Home-Start HOST

@HomeStartHOST are #exhibiting in #Bolton!⚡️ Bolton Careers Fair takes place at Albert Halls on Thursday 20th March, between the times of 10am-2pm.📍 Secure your ticket via ukcareersfair.com/event/bolton-c… 🤩 Hiring? Sign up to exhibit at this event via ukcareersfair.com/exhibit-with-us

Enjoying a couple days rest from my U.K. book/speaking tour 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇮🇪 - then back at it all across England, Wales, and Jersey. Come join us! Up next: Bath (@NorlandCollege) this Saturday, March 15 London (@Literacy_Trust) on March 19 London (@nesta_uk) on March 20 London (@SheringhamNurs1) on March 20 Sefton/Liverpool (@seftoncouncil) on March 21/22 Manchester (@homestartuk) on March 24 Oxford (@PeepleCentre) on March 26 Southampton (@Mr_PaintPots) on March 27 Jersey (@JCCTNews) on March 29 Fauld (@cosydirect) on April 1 Swansea, Wales (The Learning Partnership) on April 3

Dublin is every bit as amazing as I’d dreamed. Can’t wait to speak to early years teachers, parents and professionals from across Ireland beginning this Friday in Cork. The @irishexaminer ran a lovely story today about my visit and planned Valentine’s Day session. I’ll link it in the first reply below.

At the heart of children’s social and emotional development is self-awareness – a growing sense of who they are as individuals. Over the next several weeks I’ll be partnering with @earlychildhood (the UK’s Royal Foundation Centre on Early Childhood) to explore children’s social and emotional development in celebration of the Centre’s newest publication, The Shaping Us Framework (a link to which you can find in the first reply below). For infants, knowing oneself – the first of six skill clusters identified in the Framework – is a skill developed from square one. Which is to say that, as newborns, we are not yet equipped with the self-awareness necessary to understand ourselves as independent beings. Indeed, it is not until 6-9 months of age that we begin to realize that we are separate from our caregivers. How we come to understand ourselves is, in part, a reflection on how we are responded to from our earliest moments. Speaking of reflections, did you know that it’s not until 15-18 months that infants recognize that the reflection in a mirror is actually them? Check out this lovely video example, shared to TT by talinfakhoorian, in which her son finds delight in interacting with the hilarious new “friend” he’s found in the mirror. As he grows, his sense of self will develop in important new ways. In the next post in this series, I’ll talk about the emergence of agency and the importance of allowing your toddler to make appropriate choices of their own.

We had such an energising time at the #ReadingRights summit yesterday and can't wait to put all the conversations into action! Watch the video Waterstones @UKLaureate @frankcottrell_b shared at the summit to demonstrate the power of early reading here: booktrust.org.uk/what-we-do/chi…

“I know how powerful it is when we give children the support that they need and they deserve.” At the #WEF25, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham received the Crystal Award for two decades of tireless commitment to children’s rights. #ForEveryChild

Help us inspire a love of reading in other families in 2025! Donate online to support your community’s Imagination Library, and help put more books in the hands of more children. Go to donate.imaginationlibrary.com

✨Make 2025 a Brazelton year! ✨ We can't wait to welcome you onto one of our training courses. See available dates and book your place here: NBO course: brazelton.co.uk/product/nbo-ce… NBAS course: brazelton.co.uk/product/nbas-c… youtube.com/shorts/MfZCBv1…