‘Raising of America’ focuses on Americans’ earliest years

A woman and a man rush around their kitchen and their children, working together to get a meal on the table. Their evening, and the stress on their faces and in their voices, is recorded in a scene is “The Raising of America,” a documentary series to be screened in Spokane next week.

The woman brings work home with her, she says with a toddler on her hip, in an effort to avoid feeling overwhelmed at her job.

“Things just barely work out,” adds the man. “Like, feeling security? I really don’t know what that feels like, to feel like, ‘All right, we’re good.’ ”

Raising a family in the U.S. – with a perpetual “time crunch” faced by working parents, with no guaranteed leave for parents of new babies, with a shortage of good and affordable child care, with stagnant wages and crowded housing – is difficult for many. And children suffer the results, the documentary says, with “child well being” in the U.S. ranking 26th among 29 rich nations, measured in terms of health and safety, education, housing and other factors.

It doesn’t have to be that way, said Rachel Poulain, one of the documentary’s producers, who will be in Spokane on Sept. 17 to speak at the advance screening at the Lincoln Center: “We as a nation have made it this hard.”

The six-part documentary, to be aired starting Nov. 11 on KSPS public television, explores the challenges facing young children and families – and how a stronger start for all kids could lead to a stronger nation. It was produced by California Newsreel and Vital Pictures.

Poulain’s planned visit and the screening are part of an effort by the documentary’s creators to get people in local communities across the U.S. talking about improving the environment for babies and young children, Poulain said.

The series aims to break down some assumptions, she said – including that we don’t remember what happens to us when we’re babies. While we may not have memories of our earliest years, our brains carry their imprint, she said.

The opening episode – to be shown at next week’s event – flips between families’ stories and the science behind brain development. A body of recent research has found that negative early experiences can alter the brain’s “architecture,” affecting children’s ability to learn and, ultimately, their health as adults.

“Physiologically, the early years are so incredibly crucial,” Poulain said. “This is not to be deterministic, but it really does lay in the foundation for how the neurons in our brains actually, literally, get wired together.”

The documentary offers a good launch pad for a larger conversation in the community about early learning – what’s already being done and what’s still needed, said Jill Johnson, coordinator of the Inland Northwest Early Learning Alliance. Along with the Spokane Regional Health District, the alliance is among groups organizing the screening.

“Early learning really is investing in that birth-to-5, or prekindergarten, years,” Johnson said. “We know that if kids are prepared for kindergarten, they have a much better chance of success in life. And that’s not just in school, but as they become adults – the skills they need to function.”

That includes more than academics, she said. Other factors affecting early childhood: nutrition, health screenings, the quality of child care, “adverse childhood experiences” such as abuse.

In later episodes, the documentary explores the roles of poverty and childhood PTSD, among other challenges.

It also zeroes in on some particular policies affecting families, including American family-leave policies. Among the world’s wealthiest nations, the U.S. is the only one that doesn’t provide paid leave for new parents, Poulain said.

About half of U.S. families decline to take the 12 weeks of unpaid leave allowed by federal law after the birth of a baby, because they can’t afford it, she added. And long-term research has found that middle-income mothers who go back to work before they’re ready suffer stress that “drips down” on kids, altering their developing brains.

By 4, the kids have higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in their bodies, Poulain said. By 18, they’re more likely to suffer from anxiety, be worse at regulating their emotions, and have worse long-term memory.

For comparison, the documentary goes overseas and to Canada to examine other nations’ paid-leave, flexible-scheduling or job-sharing practices.

“It reflects a kind of value around families and children that says, ‘We really want to make it possible for you to spend that first year at home with your child,’ ” she said.

Poulain, who has a 1-year-old daughter, said making the documentary got to be depressing at times.

What gave her hope, she said, was seeing “how hard parents are willing to work for their kids, what they’re willing to do at all levels. That energy right now is wrapped up in trying to keep your head above water, even when you’re in the middle class.”