Helen Pearson: Lessons from the longest study on human development
Helen Pearson: Lições do mais longo estudo sobre desenvolvimento humano
Helen Pearson's book, "The Life Project," tells the extraordinary story of the longest-running study of human development in the world. Full bio
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a couple of questions.
to bring up your children
da maneira certa?
going up on that second one,
para a segunda pergunta,
pretty much no idea what I'm doing.
a menor ideia do que estou fazendo.
happy and healthy in their lives,
felizes e saudáveis.
todo tipo de conselho conflitante,
offering all kinds of conflicting advice,
just making it up as I go along.
da vida deles inventando.
a few years ago,
that we have in Britain.
que temos na Inglaterra,
about how I bring up my own children,
de como criar meus filhos,
how we as a society can help all children.
with you today.
thousands of children through their lives
acompanhado milhares de crianças pela vida
científico incrível.
anywhere else in the world.
on thousands of children
sobre milhares de crianças
the ones who say,
comparar: quem vai bem na escola,
or happy or wealthy as adults,
ou rico quando adultos,
all the information we've collected
todas as informações coletadas
suas vidas foram diferentes.
their lives turned out different.
it's actually a kind of crazy story.
na verdade é uma história louca.
after the end of the war,
to have a baby at the time.
ter um filho naquele tempo.
this huge survey of mothers
of nearly every baby
o nascimento de quase todos os bebês
and Wales in one week.
e Gales em uma semana.
we might ask today.
das que perguntaríamos hoje.
of a pint of milk a day?"
de leite ou uma caneca por dia?"
on smocks, corsets,
while you were in bed with this baby?"
enquanto você estava de cama com o bebê?"
actually ended up being so successful
acabou tendo tanto sucesso
of thousands of babies born in 1958
de milhares de bebês nascidos em 1958
have been involved in these studies
foram envolvidas nestes estudos
and recorded more information
e registraram mais informações
every few years ever since.
that's now been collected on these people
coletada sobre estas pessoas
of paper questionnaires
a huge bank of tissue samples,
banco de amostras de tecidos,
nail clippings, baby teeth and DNA.
unhas, dentes de bebê e DNA.
from some of the births,
de alguns nascimentos,
in a secure storage warehouse.
em um local de armazenamento seguro.
is tracking generations of children
está rastreando gerações de crianças
people on the planet,
mais bem estudadas no planeta,
incredibly valuable for scientists,
valiosos para os cientistas,
academic papers and books.
acadêmicos e livros.
on just one finding --
apenas uma descoberta:
to come from this remarkable study.
vinda deste estudo incrível.
that spoke to me personally,
to do the best for our children.
para fazer o melhor para nossos filhos.
out of the way first.
tirar as más notícias do caminho.
from this remarkable study is this:
desse impressionante estudo seja esta:
or into disadvantage,
to walk a difficult path in life.
de ter um caminho difícil.
were born into poor families
nasceram em famílias pobres
cramped homes or other problems,
que tinham casas apertadas
crianças em desvantagem
that those disadvantaged children
on almost every score.
em quase todos os pontos.
to do worse at school,
and to earn less money.
e ganhar menos.
have been really surprising,
muito surpreendentes,
adultos não saudáveis também,
unhealthy as adults.
poor health and even to die earlier.
saúde ruim e até de morrer mais cedo.
at a really shockingly early age.
surpreendentemente bem cedo.
the richer children on educational tests,
mais ricas em testes educacionais
again and again across the generations.
repetidamente nas gerações.
iniciais têm influência profunda
have a profound influence
of our lives play out.
that we face today.
que enfrentamos hoje.
everyone, is this:
de sucesso é esta:
or into a struggling family.
ou numa família com dificuldades.
the small problem here.
ver o probleminha aqui.
or how much they earn,
ou quanto eles ganham.
a real note of optimism
também tem uma nota de otimismo
who has a disadvantaged start
um começo em desvantagem
have a tough start in life,
um começo de vida difícil
on some measure nevertheless,
interested parents,
from a difficult start.
de um começo difícil.
are really, really important,
realmente importam,
who were born in 1970.
crianças nascidas em 1970.
that they had collected
de dados coletados
who'd had a difficult start in life
com um começo de vida difícil
at school nevertheless.
contra as probabilidades.
more than anything else was parents.
pesou mais que tudo foram os pais.
in those first few years of life
naqueles primeiros anos de vida
to do well at school later on.
irem bem na escola mais tarde.
that parents do
que os pais mais fazem
outcomes for children.
resultados para as crianças.
seems to be really important, too.
parece ser muito importante também.
to them daily when they were five
diariamente quando tinham cinco anos
in their education at the age of 10,
em sua educação aos 10 anos,
to be in poverty at the age of 30
chances de serem pobres aos 30
weren't doing those things.
não faziam essas coisas.
with interpreting this type of science.
ao interpretar este tipo de ciência.
que certas coisas que os pais fazem
that certain things that parents do
outcomes for children,
resultados para os filhos,
those behaviors caused the good outcomes,
se isto causou bons resultados,
is getting in the way.
genes into account,
considerar os genes,
with this British study
of about 10,000 children
de dormir de 10 mil crianças
at regular times,
em horários regulares,
at different times during the week?
diferentes durante a semana?
who were going to bed at different times
que iam dormir em horários diferentes
to have behavioral problems,
to having regular bedtimes
para terem horários regulares
melhoria de comportamento,
it was the bedtime routines
da hora de dormir
a melhorar a vida das crianças.
get better for those kids.
who were reading for pleasure.
que liam por prazer.
a magazine, a picture book, a story book.
revistas, livro de imagens ou de história.
who were reading for pleasure
que liam por prazer
better, on average,
de ir melhor na escola,
e ortografia também.
todos os fatores contraditórios.
for all the confounding factors,
who were equally intelligent
igualmente inteligentes
which really helped those children
o que de fato ajudou as crianças
school tests later in their lives.
escolares posteriores na vida.
or into disadvantage,
ou na desvantagem,
more difficult paths in their lives.
caminhos mais difíceis na vida.
if you can call it that,
que pode-se chamar assim,
of those early disadvantages.
e algumas desvantagens.
that poverty doesn't matter after all?
na verdade, não importa?
if a child is born poor --
se uma criança nasce pobre;
they're going to do just fine.
ela ficará bem.
and parenting matter.
e os pais importam.
put figures on that,
coloca isso em números.
growing up in persistent poverty
crescendo em pobreza contínua
were doing everything right --
fizessem a coisa certa -
and everything else --
the educational gap
a falha educacional
by about 50 percent.
em torno de 50%.
leaves a really lasting scar,
deixa uma cicatriz duradoura,
to ensure the success and well-being
mesmo garantir o sucesso e bem-estar
is an incredibly important thing to do.
é incrivelmente importante.
for you and me?
we can all take home and use?
levar pra casa e usar?
to inform my parenting ...
para me informar como mãe.
you're shouting at your kids
você grita com seus filhos
ao seu lado ajuda.
the scientific literature on your side.
e felizes só precisamos falar com eles,
happy, successful children
be interested in their future,
dar um livro para eles?
and give them a book to read?
as simple as that.
avalia o que ocorre
looks at what happens
of children on average,
what will help my child or your child
o que ajudará nossos filhos
percorrerá seu próprio caminho,
is going to walk their own path,
pelos genes que herdam
by the genes they inherit
que eles têm na vida,
they have through their lives,
conosco, seus pais.
with us, their parents.
que aprendi isso.
after I learned all this.
study of British children,
sobre um estudo de crianças britânicas,
even spoke to my own British children.
falava com meu próprios filhos britânicos.
o tempo de conversa em casa
at the end of the day
what they did today,
o que fizeram no dia,
what they do at school.
o que eles fazem na escola.
they always have a book to read.
tenham um livro para ler.
for their future,
para o futuro deles,
and do great things.
e fazer grandes coisas.
will make a difference,
it won't do them any harm,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Helen Pearson - Science journalist, editor, authorHelen Pearson's book, "The Life Project," tells the extraordinary story of the longest-running study of human development in the world.
Why you should listen
In March 1946, scientists began tracking almost every British baby born in a single week. What they discovered would change how we are born, grow up, raise children, live and die. Helen Pearson's 2016 book, The Life Project, is the story of this incredible project and the remarkable discoveries that have come from it. It was named best science book of the year by The Observer and was a book of the year for The Economist.
As Chief Magazine Editor for the world’s leading science journal, Nature, Pearson oversees all its journalism and opinion content. Her own stories have won accolades including the 2010 Wistar Institute Science Journalism Award and two best feature awards from the Association of British Science Writers.
Helen Pearson | Speaker | TED.com