The Beginning of Life documentary - short clips

Below you can find our selection of short clips from the documentary ‘The Beginning of Life’, explaining the importance of the early years of a child’s life by zooming in on different subjects, like the importance of parent-child interactions (serve and return principle), the importance of a father being present in a child’s life and the fact that a child’s developing brain brings both opportunities and risks.

The short clips, like the full documentary, shine a light on the importance of the early years by documenting the lives of young children and their families across the world – interspersed with clips from early childhood development experts explaining key issues. They are grouped by theme (caregivers, nutrition, brain development, nurturing care, learning, play, policy and examples) which can easily be navigated from the menu on the left side of the page.

The full version of ‘The Beginning of Life’, which was produced with the support of Maria Cecília Souto Vidigal Foundation, Alana Institute, UNICEF and the Bernard van Leer Foundation, is available on various global video-on-demand platforms including Netflix and iTunes.

Why invest in early childhood?

When we invest in early childhood, we invest in society as a whole. But what do families need from public policy makers? In this clip from the documentary The Beginning of Life, world-leading experts summarise the economics and science of investing in young children.

Why it pays to intervene early

Economists say “pay now or pay more later”. In this clip from The Beginning of Life, experts discuss the benefits of investing in early identification of young children who show signs of needing intervention to tackle problems such as lack of self-control.

Find more short videos in the link below:

https://bernardvanleer.org/media-library/the-beginning-of-life-documentary-short-clips/

https://bernardvanleer.org/cases/beginning-life-documentary/