Media & Speaking

Are we as parents failing to support the later wellbeing of our children, by our lack of nurturing knowledge and by placing infants into childcare before their emotional self is formed?

As I found out, the answer to this question is not straight forward. It's complex, nuanced and doesn’t allow us to continue to fit ‘neatly’ into the boxes modern life loves to put around us. It requires us to take a fundamentally new approach to how and why we make the caring arrangements we do for our infants – a topic and a subject matter we had previously thought was of little consequence. Indeed, what I have found is that it has big long-term consequences that we ought not ignore.

 

I’d come across research in my undergraduate degree that I could not ignore as the evidence appeared clear. After discovering that our mental wellbeing can be dramatically influenced by the way we are nurtured in infancy, I undertook a PhD research project asking how we best facilitate a flourishing state in infants.

 

An exploration of this topic took me on a cross-disciplinary journey through psychological and infant neuroscientific data and then using an ethical lens investigated why we have accepted the childcaring options we have.

 

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To this end I am available to speak to each of the topics below:
 

• Nurturing Infants and the fundamentals that have been missing from the dialogue

  • The positives - what we do so much better than we did.

  • However, close to 50% of parents fail to deliver some nurturing fundamentals, resulting in insecure attachment and the negative consequences that emanate from it, such as relationship issues, poor mental health, physical problems, and deviant behaviours.

  • Further, science has significant things to say about mothers, fathers, and early childcare which are not in the public domain, yet its important they are considered when making caring arrangements for our infants.

  • How attachment theory can help us understand our own propensities so we can better understand what nurturing we need to deliver.

  • Loving and flourishing in families together

 

• The elephant in the room – if not childcare what?

  • Yes, we can ignore the science and not upset the apple cart, but like ignoring climate science has major consequences, so does ignoring the evidence about consequences for our infants; what is the ultimate price they pay? What is the price society pays?

  • Why we have accepted childcare – looking to liberalism, capitalism, and feminism for answers.

  • Taking an ethical approach now we know the science, can help us sort out the best path for ourselves and our infants.

  • What could the possible alternatives be? Consulting women, men, and communities.

  • Asking governments and society to look to the long-term wellbeing of persons.

 

• Women, Motherhood, and Paid Work – deeply investigating the many obstacles to motherhood or maternal work.

  • What history of liberalism, women, feminism, and motherhood can tell us about status and respect

  • Talking through the barriers to maternal work and the consequences for women.

  • What we need to both parent well and enjoy undertaking maternal work.

  • Parenting, family, ethics, and community

 

• General Wellbeing – investigating the science of wellbeing through the prism of attachment theory

  • What the evidence tells us about developing a strong foundation in the first two years.

  • Barriers to wellbeing

  • What we can do to become more resilient and to flourish

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Speaking Enquiries

If you'd like to enquire about having me as a speaker, panellist or media commentator for your program or event, please reach out using the contact form below. Please provide the name and date of your event, what you are looking for my services to speak on and any other information e.g. other speakers etc.