What happens to a balloon when you let go
It is a strong parental reflex to imagine that a child’s small moment of loss is training for a life…
ByChildhood
A cold childhood
My unheated home wasn’t a temporary discomfort. The chill got into my bones.
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The children denied a childhood
Families in poverty don’t just need basics – they need everyday joys.
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Photo essay: The children of Thatcher’s Britain
Craig Easton’s images of one family capture the reality of state neglect.
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Stained by shame: Britain’s hygiene poverty crisis
In the absence of state support, teachers are providing everything from clothing to soap.
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Child poverty is a scar on our national conscience
A Labour government has taken millions of children out of poverty before. It can do so again.
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Katharine Birbalsingh: “They’re going to destroy our schools”
The outspoken headteacher believes Bridget Phillipson’s reforms are an attack on educational freedom. She is ready for the fight.
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The question of childlessness
With the fertility rate falling across the West, there is much more affecting parents’ decisions than the economy.
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Into the dark wood
My father died long ago. I now understand that he was part of the lost world of the stoical conservative…
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On TikTok, familiar childhood dynamics are pathologised
From “gifted kid burnout” to “eldest daughter syndrome”, influencers are rebranding familiar human experiences as a trauma diagnosis.
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The cheering sounds of childhood
Innocent, childlike play is one of the great delights of life. We should try to keep in touch with it.
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We must nourish children’s sense of wonder
Nothing is more character-forming than enthusiasm for the natural world, and the openness and attentiveness it fosters.
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The Nordic parenting myth
Scandinavians are not better parents – but their politicians, unlike Britain’s, understand that childcare is a social good.
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A boyhood built on fear
The cruelties of Maidwell Hall boarding school, described by Charles Spencer in his memoir, have blighted my adult life.
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We’ve forgotten what skin looks like
Something is wrong when ten-year-olds are seeking out anti-ageing products.
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Fear about young adults’ maturity is just a way of trying to control them
Better to help this generation of Peter Pans find their way out of Neverland.
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How Big Tech made us screen addicts
Gaia Bernstein’s Unwired argues that smart devices are engineered to keep our children hooked. Can we hold the industry to…
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A childlike wonder at the world’s everyday beauty is best left to grown-ups
I feel the more experience we have of the world – not less – the more deeply we feel what…
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“It’s constant anxiety”: inside the crisis in child social care
The murders of Star Hobson and Arthur Labinjo-Hughes revealed shocking shortcomings in the UK’s social care system. What is being…
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Does punishing adults for their childhood mistakes really improve society?
The Marc Bola case is the latest example of the dangers of a culture of retrospective shame.
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