WASHINGTON EXAMINER: “Rebuilding America’s social capital starts with the early years”
The Washington Examiner, June 26, 2023
Social capital, that rich network of relationships that builds trust and predicts beneficial life outcomes, is long on the wane in the United States.
An often overlooked area of relational development that could help to reverse this decline is the "early years," those first years of life where patterns for all future relationships are established. The human brain is too large to develop in utero, growing from 25% of its adult size at birth to 80% by age 3. Often taken for granted, this brain development — with synaptic connections made at the rate of one million per second in the first three years of life — takes place in the context of a relationship. In particular, a connection with the mother: her voice, eye-to-eye contact, and touch invested in predictable, abundant, attuned care. Fathers play a significant but secondary role in this process.
“The Early Years - Youth Investment”
Chris Bullivant
June 2023
Building social capital starts with 0-3s, and that first attachment with mom.
Chris Bullivant is the director of the Social Capital Campaign. Previously he helped to establish the London-based online commentary magazine UnHerd and two think tanks: U.K. 2020 focused on improving environmental policy and global food security, and the Centre for Social Justice which developed a welfare policy platform implemented by the then incoming Prime Minister. His commentary has been published in USA Today, The Washington Examiner, The American Conservative and UnHerd.
