Why I love this video so much

Alright, truth time. I adore Jack Shonkoff.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Dr. Jack Shonkoff is a professor at Harvard University and the Director of the Harvard Center for the Developing Child. He’s one of the leaders in the field of translating child development research for public audiences, and co-author of the well known book: From Neurons to Neighborhoods, among his many other accomplishments.

In short, he’s fantastic, as is the Harvard Center for the Developing Child. Seriously, check out all of their great and very useful materials here: http://developingchild.harvard.edu/

This video, Building Adult Capabilities to Improve Child Outcomes, is, I think, one of most creative ways of communicating a message about early childhood to public audiences that I’ve seen in a while. I’ve already watched about 10 times, and every time I get to the end and think “Yes! THIS!” Check it out:

The above video is property of the Harvard University Center for the Developing Child. I do not own, nor did I contribute to this video. I've just embedded it here to avoid you having to click a pesky link and open yet another youtube window. 

I think it’s so fantastic for a number of reasons:

1. Design: The cartoon sketches are easy for audiences to engage with, and following the evolution of them is such a great analogy for the evolution of our scientific knowledge. The message, like our scientific knowledge, is revealed little by little, sketch by sketch.
2. Not your typical talking head: Instead of being the typical talking head video where it is easy to quickly lose interest, especially when there is too much complex jargon, the language is clear, concise, and compelling.
3. Content: It turns the often belabored conversation of early childhood on it’s ear. It refocuses the effort not just on ‘improving the lives of children’ but also improving the lives of the adults AROUND children. Anyone who’s ever worked with kids and families can tell you how crucial it is to have parents and caregivers on board. This video is a great explanation of WHY that’s so critical. Through focusing not just on kids and their caregivers, but also on the systems and structures AROUND those families, it takes the pressure and blame off of parents shoulders and redistributes it across the shoulders of all members of society.

Though you could (and people certainly do) argue about things like degree of societal responsibility, the methods for supporting kids and families, and of course the financial implications of this process, the basic argument is compelling. Healthier kids and families means a healthier society.

Bam. Done.

If only it were that easy.

Luckily, there are already a variety of compelling perspectives on how to tackle these problems at multiple levels. There are answers to the “what can we do?” question. For example, there are parenting classes that help prepare new dads and moms for the responsibilities of parenting. There are employment centers that work to help train parents in job skills so they can find jobs and support their families. There are policymakers who push for better, more coordinated systems across local, state, and federal levels to ensure the best and most cost-effective supports for children and families. The list goes on.

The point here is, that though the somewhat idyllic society that this video advocates for may seem distant and unattainable, there’s a lot happening now that is beneficial and worthwhile for children and families. Yes, it’s not perfect. Yes, there are gaps. But let’s focus, for just a second, on all the things we are doing RIGHT, instead of all the things we’re doing WRONG.

Think about it.

No, really. Think about 3 things from your own place in the world that improve the lives of the people around you. Because even if those people you’re thinking about aren’t children or parents, they do have families, and they were all children once.

So what three things did you come up with? (Please share in the comments down below!)

I bet, once you focused your mind to the task, you came up with those three examples more quickly than you thought you would because we all have the ability to recognize beauty, grace, and goodness in the world around us. Sometimes it just requires stopping the Negative Thought Train from leaving the station.

Or maybe that’s just the idealist in me talking.

Regardless, what do we live for, if it’s not to make life better and more bearable if not exclusively for others, at least for ourselves?

And to quote Dr. Shonkoff: “It’s all about being able to plan for the future, to have a future. That’s why this is so important.”

Indeed.

For more really great information and resources, you can follow Harvard Center for the Developing Child on Twitter: @HarvardCenter or find more great videos on their YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/HarvardCenter