In my opening statement for The Correspondent, I wrote: “Paradoxically, we have virtually no memory of what neuroscientists say is the most formative period of our lives: the first 1,000 days.”
Luckily, I have plenty of memories of my first 487 days as your First 1,000 Days correspondent – and it doesn't end here.
💫 I’m starting up my own newsletter, The First 1,000 Days, and I’d really love to see you there.
You can become a member here so I can continue to write about how we grow into adults, reflect on the challenges and joys of parenting, and explore the importance of listening to children (and their carers) to make our world more accessible, fair and liveable for everyone.
Already in our short time together I’ve explored the role of trauma, play, sex and politics in the first days of our lives. Together we’ve spoken with world renowned experts: lactation specialists, ventriloquists, play practitioners, psychologists, paediatricians.
We met great thinkers such as developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik, and we even invited children to discuss their politics on the platform – because why should one third of the world be left out of our most important decisions? You taught me to think differently about breastfeeding, our desire not to have children, and have suggested so many good story ideas and different angles that it would take me some 10,000 days to get to them all.
The irony is not lost on me that as your First 1,000 Days correspondent, my job here is coming to an end not even halfway through.
Thankfully, my writing on the topic doesn’t have to end. And you can help.
📫 Please do consider becoming a paying member of this new adventure so that I can make the work sustainable.
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Until then, here are three of my favourite stories that I wrote during this time:
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WHEN WRITER MET CORRESPONDENT
STEPHEN & IRENE
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First 1,000 Days correspondent Irene Caselli on a Zoom call with Stephen Boos, a member and paediatrician.
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Stephen contacted me below my very first story on 30 September 2019. He said he was a paediatrician in the US specialised in trauma. When I started writing about childhood trauma, I contacted him to see whether he could help me with my work.
He did. He edited my story before it was published, giving me valuable feedback. We stayed in touch throughout the year, until conversation editor Nabeelah Shabbir had the idea to organise a Zoom meeting where we could actually meet.
In the chat, I asked him what he would cover as a correspondent. He said he would write about how attitudes towards spanking are changing, and how the practice has been outlawed in some countries. It is a great idea that I hope to follow up on. In the meantime, you can watch the full conversation here.
Watch our conversation in full, here!
Video: 15 minutes
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