Suzanne Zeedyk Profile picture
Sep 5, 2020 15 tweets 10 min read Read on X
A THREAD of #Gratitude to greet the day! As many of you know, I start every day with such a post. Today’s moment is ths vivid expression of awe & wonder frm ths precious child. (Thank you for yr post, Mum Lisa.) Her expression shows us somethng fundamental abt human emotionality.
2. Don’t miss how, at .01, the pitch & volume of her voice rises with excitement about t waterfall. So does her hand & arm. Both rise. Her body is ^coordinated* in its emotional experience of t world. That is key to her expression of her emotions & our ability to perceive them.
3. That vocal-bodily coordination is what infant psychologist Colwyn Trevarthen calls “Communicative Musicality”, in his groundbreaking 2009 book. It explores the “intrinsic musical nature of human interaction.” amazon.co.uk/Communicative-…
4. The little girl’s emotional experience of t moment, of t waterfall, is not just internal. It is expressed in t coordinated movement of her body, permitting others to SHARE in her emotional experience of the world. The sharing is part of the magic of human interaction.
5. We do this sharing intuitively all the time. Just look at Mum Lisa’s post! She 1) comments on the joy of seeing her child’s face, 2) shows the viewer what the awe is about (the amazing waterfall), 3) posts about her joy in sharing the moment w/ her daughter.
6. And the very very best bit is that children demand such sharing of us!! Look at .13 of the film. She looks straight at Mum. “Are you seeing this???” She looks be sure her mum is SHARING this amazing event! She unconsciously & instinctively drives & craves the sharing.
7. Too often our culture treats babies as passive recipients of the world. They aren’t. They are active, engaged participants. Human beings are communicative beings from birth. We seek companionship for life to feel vital. That is t point of t theory of Communicative Musicality.
8. Here is t way t book’s summary puts it: “speaking & moving in rhythmic musical ways is the essential foundation for all forms of human communication, even the most refined, just as it is for parenting, good teaching, creative work in the arts.” amazon.co.uk/Communicative-…
9. In short, all human interactn is a form of jazz. It is spontaneous, in t moment, coordinated, simultaneously created &expressd. It is deeply profound &yet ordinary. That is ALL captured in ths 15-sec clip!! That’s why 285K ppl have liked it! They intuitively perceive ths stuff
10. Please can I repeat what I just said? I didn’t say human interaction is “like” jazz. I said it “is” jazz. That is t point of Communicative Musicality. What we think of as formal “music” grows frm t musicality of our own bodies — of our coordinated, shared experience of LIFE.
11. This insight is profound. Human beings are born connected. To feel alive & vital, we need connection. Til we die. Yep, this video is joyous. But it isn’t only that. It is also profound. This child Simone, w/ her mum & dad’s help, teaches us all about the profundity of life.
12/end. So let me end my thread with that - wishing you all a weekend in which you experience a bit of awe & wonder - and hoping you can find someone, even a stranger on the street, to share the moment with. We humans were born to connect. Happy Saturday. #Grateful
Welcome to Twitter @ChiltonPearce . I think you will like this, grounded as you are in the magical child. 😊 Thanks for following me. #Grateful

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More from @suzannezeedyk

Jun 25, 2023
A #BabyThread about the sophistication of baby teasing.
This latest post from @DanWuori has been getting lots of shares & many of you have tagged me. I thought I would highlight some of the nuances so noone misses its fabulous complexity. THREAD.
2. So what can we see? Well, first, there aren't just 2 of them in on this joke, but 3! I am guessing that Daddy is filming the interaction, because there are two points when the baby looks directly at the camera as he says 'Dada'. With that look, he pulls Daddy into the joke.
3. Second, this is an example of what developmental psychologst Vasu Reddy calls 'infant clowning'. These are "acts which infants repeat deliberately in order to re-elicit laughter from others". He's learned something of emotionally managing his mama.😀
https://t.co/6gB4L1QBWKcairn.info/revue-enfance1…
Read 10 tweets
May 28, 2023
How the new challenges faced by women footballers help us in thinking about responses to increased “school violence”. An analogy I didn’t have time to draw on today in my intvw w/ @Fionasstalker on @BBCRadioScot . THREAD. Image
2. A piece in this weekend's @guardian describes the increased hamstring injuries faced by top female footballers. Playing more often in elite matches places new demands on them. "Coaching methods are failing to keep up." The article explains how coaching has to adapt & change. Image
3. The @guardian article explains clearly how hamstrings work. We get a helpful schematic drawing & a Quick Guide. "Injuries tend to occur during sudden movements. Footballers are at high risk." So we've linked t biology (physiology) of hamstrings to real life (football). Grand! Image
Read 13 tweets
May 27, 2023
The “Behaviour Crisis” in schools is not going away. The pandemic has affected developmnt even of babies. We must stop searching for who to blame: kids, govt, parents, teachers, etc. We must understand human development (ie trauma). Let me explain. THREAD bbc.com/news/uk-scotla…
2. This 2022 study found a "striking decline" in t verbal, non-verbal & cognitive performance of babies born during the pandemic. These core capacities will affect all areas of developmnt as babies age. (I have talked about this study to many audiences.) medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
3. This 2021 report showed that yng childrn's language develpmnt had been affected. I hear abt delayed language everywhere. Strugglng to express yrself results in frustration, which leads to behaviour that adults often punish & then relational conflict. bbc.co.uk/news/education…
Read 21 tweets
May 26, 2023
How @ScotGovEdu announcement of a Behaviour Summit is turning into a #DramaTriangle that scapegoats children - and what we can each do to stay out of that mindset, thereby helping both teachers AND children (and their parents). A THREAD.
bbc.com/news/uk-scotla…
2. Yestrday I was quite vocal on Twitter, talking abt what I am watchng unfold as talk of ‘Youth Violence’ in Scotland unfurls across t media, Parliament, school staff rooms & third sector support organisations. By day’s end I was offerng analyses of absent words like “distress”.
3. Earlier in t day, I spent time at @BannermanHigh , deliverng an inservice ssn where I tried to help staff think abt trauma & stress. Many staff said they found it helpful. Some said I hadn’t offered enough practical ideas abt what teachers can DO to manage yng ppl’s behaviour. Image
Read 12 tweets
Mar 12, 2023
How child-rearing forged the destiny of nations.

Many of you told me you found my recent posts on psycho-history & Nazi Germany to be insightful. So I thought I would offer you another THREAD.
2. Here’s the book I am featuring - by the determined Robin Grille.
Here’s his point: “The ultimate source of advances in human civilisation can be found in the day-to-day innovations in child rearing invented in the relationships of each caretaker & child.”
3. He offers insights into the impacts of religious extremism. He emphasises this: “Scriptures cannot be blamed for their believers’ attitudes. Those who favour violence can find justifications in any text.”
Read 9 tweets
Mar 9, 2023
With recent attentn to similarities to 1930s Germany (thank you @GaryLineker), I thought I wd offer a THREAD on how cultural beliefs about children's needs has been shown to relate to t rise of the Nazis. It wasn't all abt t economics. It was abt obliteratng empathy in infancy. Image
2. I am drawing on the work of the remarkable psycho-historian Robin Grille for this thread. In his book, he explores in depth how "child-rearing affects world affairs". He then looks at a range of cultures: Yugoslavia, Russian Stalinism, Christian-right America & Nazi Germany. Image
3. "Consider the words 'every child is a battle'. These were the words shouted by Hitler in 1934. A look at parenting manuals of the time expose a prevalent hostility to children. Rigorous obedience training was the dominant ideal." Image
Read 13 tweets

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