Life at 5

I first discovered the Life Series when Immy was only a few months old. At that time, Life at 3 was showing and I quickly discovered the original Life at 1 episodes online. I was captivated by the combination of real life footage and interesting social experiments as the eleven children chosen to represent modern day life in Australia changed and grew from birth into toddlerhood. Some of the children involved have faced so many challenges and so much adversity in their short lives and I shed more than a few tears watching their brave families cope with everything from the death of a child to separation and divorce, unemployment and depression.

Now the children are 5 and the first episode of the new series Life at 5 airs on ABC1 at 8.30pm in Australia tonight.

The series also includes a number of experts sharing information regarding the latest in child development research and has been developed alongside a federally funded longitudinal study, Growing Up in Australia, involving 10,000 Australian children and their families being interviewed over 15 years to capture both sociological and scientific data about children growing up today.

“How do you give a child the best chance in life?

The Life Series aims to unlock the secrets of child development by following a very specially selected group of children from their first year of life.

It examines how children grow and develop in ordinary and extraordinary circumstances, including the impact of family relationships, finances, work, health and education. It considers the interplay of nature and nurture, conducts experiments and speaks to experts about how the latest science on child development may be playing out in these families.”

– About the series, Life at 5 website

Life at 5 features two episodes – the first exploring the adaptive power of Resilience and the second entitled ‘Great Expectations,’ which is all about school readiness and factors influencing school success.

Last night I previewed the two new episodes and can tell you that once again I was both captivated and teary.  As I see it there is only one problem with the Life series… it always leaves me wanting more!

The Life at 5 series will air on ABC1, at 8.30pm on Tuesday 15 and 22 February. You can read more about the series and watch footage from all three installments online at the ABC Life series website and join in discussion about the episodes by joining the The Life Series Facebook page.

7 Comments

  1. I follow this as it follows my eldest, who has just turned five.

    I too found it way too short and really wanted more, so much so that I think the show fails due to covering too much too quickly. I also found myself unable to relate to any of the families as they all seemed to have something going on.

    Will be watching tonight, but where is is meant to be a good representation of Five year old Australian kids, I think it is a it lacking…or I am pos living in a bubble.

    1. As I mentioned, the series always leaves me wanting more as well. I find this sort of look at child development fascinating, even if I am not in the exact same situation as the families being followed, maybe that is why I find the experiments most interesting?

  2. I’m the same as Clairey – my second-born is the same age as the children featured. I actually remember the call for casting when I was newly pregnant with her! x

  3. I really enjoyed this show and can’t wait to see what they are up to at 5. I am very interested to hear how Ben is doing from the quintuplets who was born premmie as my Daughter Airlie was too. I actually thought it was very insightful and sugestive and the fact it made me wanting more drove me to seek out other info. No TV show will provide everything you want and need to know. Thanks for blogging about this I seen it feed via your facebook page.

  4. My Junior was about 7 months old when I saw Life at 1 – so we have been watching them grow and develop a little ahead of him. A fantastic (if at times sad) series.

  5. Thanks for the heads up about this. I would have missed tonights episode had I not stopped by your blog today. I will be watching with great interest.

  6. Monkey is in growing up in australia study! Although she’s not in the tv series – but I actually quite enjoy the interviews and questionaires (although not so much the day diaries…they are a bit too much like hard work!)

    I’m really pleased to be part of the study – it will be something monkey will be able to look back on and know she contributed 🙂

    We will be watching tonight
    xxxCate

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