6/6 “The Early Years - CONCLUSION”
International studies have demonstrated that secure attachment is a significant factor for positive mental health, educational attainment, empathy development, and the ability
to enter into caring, loving, relationships. When we consider America’s long term social capital decline, there is no better place to start the rebuilding of social capital than in the early years.
If we want to give our children the best start in life, we need to reorient our culture and policies for the long term. The most significant investment we can make in our young people is a secure attachment to their mother within the context of a stable family. With 1 in 3 children born in America today anticipated to live to at least 100 years old, the window of investment, ages 0-3, is a small one for the benefits conferred for life.
America is currently an outlier for negative reasons: higher maternal mortality than other developed nations, the highest single-parent rate in the world, and the least generous with federal benefits to support families with young children. This report also notes that America has the highest suicide rate in the developed world and other features of societal ills manifest from a variety of reasons. Yet, the role of attachment is not insignificant in considering these trends.
Long term, America can be a global leader when it comes to attachment—and to making this the best country in the world to raise a family. To start, we the people must recognize, as other advanced economies have, that mothers play a unique role in the raising of children, especially in the early years. Our culture, society, economy—including the labor market and federal and state supports—have a long way to go toward recognizing the unique biological and psychosocial role that only mothers can play. Rather than locking women out of careers, maternity breaks should be considered a norm, celebrated by employers who seek to be truly inclusive. When American mothers are more likely to
die at childbirth than in any other developed country in the world, especially women of color, we must stop and pause. Does America want to value its mothers or not? The next President of the United States should recognize the unique role women play as mothers and to build this into the fabric of American life. This is the most significant source of social capital investment in American youth that could be accomplished.
Let’s make America the best country in the world to start a family and to raise children. Let’s ensure secure attachment in the early years is available for all.
“The Early Years - Youth Investment”
Chris Bullivant
June 2023
Building social capital starts with 0-3s, and that first attachment with mom.
