Aimee's Babies
Years ago, Mark Pontz – the publisher of Fine Living Lancaster magazine – asked me about the tagline for Aimee’s Babies, my newly established LLC. Before that moment, I had never thought about a tagline; but, after days of wordsmithing, I decided that “Giving All Babies Everywhere the Best Start Possible” perfectly summed up my goals and aspirations for my child development business. I went to work adding it to every website, business card, and brochure.
As I tried to put my tagline into action, it became clear to me how disillusioned I was with the challenges of making a difference in the early childhood space. It became painfully clear to me that, no matter what support we put into place, we do not yet live in a society where all children have equal opportunities to be provided with the best start possible. We live in a world where the cards are stacked against many babies before they are even born. They come into this world already disadvantaged by no fault of their own or their parents. Children are born into poverty, with disabilities, too early, or into marginalized families; this is incredibly unfair.
This realization drove me to write a book: The Early Childhood Promise: Sparking Change for Parents, Early Childhood Professionals and Policymakers, with my colleague Dr. Crystal Loose. In this book, we explore the greatest challenges for young children and their families, and then provide solutions, tips, and recommendations based in science and data.
It takes an average of 17 years for data to move from a research study to being known by the general public. Seventeen years! That’s an entire childhood.
If there is cutting edge data available for the treatment of autism, for example, but a family does not learn about it until their child is 17-years-old, what is the point? The Early Childhood Promise takes a deep dive into development, early childhood education and childcare, kindergarten readiness, and the importance of play and limiting screen time. We explore the data, latest trends, and how to ensure success for every child. We provide lists of practical strategies and best practices for parents, early childhood professionals, community members, and policymakers – because everyone is a stakeholder in early childhood development!
Early childhood policy and funding can influence outcomes for all children, so it’s very important to be informed before going to the polls. Did you know that every dollar invested in a child before the age of five has up to a $16 return on investment later down the line? Policymakers who understand this can save taxpayers millions of dollars in social services in the years to come.
Between 1970 and 1991, the richest countries in the world experienced a horrendous epidemic of babies dying tragically in their sleep due to a mysterious phenomenon known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
In the mid 1980s, UK Researcher Peter Fleming was particularly interested in SIDS in his hometown of Bristol. During this time, SIDS killed one in every 250 babies in the UK. Fleming had already performed research in this area, and he was trusted in his hometown. He determined that SIDS could be significantly lowered when babies were placed to sleep on their backs. Despite the robustness of Fleming’s research, when he presented it to the International Society for the Prevention and Investigation of Perinatal and Infant Deaths, he was met with extreme skepticism.
“They could not accept that something so simple could be so important,” he later shared in a 2016 article. They did not believe that his evidence was strong enough to enact a public health campaign.
Another two years passed and another several hundred babies globally lost their lives to SIDS – including the son of Ann Diamond, a reporter with a daily television show. After meeting Fleming and learning of his findings, Diamond marched to the Department of Health, demanding that they enact a public health campaign in the UK.
The “Back to Sleep Campaign” was launched in 1991. Within a year, SIDS deaths in the UK fell with astonishing speed. In 1989, there were 1,545 deaths due to SIDS, while today there are under 200 deaths per year. In 1992, the American Academy of Pediatrics got on board and in the following five years, the SIDS rate in America fell by 42.3-percent.
A researcher and a well-known public figure came together in a fortuitous relationship to change the course of history – one to provide the data and one to yell it from the rooftops. This is an example of how data and public investments change lives. Data, when shared with the right populations at the right time, can change outcomes for countless young children.
We believe strongly that the data presented in our book can spark positive change that will impact children for years to come… but it takes investment from everyone.
By Dr. Aimee Ketchum
