It's a strategy that puts a focus on the first 1,000 days.

Compare:

a) “The true measure of a nation’s standing is how well it attends to its children – their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialisation, and their sense of being loved, valued, and included in the families and societies into which they are born.”  — UNICEF, 2007

and:

b) In Canada, suicide accounts for 24% of all death among people who are 15 to 24 years of age. In a survey of 15,000 grade 7 to 12 students in British Columbia, 34% knew of someone who had attempted or died by suicide; 16% had seriously considered suicide; 14% had made a suicide plan; 7% had made an attempt and 2% had required medical attention due to an attempt. Statistics Canada’s health analysis division,  recently found that the suicide rate among children and teens in the Inuit homelands was 30 times that of youth in the rest of Canada during the five-year period from 2004 to 2008.

I read the first few pages.  Interesting.  I hope to get back to it.  One thing bothered me.  It seemed to suggest that young children (the first 1000 days - three years) benefit by being at home with a parent.  I'm fine with that if they would emphasize that it doesn't matter which parent.  All too often people interpret having a parent at home has to mean the mother.  I think either parent is capable of caring for the child, and I can see benefit of both parents sharing the responsibility (and the joy).  Ideally, I think we would benefit with more jobs on flextime so parents could work out a schedule for one to work mornings, the other afternoons or evenings, or whatever.

It worries me whenever I see a suggestion that women should be in the home.  I'm afraid that might set the women's rights movement back -- which will not benefit little girls (or boys for that matter).

Hi Seeler. I agree wholeheartedly. I parented while Sue was at Theological College — four years. Our daughter was 3-6. It was a wonderful experience and has given my daughter (now 30) and I a very different relationship: we are good pals. It would be nice if that could be a norm, but I still meet young fathers who WON'T change nappies, cook, clean house or bathe their little ones. It's very sad. The ideal might be if employers let parents of pre-schoolers work week and week about so they could keep in touch with their careers AND have time with their little kids. Pre-schoolers can be wonderful companions if you have the time and energy to take them out and about and have fun together. Job sharing could make that possible — it'd be great to see it as a general expectation of parenthood and parental responsibility. For BOTH parents.