What Shapes Us: Strong Foundations, Thriving FuturesBroadening the Frame of What Shapes Development
The environments where children live, grow, play, and learn play a powerful role in shaping their development and lifelong health and well-being. In this episode, Tassy Warren, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Executive Director of the Center on the Developing Child, is joined by Faculty Director Stephanie Jones, PhD, and Chief Science Officer Lindsey Burghardt, MD, MPH, FAAP, to explore what we mean by the “developmental environment” and why they matter. Drawing on research across early childhood development, health, and education, Drs. Jones and Burghardt discuss how our understanding of the influences on child development has expanded over the past 20 years to include not only a child’s foundational relationships—which remain essential—but also the broader social, environmental, and systemic conditions that surround young children and their caregivers. They explore how factors such as housing, economic security, climate, and more shape the health and well-being of young children, caregivers, and communities. The conversation also considers what this broader understanding means for how we support children and caregivers, and how practitioners, policymakers, and communities can work together to create environments that support healthy development and lifelong well-being.
