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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
How I see the first 1,000 days recognised globally
My home city of Naples, in southern Italy, is famous for its wild celebrations on New Year’s Eve. Like many places, at midnight the skies light up with thousands of fireworks — which have caused many injuries and deaths throughout the years. The streets also
The novel anxiety of driving with children in tow
The last time I drove was in the very early stages of my pregnancy. We were house-sitting in a stone house in the French Alps. Nacho, my partner, had gone to Russia to report on the World Cup. I had to get into town for
Humanising childbirth: less silence about the violence
We don’t remember when we were born — let alone the circumstances and the scene that day. They’re not really stories we sit around a fire or kitchen table listening to, especially if the experience itself was negative: if the person giving birth had negative
Dragons in the sky: children’s books tackling tough topics
Above our home in the south of Athens, Greece, Lorenzo often sees dragons. That’s what he thinks aeroplanes are, as we’ve been reading Anita and The Dragons. The book is no fantasy yarn, but is actually about migration: Anita, a little girl from the Dominican Republic,
In Greece, migrant children have the right to go to school
This is Marianna Liakou, a Greek kindergarten teacher I learned about thanks to the work of journalist Nikolia Apostolou, who is a member of this community, and who spoke to us for this week’s edition over email. A disclaimer: Nikolia’s work was possible thanks to
How to change how we talk to children
Before we get into this week’s story, an important announcement! If you leave a comment below a story, you can now receive notifications if someone replies or the conversation continues. A few of you had pointed out how impractical it was not to receive notifications.
‘Zika babies’ — and the stories that should not fall off our radar
It’s been six years since the Brazilian government declared a national public health emergency for Zika — a mosquito-borne virus that attacks the developing brain and that can lead to severe health problems in children born to mothers who contracted the infection. At the time,
Can you draw? I didn’t think I could – but then I was surprised
I can’t draw. This is how I premise any attempt at putting a pencil on paper, or even a piece of chalk on the pavement. I may be able to write or have a good sense of how to combine colours, but I’ve always thought
14 things I wish I knew about sex before I started having it
This week’s post is long, so I’m skipping recommendations. They’ll be back next week! The image is a still of a scene from the series Sex Education. Source: Netflix Dear reader, I had different plans for this week’s newsletter but I got a bad cold
This week I turn 40 – and I mark a loss
*Warning: This newsletter touches on the subject of miscarriage. If you find the topic triggering, maybe skip reading this edition, and check out this book that I highly recommend. This week is also Pregnancy and Baby Loss Awareness Week, and you can find more resources there.
Forever in the archive:
You don’t need to praise my child’s multilingualism
When people congratulate me and my partner Nacho on our son’s linguistic achievements, we usually shake off the compliment and joke that there is little merit in them. Don’t get me wrong: it’s astounding for someone like me who grew up as a monolingual to
I am gathering the sun
This autumn has greeted me with a sunny day in Trento, northern Italy. A beautiful day — but it can’t fool you. A chilly wind catches you in the shade, a clear reminder of winter just around the corner. There is a large crowd of
What my child is teaching me about travelling
We’re on the road. We left Greece a couple of weeks ago for the first time in over a year to travel to Italy overland to see my parents and meet my brother’s daughter, Ines, who was born five months ago. Those 14 months in
In praise of the 6am wake-up call
I am writing this at 6am. For most of my life, this was an ungodly hour, a time I would spend awake only if I carried on through the night or if I had picked one of those cheap flights with a low-cost airline. I
A healthy start for an Afghan migrant baby
As an Afghan born and raised in a loving, large family in Iran, Fatimah always expected to become a mother one day. So when she found out she was pregnant, she was overjoyed. At the same time, she also felt the need to change her
These are my favourite stories from this year
The news have been scary and sad around us. For a week, the air here in the outskirts of Athens was awful, with terrible wildfires only 40 km away from where I live. The climate report left me anxious as we experienced an awful heat
Slowing down – and a preview of the stories I’m working on
The other night I dreamt that I was in a dark garage and I was trying to slowly get a car out of a complicated parking spot. I don’t like driving, but I’ll tell you about that some other time. Back in my dream, I
Why we should stop using the word “tantrum”
Before I dig into this week’s material, I wanted to apologise because last week I shared my Google Doc without the right settings. If you feel like adding your thoughts to my investigation about early education, as I explained last week, please check out the document here. A
How I write – with you. And let’s collaborate on early education stories
Tomorrow, Thursday 5 August, I’ll be speaking at the Membership Puzzle Project summit. So what is this, and why is it important? For four years now, the Membership Puzzle Project (MPP) has been studying how journalists can do better for their readers by more comprehensively understanding
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
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