STARTING POINTS: Part 2 - Cassius 8 months

By Julia Manning-Morton, an independent consultant, trainer and author (www.key-times.co.uk/profiles/). She specialises in practice and provision that meets the needs of children under three and is an expert on the personal, social and emotional well-being of children and practitioners. Her publications include Two-Year-Olds In Early Years Settings: Journeys Of Discovery (2015) and Exploring Well-being in the Early Years (2014)

Eight-month-old Cassius lives in a small town in the north of England with his parents Linda and Nathan; he is their first child. Cassius has dual heritage. His mother is white and originally from Wales, where the rest of her family still live. Nathan is Black British; his grandparents originated from Jamaica and his mother, Sarah, and siblings all live nearby.
Nathan and Linda are both nurses. Nathan and Sarah's support and attending a mother and baby group helped Linda cope with post-natal depression. Now her maternity leave is over, she is back at work and Cassius is attending the hospital nursery. Nathan took some paternity leave to help support Cassius with this transition.