This framework provides suggestions for interventions that begin in pregnancy and continue through to age three, although the implications of the framework clearly last throughout a lifetime. 

There are more than 250 million children under five in low and middle income countries (four in every 10 children) who live in extreme poverty which means these children experience a high risk of stunted growth and developmental delays in their learning which make it more likely they will not succeed in education and thus have reduced capacity to earn a living as an adult.

This means that the children they have are more likely to live in extreme poverty as well, ensuring that deprivation and poor outcomes continue, generation after generation.

Humanitarian funding assigned to education is particularly limited (approximately 2 percent of global humanitarian funding) and the proportion of this assigned to early childhood education is even smaller, meaning that children born into these contexts have very little chance of improving their lot. 

The Nurturing Care Framework reminds us that the key elements making up a good child-rearing environment must be met for all children.

These elements are: good health, adequate nutrition, responsive caregivers, security and safety and opportunities for early learning. The framework reminds us that establishing loving relationships with our children must be accompanied by attention to these other elements: love may buffer the stress of living in a context of family violence for example, but it cannot prevent the bruises and broken bones received from a beating.

Children may attend preschool but we know that if their stress levels are high (perhaps because of the pain of the many bruises and the fear of another beating) their brain is not capable of learning. 

Meeting the requirements of the Nurturing Care Framework requires a holistic perspective.

We share loving relationships with our children and are able to do so because we live in an environment where we feel safe and secure, where we have enough food, and where we have access to good health services. Our children need those loving relationships to grow to their potential. 

The holistic approach in the framework reminds us that it is not just up to parents to offer these loving, caring relationships. Parental capacity to do this depends on how their own health, nutrition, safety and security.

We have to develop supportive and caring communities that help parents, that make the (sometimes very stressful) task of parenting as easy as it can possibly be.

That means our communities need child-friendly places, places where children can just be children without people growling at them for making a noise, or getting dirty, or just running around.

We need access to good resources; for example libraries provide parents with access to good quality books for children without having to have the funds to purchase them. Toy libraries offer opportunities for borrowing toys.

We need accessible services so that parents can access support when they need it: accessible medical and dental services, support for parenting and managing challenges, support for budgeting are some examples.

And finally, we need enabling policies: we need a government that recognises the importance of parenting and creates the policies (and provides the funding) to ensure that no parent is ever left to struggle alone.

There is a lot here that we have, but there is also a lot that we do not. However, we do not have to wait for others to help shape our community; that is something we can all do ourselves.

Let’s make Armidale a great place to raise kids, and let’s do that together, now.

Read more Family Matters:

Support is critical for those early childhood years

Building closer ties with your children

Learning skills of friendship

The world needs more critical thinkers like Harper Neilsen