Early Childhood Development: Stories about growth
b'This week, we present two stories of learning experiences connected to early childhood, from an expert in maternal and infant health discovering\\xa0the reality behind her research to a first-grader striving to be one of the "smart kids." Part 1:\\xa0Psychologist Amy Brown researches maternal and infant health, but when she has a child of her own, she\\u2019s confronted with the reality behind the research. Part 2:\\xa0As a first-grader, Cassie Soliday finds her coveted spot in the gifted class is at risk. Dr. Amy Brown is an Associate Professor in Child Public Health at Swansea University where she researches experiences of becoming a mother, particularly around how babies are fed. She has published widely in how social, cultural and psychological barriers can damage breastfeeding and subsequently maternal wellbeing.\\xa0Amy is fascinated by how culture defines motherhood, through pressurising mothers to have it all and enjoy \\u2018every precious moment\\u2019, whilst simultaneously devaluing their role.\\xa0She also has three children of her own and switches between hearing women\\u2019s tales about becoming a mother and experiencing it first hand herself. Sometimes life feels like one long never ending ethnographic research project but offers her insight into these complex issues. Cassie Soliday is The Story Collider\'s LA-based producer. In addition to being a producer, she is a writer, comic artist, and the love child of a poet and a parrot head.\\xa0\\xa0She\'s an advocate for women in the arts and produces two podcasts, \'Ink and Paint Girls\' and \'Jammiest Bits of Jam\'.\\xa0Afflicted with wanderlust and the desire to run away with the cat circus, she has three great and terrible ideas that could get her fired so she could do so.\\xa0\\xa0She lives and works in California making cartoons. She is @cassiesoli\\xa0and cassie@storycollider.org.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'