Hello everyone and welcome back to Contemplating Childhoods.  It was lovely to have a break but also encouraging to see a steady flow of traffic on the blog over the summer. We are excited to be back to our regular postings again and also that we have been promised some really interesting posts from other contributors. We are also saying welcome to a new member of the team – a baby boy – who we think is going to be very helpful in contemplating what childhood is and could be. There is certainly a great deal in the media we could discuss in the coming weeks.  A quick glance over the last few weeks highlighted topics such as:

• The cost of school uniform
• Children’s mental health
• Children going hungry over the summer holidays
• Children’s engagement with physical outdoor play
• The disparities in school funding

You might have something you really want to say about these issues and others besides. Do consider writing a post for us because our readers would love to hear from you and we really want to include a range of views on this blog. Some people have shared with us that they feel anxious about writing something that anyone can see; rest assured we are very supportive proofreaders so if you get some thoughts down on paper we are happy to polish them for you.

Have a great week, whether you are starting back or wondering what all the fuss is about because you’ve been working all summer!