Dad The Observer

I've been thinking a lot about memory recently. In the last few days, I've been mulling over the reaction to my article in the London Guardian, in which I discuss a conundrum faced by many parents: how to negotiate children's memories of family members who are no longer here. In the piece, which you can read in full here, I describe how I have talked to my children about the grandfather who died before either of them was born. Along with the obvious props such as photographs and a little video footage, I have tried to bring Dad alive for them through the funny things he did and said.

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A clearing of the throat will usually do it. In the old days, they would prefix a comment with something like 'I say,...' (these days, it is more likely to be a slackerishly inflected 'Hey,...'). A basic rule of conversation is that you don't start imparting your wisdom until you know you have got the attention of the intended recipient. Unless you've prepared the ground in this way, your words are likely to fall on deaf ears. When do children learn about this essential convention? Read More

Cover via Amazon

In my last post, I promised to say more about those explorations of young children's experience that have taken scientific research as their inspiration. To my mind, some of these popular science treatments have been as thoughtful and imaginative as their counterparts in the world of fiction. Here are a few of the books that have made the biggest impression on me. Read More

When I was trying to imagine my daughter's psychological development from the inside, I struggled to find any convincing fictional portrayals of young children's consciousness. In this post, I ask why writers apparently fail to take toddlers seriously, and what their absence from fiction tells us about the way our culture treats small people. Read More