seen since middle school.
Greek cicadas and children: a lesson on listening
Tzitzitzitzitzitzi Tzi Tzi Tzi Tzi Tzi Tzi The continuous sound of cicadas invades my ears. It goes on and on. All day long. And even at night, when the full moon tricks the cicadas into thinking it’s daylight. In Greek a cicada is called tzitzikas
Lost in motherhood
I’m just back from my two-week staycation, during which I ate well, tried to exercise regularly, and dreamt a lot. One night I dreamt that I was at a work meeting. We were in an outside space where everyone was chit-chatting. All of a sudden,
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