Friends of By Five June Catch-up

Our Friends of By Five group met this month to enjoy a cuppa and talk all things early years. Hannah and Cara shared the great work they are doing around thriving communities, and their current focus on the challenges of shifting ‘mental models’ around kids and families in our communities, which are deeply held beliefs or narratives that shape the way people interact with each other and systems. You know the ones… “That child just needs some more discipline!'“, Or maybe; “It’s the middle of Winter, for goodness sake why hasn’t that mother got some more layers on that child?!”

These can be particularly challenging when there are attitudes or perceptions that children are not a collective responsibility, and that the wider ‘village’ have no influence or place in child development. We talked about who our target audience could be when trying to create social change, what their persona may look like, and how we could have a positive influence on how we all think about children in their community.

Our parents were able to draw on their own experiences from living in their local areas to think about what our key messages could be to start breaking down these models and ways of thinking, these traps that we all fall into. We find these opportunities to catch up with our Friends of By Five group so beneficial, however you don’t have to be in any formal group to contribute to our work, what are your thoughts?