Scientists talk about a time in a child’s life that seems to happen very quickly. It opens when you are born. Around age three, it starts to get narrower. A lot of the things that a child’s brain will learn have already been built by the time they start kindergarten, or have not been built yet. In a very important report from 2017, UNICEF gave this time frame a number: the first 1,000 days. The agency says that what happens during that time affects everything from how well someone does in school to how much money they make in their lifetime to their chance of going to prison. It’s an interesting claim. It’s also backed up by decades of research in neuroscience.
Early Moments Matter for Every Child was the name of the report that was released during the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly. The report did more than just argue for child development. It was good for business. The return on investment for early childhood care and education for the poorest kids can be as high as $17 for every dollar spent. For every dollar spent, programs that help people breastfeed earn thirty-five dollars back. These aren’t predictions from a pressure group trying to get attention; they’re numbers that UNICEF gave to finance ministers and heads of state. The question of whether or not those ministers were listening is another one.
It was harder to look away from what the report said happened on the ground. There are only fifteen countries in the world that offer all three basic policies: free pre-primary education for two years, paid breastfeeding breaks for new moms for the first six months, and enough paid parental leave. 32 countries do not have any of them. About 85 million kids younger than five will not have these basic protections as they grow up because of this gap. There are only two countries where 40% of those children live: Bangladesh and the United States. A lot of people are surprised by that fact.
One of the richest countries in the world is in that group, which seems almost counterintuitive. The US spends a lot of money on K–12 education, healthcare, and building up its military. Not surprisingly, national policy doesn’t pay much attention to the time when the brain is most flexible, open, and receptive to investment. It’s possible that the political system just finds it harder to pay for people who can’t vote to get benefits. Also, the returns might be too slow for a single election cycle to pay off.
The conversation can’t stay vague because of the report. It’s about kids who live in areas with conflict and can’t play, sing, or read because they can’t get to the normal things that quietly wire young brains. About a quarter of the kids ages two to four in 64 countries that were surveyed couldn’t play, read, or sing with an adult. Policy had never made it a priority to help parents find the time and help they need to do it, not just because they were poor.
Anthony Lake, the executive director of UNICEF, made the issue very clear: if we don’t invest in the most vulnerable children and families, we will keep passing on disadvantages from one generation to the next. In no way is that a dramatic flourish. It talks about how inequality grows over time, without anyone noticing.
The early childhood argument is very strong because it connects to almost all of the major development goals at the same time. Each of these goals—zero hunger, good health, a good education, and institutions that are fair and peaceful—has specific goals for how young children should grow and develop. In other words, if you want to change the results, you have to change the conditions that led to them.
It’s hard not to think that governments consistently underestimate the 1,000-day window. This isn’t done on purpose, but maybe because they tend to focus on problems that can be seen instead of problems that can’t be seen. Photographing a school that is having trouble is easy. A three-month-old that isn’t getting enough stimulation isn’t. Still, if the second situation isn’t dealt with on a large scale, it quietly leads to the first.
