Well I am just back from an absolutely wonderful evening at the Newnham Roll Mums Inaugural lecture - given by the superb Penelope Leach!
The evening went very well indee! It was attended by over 70 Newnhamites ranging from some of today's undergraduates, who played an active part in the discussions right up to some Grandmothers - some of who had had the daughters and their grandaughters attend Newnham!...Anna and I were absolutely delighted to see so many students and alumni engaged in this topic which is so close to our hearts.
Penelope's talk itself was fascinating - giving us an insight into how babies brains develop in the womb, and how the mother's emotions and stress levels can have a significant impact in this even before the child is born. She then talked about the decision many of us have made or will make to become a mother and the many factors that impact on that in today's society...stressing how vital the role of mother is to the upbringning of a happy and settled child. There was much discussion about the ideal age to begin a family with penelope suggesting that there are many arguements for doing in our twenties before we really begin our careers in order to avoid issues with fertility which can arise when people have their families in their late thirties, and while we have more energy.
We were very fortunate that Carl Homer was able to attend the lecture and record the talk! He will now turn this into a podcast which will be available on the Newnham College website in the next couple of week!
The lecture was followed by a very delicious dinner in the college hall, cooked by Newnham's excellent catering team, where the discussions around this issues raised in the lecture continued long into the evening.
For me this was a very special evening as my Mum and Godmother travelled down from Northumberland to attend the lecture. My Mum used Penelope'sseminal book 'Baby and Child' as her bible when she was raising my sister and I and this evening gave my mum the opportunity to final meet Penelope face to face and talk to her about this book which really helped her through thosen early days of parenting. I have my mums original copy of this book and this evening was able to get her to autograph this for her!
We had so much interest in Roll Mums this evening from people from all over the country (including Penelope herself) asking if they could join our Committee, and when our next event would take place....which is absolutely fantastic!
All I can say at the moment is...watch this space!..Anna and Penny and I will meet up next week to talk about where Roll Mums goes from here!...and will no doubt be in touch with you all very soon with news about our future plans!
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