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What Babies Can Teach Us About Repairing the World [claudiamgoldmd.com]

 

By Claudia Gold, Claudia M. Gold MD, May 18, 2021

Recently I was asked to give a presentation for an audience of early childhood educators about the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. I jumped at the opportunity to frame this powerful research linking early adversity with long-term health consequences into a message of both hope and action. Thus I was particularly pleased to receive an email from an audience member with the following message: “Thank you for your work, the workshop left me with hope. It makes me think of tikkun olam.” I looked up this familiar phrase from Judaism to find its exact meaning: “World Repair.”

Somehow in the presentation I had at least for this one person, accomplished what I set out to do. So how did that happen? A colleague who attended a similar presentation which she found “revolutionary” said that the “granular” nature of the talk accounted for its power. I wonder if conveying in both words and images the experience of babies in relationship with caregivers explained the impact of the message. D.W. Winnicott, T. Berry Brazelton, and Ed Tronick, three who have had profound influence on my thinking, all had the privilege of spending lots of time in the presence of parents and young infants. When I originally set out on my professional path, I was already interested in promoting the health and wellbeing of children. While at first I planned to be a child psychiatrist, I decided that studying pediatrics would be the best way to learn about children. It was among the best decisions I’ve made.

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