Season 7
“The Shock and Beauty of Early Parenthood” | August 6, 2026
“What does it mean to be ‘enough’ as a parent, caregiver, or professional?” “Where is my ‘maternal instinct’ if I don’t feel an instant bond?” “How do fathers come to feel like fathers — and what if the connection doesn’t come right away?” These are just some of the questions explored using narrative and reflection by Dr. Junlei Li and Thelma Ramirez in their new Early Relational Health project, “The Shock and Beauty of Early Parenthood. Learn more about the project and explore the full series on the Nurture Connection website.
View the transcript here.
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Junlei Li
Junlei Li, PhD is the Saul Zaentz Chair in Early Childhood Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His work focuses on the essentiality of centering connection, growth, and healing in relationships; and how discord can be a pathway for relational repair, growth, and healing — all within the sphere of Early Relational Health.
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Thelma Ramirez
Thelma Ramirez, EdM is research manager at Harvard’s EASEL Lab where she supports the equity-focused efforts of several projects. Her research interests include family engagement in social and emotional learning, culturally responsive pedagogy, and the intersection of equity and social and emotional learning interventions.
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“The Storied Life of Ursula Nordstrom” | July 23, 2026
She’s the most influential person you may never have heard of. A new book, Books Good Enough for You: The Storied Life of Ursula Nordstrom, Editor of Extraordinary Children’s Books, recounts how she nurtured and edited some of the greatest books of the past 100 years, including titles such as Where the Wild Things Are, Goodnight Moon, The Carrot Seed, Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and dozens more.Author Nancy Hudgins joins to talk about the impact Ursula Nordstrom had — and continues to have — on the world of children’s literature.
View the transcript here.
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Nancy Hudgins
Nancy Hudgins is the author of “Books Good Enough for You: The Storied Life of Ursula Nordstrom, Editor of Extraordinary Children’s Books.”
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