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Irene Caselli is a journalist. Slow News is the first Italian “slow journalism” project.
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The first 1,000 days of life shape every day that follows.
We need to know more about them.
A beat by Irene Caselli
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14 things I wish I knew about sex before I started having it
This week’s post is long, so I’m skipping recommendations. They’ll be back next week! The image is a still of a scene from the series Sex Education. Source: Netflix Dear reader, I had different plans for this week’s newsletter but I got a bad cold
Forever in the archive
Taking the first steps (Or: why I dislike milestones)
I rarely mention milestones in my newsletters, which may be puzzling to some of you who have children or work with them. Milestones are checkpoints in a child’s development: taking the first step, using the toilet for the first time, saying the first word. They
Learning from our falls – and getting up again
This week I’ll skip recommendations because this is a longish newsletter. Many of you have said that time is an issue, so I’ll also tell you how long it will take you to read this newsletter, and I’ll try and keep the reading time to
Wakeful and wanting – reflections on motherhood, fragility and privilege
A few nights ago I stayed awake, even though I was tired. I’d spent the whole day away from screens, and I’d run around in the garden as Lorenzo looked for colourful eggs I would hide in the grass, hold for him when he found
Tapping the same tune (Or: the principles behind my work and how you can help me)
**This week’s edition contains a lot of information that I deem necessary, so I’ve decided to skip recommendations. Recommendations will be back next week, but in the meantime, please take a few minutes to fill in the survey I created! If you’ve ever been around
How do we really listen to kids about their needs?
Some like to call children our future. It’s technically true: they will most likely outlive us adults. They have more time on earth and fresher, more innovative ideas. But children are also our present. If we stick to the United Nations definition of children as
On whether being born first or second affects you later in life
Our neighbours had a baby one stormy night in January. He was born at home, next door to us, some 500 metres from the Aegean Sea, just like his older sister four years earlier. We first met our neighbours when we moved to the area
Let’s remember our happy moments of play as children to regain our playful spirit as adults
Photo Credit: Drops of Joy / Maria Farinha Films Let me start off this week by welcoming those who are new to this community! Hallo to Jessica, Almaz, Alessio, Cara, Dina, Rania and Yoshie. I know some of you in person, but if you want
The first 1,000 days are my life’s mission. I want everyone to care as much as I do
Inequality starts early in life. If we take on the first-1,000-day prism to look at society around us, we can push to create change.
Who has the right to have a child?
When I was in my early 20s, an older friend of mine got pregnant with her ex-boyfriend who had no intention of being involved in raising a kid. When my friend decided to keep the pregnancy, I was terrified and puzzled. How would she go
The unconscious burden of our first names
Our family legend goes as such: the very day I was born, my parents almost split up because they argued about my name. You see, it was back in the times when parents found out a child’s sex at birth, and my mum had been
Forever in the archive:
I’m creating this space to mourn a loss
*Warning: This newsletter talks about miscarriage. If you find the topic triggering, maybe skip reading this edition, and check out this website for extra resources. I felt so tired when 2021 started. Sure, I thought to myself: I had been made redundant by The Correspondent, the
How do we talk to children about the news?
This week I explore tips on talking to children about the news. If you’re anything like me, you may have more questions and worries. That’s why I’ve invited experts that you can talk to directly, if you’re a paying member: check out the full list of names below. Then log into your account and leave your comments and questions after the story!
What access to free play tells us about our attitudes towards children
(Header photo by Jien Chun)What do you see when you have a child in front of you? Do you see someone to protect? A nuisance? A person in a different developmental stage than you? Do you see that child at all? I started asking myself
How a snowy morning can bring out our inner child
If you live in Greece by the sea and still have your bikini in the dirty clothes bin from your last excursion to the beach only a week ago, when it was 20 degrees Celsius, thinking of a snowy winter is quite extraordinary, even if
My child turns two. This is what I’ve learnt from his first 1,000 days of life
This week my son Lorenzo turns two, marking the end of his first 1,000 days of life. If you’re confused about the maths, don’t worry, you’re not counting wrong. The idea of the first 1,000 days is that they include life from conception, through nine
Nearly forty, going on four: why there’s no age limit on the benefits of play
It was Saturday and we were trying to be efficient. Market, check. Groceries, check. Pharmacy, check. It’s as if I was trying to block out the colour of the sea, the sunny winter day, or the beautiful oranges, soft dried figs and tasty olives I’d
An opinionated child and her younger brother
If you’d met me some 30 years ago, you would have found a rather opinionated child, somewhat chubby after early puberty, with a passion for 1960s protest music, flare jeans and the colour purple. I held opinions on the latest political crisis in Italy, spoke
The unlived lives of parents, or how to chase our dreams
I was rather lucky growing up. For me, childhood dreams, adventure and play are all intertwined with memories of long summer holidays with my parents – my mother, a teacher, who got two whole months of time off, and my self-employed engineer father. Their side
How to be a grown-up in a pandemic
A friend in Madrid is snowed in and has to work throughout the night because her kids can’t leave the house at all, not even to go to school, which is already operating under reduced hours because of the coronavirus. Claudia and Davina, respectively in
So long twenty twenty, welcome 2021!
Wow. Thanks! Your support of my writing was one of the best things about 2020, the one I would like to focus on as we start a new year. So far over 200 of you have become part of this new community, and many have
Become a member right now!