Child of Our Time is a documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 commissioned by the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 co-produced with The Open University and presented by Professor The Lord Winston

Robert Winston

Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and politician.-Early life and education :...

 which follows up on the lives of 25 babies

Infant

A newborn or baby is the very young offspring of a human or other mammal. A newborn is an infant who is within hours, days, or up to a few weeks from birth. In medical contexts, newborn or neonate refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth...

 who were born around the turn of the year 2000 as they grow from infancy

Infant

A newborn or baby is the very young offspring of a human or other mammal. A newborn is an infant who is within hours, days, or up to a few weeks from birth. In medical contexts, newborn or neonate refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth...

, through child

Child

Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...

hood and on to becoming young adults

Young adult (psychology)

A young adult, according to Erik Erikson's stages of human development, is generally a person between the age of 20 - 40, whereas an adolescent is a person between the age of 13 - 19, although definitions and opinions vary. The young adult stage in human development precedes middle adulthood. A...

. The aim of the series is to build up a coherent and scientifically accurate picture of how the gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

s and the environment

Nature versus nurture

The nature versus nurture debate concerns the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities versus personal experiences The nature versus nurture debate concerns the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature," i.e. nativism, or innatism) versus personal experiences...

s of growing child

Child

Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...

ren interact to make a fully formed adult

Adult

An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age....

. The series will follow the people each year from birth

Birth

Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring. The offspring is brought forth from the mother. The time of human birth is defined as the time at which the fetus comes out of the mother's womb into the world...

 to the age of 20. It sets out to answer many unanswered questions, and a large portion of Child of Our Time is made up of experiment

Experiment

An experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...

s on the 25 people to answer some of these questions. One of the most important questions that the series is seeking to answer is "Are we born or are we made

Nature versus nurture

The nature versus nurture debate concerns the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities versus personal experiences The nature versus nurture debate concerns the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature," i.e. nativism, or innatism) versus personal experiences...

?" The series has since been put on hold till 2013

The children

The 25 children born to 22 families chosen to appear on the Child Of Our Time documentary represent the widest possible range of genetic

Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....

, social

Social

The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...

, geographical and ethnic backgrounds

Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...

. They are:

• Alex and Ivo: Identical twins Alex and Ivo Lloyd-Young were born eleven weeks early to parents Berenice Lloyd and Alastair Young. They live in Glasgow
  Glasgow
  Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
  
  .
• Calvin: Born ten weeks early to parents Helen Kirkham and Andy Pearson, Calvin has an older sister, Lauren. Helen and Andy have now split up.
• Charlie: Charlie's mother Toni was sixteen when she fell pregnant with her daughter Charlie. Toni's mother and grandmother also had babies early. Toni split up with Charlie's father before Charlie was born and fell in love with electrician
  Electrician
  An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, stationary machines and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure. Electricians may also...
  
   Rob Plaster. Rob treats Charlie like his own daughter and he and Toni have had two more children, Kayla and Alex.
• Charlotte: Charlotte Burke was born as a result of IVF treatment to parents Richard and Jacqui. She had a twin brother, Alexander, who was stillborn
  Stillbirth
  A stillbirth occurs when a fetus has died in the uterus. The Australian definition specifies that fetal death is termed a stillbirth after 20 weeks gestation or the fetus weighs more than . Once the fetus has died the mother still has contractions and remains undelivered. The term is often used in...
  
  . Her parents married three months after the birth of Charlotte's sister Jasmine, but have now divorced. They try to remain amicable for the sake of their daughters.
• Charlotte: Charlotte Goldsmith was born in Essex
  Essex
  Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
  
  . She has one older brother and her parents Emma and Paul separated six months after her birth.
• Ethan: Before Ethan's birth his mother Kerri lost two girl babies; one was miscarried and one was still born. She also lost Ethan's twin through miscarriage
  Miscarriage
  Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
  
   in the third month of pregnancy
  Pregnancy
  Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
  
  . Ethan loves playing computer games
  Computer Games
  "Computer Games" is a single by New Zealand group, Mi-Sex released in 1979 in Australia and New Zealand and in 1981 throughout Europe. It was the single that launched the band, and was hugely popular, particularly in Australia and New Zealand...
  
   but struggles at school
  School
  A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
  
   and has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Ethan had a problem with his speech which affected his ability to make friends in school, but it resolved itself soon after. Ethan and his family live in Northern Ireland
  Northern Ireland
  Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
  
  .
• Eve: Eve's parents, Tim and Caroline Scarborough, are Evangelical Christians who tried for years to conceive a baby through IVF but were unsuccessful. Eve was unplanned and conceived naturally. Her parents were delighted but Caroline suffered post-natal depression. It was announced at the end of the episode 'The Age of Stress' that Caroline, Eve's mother, had died from cancer.
• Helena: Born at just twenty-five weeks, Helena is the sole survivor of triplets
  Multiple birth
  A multiple birth occurs when more than one fetus is carried to term in a single pregnancy. Different names for multiple births are used, depending on the number of offspring. Common multiples are two and three, known as twins and triplets...
  
  . Because of her premature birth her doctors believed she would have major respiratory and developmental problems. Helena did not crawl until eighteen months and did not speak her first word until two years. However Helena learnt to walk, talk, run and join in with everything and became advanced intellectually. She is now happy, confident and bossy and a loving older sister to Bella. Helena's parents decided to separate after 13 years of marriage.
• Het: Born to parents Vijay and Tejal in a close-knit, extended family, Het talks in both English
  English language
  English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
  
   and her first language of Gujarati
  Gujarati language
  Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...
  
  . In 2005 Het's mother became pregnant and had a baby in October. Before this, her parents were considering sending her to an India
  India
  India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
  
  n boarding school
  Boarding school
  A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
  
   but for now have considered otherwise.
• James: James's mother Carol comes from a very deprived background and suffers from a mild learning difficulty. She split up from the father of her elder child Bernie and James's father. James has asthma
  Asthma
  Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
  
   and was kidnapped
  Kidnapping
  In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
  
   at age five by Carol's ex-boyfriend, Ian.
• Jamie: After suffering post-natal depression with her two eldest children, Sharon Craven was sterilised; it did not work and she became pregnant with Jamie, who was slow to learn to talk and speak. Doctors diagnosed a hearing problem so had grommets put in his ears - after this, he blossomed. Jamie was diagnosed with diabetes aged just four years old. His condition needs constant monitoring and frequent injections.
• Mabel, Alice and Phoebe: Non-identical triplets Mabel, Alice and Phoebe have three elder siblings. Their parents Nigel and Tracey Baller claim to be calm and easygoing with all the children. The triplets have developed different temperaments; Mabel is a tomboy
  Tomboy
  A tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...
  
  , Alice is dominant and Phoebe is quiet and mischievous.
• Matthew: The younger brother of Robert and the second son of Kathryn and Graham Singleton, Matthew is sweet but slightly shy and anxious.
• Megan: Megan is the daughter of Rhodri, a Welsh
  Wales
  Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
  
   farmer
  Farmer
  A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
  
  , and Gaynor Davies. She has one older brother and sister.
• Nathan: A cheery, enthusiastic boy who is being brought up by parents Ruth and Richard Price. Nathan was a big baby and is being brought up by his parents with strong values. The family spent several years living a self-sufficient, organic
  Organic movement
  The organic movement broadly refers to the organizations and individuals involved worldwide in the promotion of organic farming, which is a more sustainable mode of agriculture...
  
   lifestyle in the countryside, but eventually moved to be closer to the school Nathan is in.
• Parys: Alison Lapper
  Alison Lapper
  Alison Lapper MBE is an English artist who was born without arms. She is the subject of the sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant, which was on display in Trafalgar Square until late 2007...
  
   is the single mother of Parys. She is disabled, born with no arms and very short legs. While pregnant with Parys, she had casts made of her body to create a giant marble statue of her. Artist Marc Quinn created this statue, which was placed on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Square
  Trafalgar Square
  Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
  
   in 2005. Alison is an artist who has also written an autobiography entitled 'My Life in My Hands.' Parys was born by caesarean section
  Caesarean section
  A Caesarean section, is a surgical procedure in which one or more incisions are made through a mother's abdomen and uterus to deliver one or more babies, or, rarely, to remove a dead fetus...
  
   and did not sleep well as a baby. He has had a lot of carers helping Alison take care of him over the years and has a strong bond with his mother.
• Rebecca: A very small child whose parents Mark and Gill Saunders are Jewish. Rebecca has an older brother and likes dressing up in pink.
• Rhianna: The only child of Tanya Knights and Andy Lees, Rhianna is fascinated by nature and history. Although Rhianna was a happy baby and easy to care for, she grew into a very anxious little girl; so much so that her parents took her to see a child psychiatrist. There was tension in Tanya and Andy's marriage and they displayed very different parenting styles; Rhianna was picking up on all this. Nothing seriously wrong was found with her and Tanya and Andy are trying to work through their problems.
• Rubin: Rubin was born at thirty seven weeks and rushed to intensive care. He had to be hospitalised again at two months old as he contracted pneumonia
  Pneumonia
  Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
  
  . Rubin is the third of four boys; mother Debbie Bayfield was single for a while but married the father of her fourth son. In 2008, he gained a place at the Choral school in Westminster.
• Taliesin: Taliesin is the second child and first son of Olivia and Robin Stevenson who split up before his birth but got back together again. Olivia became a teenage mother with Taliesin's sister, Emily, and left education behind at an early age after being bullied. She hopes her children will be happier than her at school.
• Tyrese: The third child and only son of Marie and Jamal Hakeem, Tyrese is determined and outgoing, like his mother. Marie suffers from dyslexia
  Dyslexia
  Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
  
   and wants Tyrese to learn about race and racism
  Racism
  Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
  
  . Marie is concerned that Tyrese will fall into trouble; she believes that black boys find it much harder to be successful in life and so is determined he does not fall into the stereotype
  Stereotype
  A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
  
  . She split up with Jamal when Tyrese was three. He lives in North Birmingham
  Birmingham
  Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
  
  
• William: Keen on sport and outperforming, as well as harassing his older brother, William was born by caesarean and lives in a small town in Yorkshire
  Yorkshire
  Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
  
  .

Episode guide

Series One (2000)

1. Babies

Series Two (2001)

1. The Personality Test
2. Tomboy or Sissy?
3. Brain Magic

Series Three (2002)

1. Thanks for the Memories
2. Power Struggles
3. Active or Idle

Series Four (2004)

1. Zero to Hero
2. Read My Lips
3. The Making of Me

Series Five (2005)

1. Identity Crisis
2. State of Play
3. What are Dads for?
4. Tried and Tested

Series Six (2006)

1. Happiness
2. Flesh and Blood
3. Right and Wrong
4. Your Recipe for Success

Series Seven (2007)

1. The Will to Win
2. Fitting In or Standing Out
3. Killing Creativity

Series Eight (2008)

1. The Divide of the Sexes
2. The Age of Stress
3. 24 Hours
4. A Revolution in Childhood (BBC4)

Series Nine (2010)

1. The Big Personality Test (broadcast on 30 May)
2. The Big Personality Test (broadcast on 31 May)

Child of Our Time - The Children's Stories

In 2006, Child of Our Time had a spin-off series showing a 30-minute programme each week on one child and their story so far from birth to their current age of 6. The programmes did not add anything significant to that which had already been covered in the six years of the programme so far; they are essentially clip shows.

See also

The Up Series is a series of documentary films that have followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964.

External links

• Open University website accompanying the series Covers the science behind the show in more detail
• Short video clip from the program - Google Video Short video showing Alice forming a 3 word sentence