It’s often said a society can be measured by how well it attends to its children – their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialization, and their sense of being loved and valued by their families and communities.
So how is it that children in the U.S. have worse outcomes on most measures of health, education and well-being than other rich nations? Why do we as a nation allow our most vulnerable children to fall so much further behind? How can we reduce what Paul Kershaw calls the squeeze on the generation raising young children – the squeeze for time, money and services – and help provide all our babies a strong start in life? Ultimately, what does this mean for the future of America?
The hour-long opening episode moves back and forth between the science of human development and stories of families and communities doing all they can to provide the rich and caring environments children need to thrive – yet too often hindered by an environment and social policies that seem to impede their every effort. What national priorities will allow all our children to thrive while building a more prosperous and equitable future for our nation?
Visit the website at www.raisingofamerica.org for more information. The Raising of America will reframe the way we look at early child health and development.
This ambitious documentary series and multimedia initiative by the producers of UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?