Episode details Catch them young!: This film provides the introduction to the series - and looks at one Peruvian Mayor’s dream of catching kids early, and making a better world. Is his dream backed by science? It sets the stage for the arguments that will be explored through the other two films in the series - using archive, experts, and episodes from elsewhere in the world.
Cortisol kids: This film shows what life is really like for children in today’s cities. Filmed partly from the kids’ point of view, our film will follow one small family/group of children as they weave a daily path among the muddy, noisy, neon-lit urban maze of Africa’s biggest slum – Kibera, in Nairobi, Kenya. In both Slumdog and City of God, violent, fractious cities produce adults who are evidently good, as well as others who are obviously antisocial and violent. Is this a fact of human nature, or are the cities manufacturing anti-social kids because of elevated cortisol levels? And can better parenting, pre-schools and schools ever undo the damage?
My first day at school: The final film in the series will follow a group of children in Thailand as they prepare for the first day at a local school. What’s the best way forward? So far in our series we’ve found that traditional nurturing may not work for a globalized world. More effective parenting, and perhaps some kind of pre-school education, is vital. This film asks - what’s the way forward now?
Major new series on early childhood launches on BBC World News
31s July 2009: What goes on inside the brains of babies – and how irrevocably are we shaped by the first few years of our lives? Recent developments in behavioural and neuroscience have led to new insights into how children think. But some now claim we’re not acting on these discoveries – and risk wasting the potential of a quarter of a billion young lives worldwide.
So are we ignoring a unique chance to make a better world? Launching on BBC World News tomorrow, August 1st, tve’s powerful new series Early Life explores the arguments through the stories of young children and their families in four different continents.
| BBC World News broadcasts The Mayor’s Dream, the first Early Life programme, at the following times: Saturday August 1st at 9.30 & 17.30; Sunday August 2nd at 01.30 and 14.30 (all times GMT)
BBC World News broadcast times vary around the world. For details of transmissions in your region, check the BBC World News website. http://www.bbcworldnews.com/Pages/default.aspx |
Visit tve’s website http://www.tve.org/lifeonline/index.cfm?aid=1960 for more information and to view video clip
In The Mayor’s Dream, we visit the Andes where Amilcar Huancahuari Tueros is the Mayor of Santa Nazarena, in Ayacucho province, Peru – once the epicentre of the notorious Shining Path Maoist guerrilla movement. Amilcar believes that stimulating children’s brains early on can make for a more prosperous, less violent, society. We visit the labs of Boston USA where Harvard scientists are trying to determine whether science really is on the Mayor’s side. We show how some Kenyan mums have realised that the old parenting ways - like not talking to babies - have to change in today’s world. And we talk to a young architect in Turkey who believes her own life proves the Mayor's dream can be a reality. While some experts warn against parents pressurising their kids too early, it’s now clear the first five years of a child’s life are vital. But are we acting on what we know?
The second programme, Kibera Kids, broadcast globally on BBC World News from August 8th, is filmed in Kibera, the biggest slum in sub Saharan Africa. Even before they go to school here, children must run the gauntlet of Kibera’s crazy and even violent street life. Scientists warn that stress can raise levels of the hormone cortisol, permanently altering the architecture of young brains. But while stress can be a problem, so can too little stimulation – as scientists discover how important interaction is for childhood development. The adults of Kibera are working hard to offer kids a safe and stimulating haven in pre-schools. But for parents and teachers of children like Nasuru, Brian and Patience, pre-school also brings dilemmas. Should it reflect traditional African social values, or the West’s more individualistic outlook? Meantime four-year old Natasha is out on the streets, receiving no stimulation at all, and there are some 200 million kids like her across the world… So can Kibera really be a model for Early Childhood Development?
My First Day at School, the final Early Life programme, is broadcast on BBC World News from August 15th. Three kids face their first day at school – but are their lives already set on different courses? Scientists suggest that how the brain develops in the first years of life may affect kids’ ability to prosper at school. Our film follows three children as they prepare to enter primary school in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Sita is looking forward to it, Best is wary, and Tha Na Korn doesn’t even have a school to go to yet. Their dilemmas reflect those of Thailand as a whole: how should a country with its own traditions of childhood prepare its kids for the new globalized society? Research shows Japanese, American and Chinese models can conflict – so how can a country that’s caught in the middle decide? Are universal ‘Child Rights’ the answer or are they just a well-meaning myth? It’s only in extreme cases that brain chemistry is disrupted irreparably by a poor start in life - but millions of children around the world may still not have the chance to recover. So what’s the best way of making sure all children have a decent chance on their first day at school? And why do the Millennium Development Goals – the internationally accepted development targets for global poverty reduction – include nothing on the vital role of children’s early childhood years?
To read a longer feature article on The Mayor’s Dream by Early Life series editor, visit the BBC World News website. For more information on the individual stories, visit the Life website http://www.tve.org/lifeonline/index.cfm?aid=1960.
The Early Life series is generously supported by the Bernard van Leer Foundation.
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Jenny Richards, deputy director, tve
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Dina Junkermann, tve distribution manager,
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