Error message

You must have JavaScript and cookies enabled in your browser to flag content.

Episode Trailers and Video Clips

Episode Trailers

    Episode 1
    The Raising of America
    Signature Hour

    The science is clear: when parents are stressed, babies pay the price. That is why improving conditions for families with young children is one of the best investments any nation can make.


    Synopsis, Discussion Guide, and more >>
    Episode 2
    Once Upon a Time
    When Childcare for All Wasn't Just a Fairytale

    Imagine how things would be different today if high-quality childcare and pre-K was affordable and available to every family who wanted it. It almost happened.


    Synopsis, Discussion Guide, and more >>
    Episode 3
    Are We Crazy About Our Kids?

    Economists are clear: investing in high-quality early care and education is good for our kids and communities, and even pays for itself many times over. So, why aren’t we investing?


    Synopsis, Discussion Guide, and more >>
    Episode 4
    Wounded Places
    Confronting Childhood PTSD in America's Shell-Shocked Cities

    What happens to children and neighborhoods shaken by trauma and toxic stress? What does it take to heal?


    Synopsis, Discussion Guide, and more >>
    Episode 5
    DNA Is Not Destiny
    How the Outside Gets Under the Skin

    How do our social environments (nurturing, toxic, and in-between) alter the epigenetic ‘dimmer switches’ that turn our genes on and off—with enduring consequences?


    Synopsis, Discussion Guide, and more >>

All 29 Video Clips

Episode 1: The Signature Hour

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

700 New Synapses Every Single Second

700 New Synapses Every Single Second (
2:
01
)

More than 80 billion brain cells. That’s how many a baby is born with. But it’s the connections between cells that matter.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

America Would Explode in Creativity

America Would Explode in Creativity (
3:
52
)

The capacity of the brain and the human spirit to continue and thrive and develop is beyond what any of us could predict.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Do You Have Paid Maternity Leave?

Do You Have Paid Maternity Leave? (
2:
32
)

Every major economy on the planet assures paid maternity or family leave – except the U.S.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

High-Quality Childcare is a Top Military Priority

High-Quality Childcare is a Top Military Priority (
2:
58
)

The nation’s single largest employer provides government funded childcare. It’s high-quality and it’s affordable.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

In Today's Day, We All Gotta Work

In Today's Day, We All Gotta Work (
1:
45
)

Is this what we’ve decided as society, that this degree of tension, these complex trade-offs are the norm, to be expected, just a part of raising a child?

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

International Data Sounds a Warning

International Data Sounds a Warning (
2:
21
)

To imagine how the US will do tomorrow, we need only ask how its children are doing today. International data sounds a warning.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Is This a Safe World?

Is This a Safe World? (
0:
52
)

Dr. Renee Boynton-Jarrett describes what a child feels: Is this a safe world? What will happen when I feel afraid? What will happen when I feel hungry?

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Security? I Don't Really Know What That Feels Like

Security? I Don't Really Know What That Feels Like (
2:
29
)

It’s hard to try to make everything work. You feel pulled in all different directions.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

The Amygdala-Prefrontal Cortex Connection is Crucial

The Amygdala-Prefrontal Cortex Connection is Crucial (
2:
03
)

Scientists detected changes in the brain architecture of 18 year-olds whose parents had reported being under chronic stress when those same adolescents were babies.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

The Neighborhood Matters

The Neighborhood Matters (
2:
09
)

Nobody does this alone. Nobody does this in isolation. The environment that the family lives in matters.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

The Squeeze on Parents

The Squeeze on Parents (
0:
49
)

Parents and caregivers are left to fend for themselves in a society that’s unresponsive to family needs.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Why is Escaping Poverty an Individual Problem?

Why is Escaping Poverty an Individual Problem? (
3:
52
)

Ashley, a single mom in Maine dependent on meager public assistance, worries about the health and well-being of her two young girls.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Would Early Life Stress Stay in Their Bodies?

Would Early Life Stress Stay in Their Bodies? (
2:
21
)

How might child developmental paths be affected by the stressors parents face when their kids are babies? In Wisconsin, researchers followed 500 children for two decades to find out.

Clip transcript >>

Episode 2: Once Upon a Time

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Government Funded Childcare During WWII

Government Funded Childcare During WWII (
2:
04
)

When women were suddenly propelled into the workforce during WWII, the government responded.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

The Veto That Killed Childcare

The Veto That Killed Childcare (
2:
40
)

Working behind the scenes, Pres. Nixon and his young White House speech writer, Patrick Buchanan, shocked Congress when they invoked ‘family values’ for the first time to undercut families.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

When Congress Passed Childcare for All

When Congress Passed Childcare for All (
1:
52
)

Then Senator (and former VP) Walter Mondale describes how a bi-partisan Congress assured high-quality childcare and other services from birth to age five for every family that wanted it back in 1971.

Clip transcript >>

Episode 3: Are We Crazy About Our Kids?

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Billions for Corporations...or Childcare?

Billions for Corporations...or Childcare? (
2:
31
)

Families are expected to do it alone. Yet other sectors of our society receive billions in state support.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

China Invests Billions in Early Ed

China Invests Billions in Early Ed (
1:
47
)

Nations around the world are investing heavily in early care and ed - and don’t understand why the U.S. isn’t.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Utah Invests in Preschool

Utah Invests in Preschool (
4:
20
)

A Salt Lake City school district is closing the achievement gap and radically cutting special ed costs by investing early in high-quality preschool.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Was Perry Preschool Worth It?

Was Perry Preschool Worth It? (
3:
37
)

The students attending this high-quality early ed program were followed for 50 years. What did we learn?

Clip transcript >>

Episode 4: Wounded Places

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Adversity in Your Environment

Adversity in Your Environment (
2:
52
)

When the ACE survey included questions about racism, safety and violence, researchers discovered that 37% of Philadelphians reported four or more ACEs.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

All You Heard Was Pow-Pow-Pow-Pow

All You Heard Was Pow-Pow-Pow-Pow (
4:
00
)

Children don't need to be injured to be hurt. Chronic stress, adversity and trauma can hurt them just as much.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

The Stressors Can Be Relentless on the Brain

The Stressors Can Be Relentless on the Brain (
3:
50
)

Many children in our society feel like a truck is coming at them all day long, for more days than not, and this really takes a toll.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Trauma Right Around the Corner

Trauma Right Around the Corner (
3:
29
)

We know that people who’ve suffered trauma are often left not only with physical but also psychological injuries.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Violence is the Symptom of the Problem

Violence is the Symptom of the Problem (
2:
17
)

Healing the hurt of young people begins with asking not, “What’s wrong with you?” but “What happened to you?”

Clip transcript >>

Episode 5: DNA Is Not Destiny

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Building a Nest in the Middle of a Desert

Building a Nest in the Middle of a Desert (
1:
43
)

Rat mothers like to build nests for their pups with soft materials. But these moms have only been given hard, scratchy, inferior building supplies.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Can Poverty Modify the Epigenome?

Can Poverty Modify the Epigenome? (
2:
15
)

If social conditions can “get under the skin” and modify our biology, are less-affluent children being primed for more problems in life?

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Our Experiences Go Deeper Than We Thought

Our Experiences Go Deeper Than We Thought (
3:
21
)

We’ve long known that early life can last a lifetime. Now new science shows how our experiences can become imprinted in our biology, altering gene expression.

Clip transcript >>

Add to Your Favorites

Remove from Your Favorites

Reversing the Epigenetic Effects

Reversing the Epigenetic Effects (
1:
48
)

Humans are resilient organisms and studies show that negative epigenetic effects need not be permanent.

Clip transcript >>