A PROGRAMME which follows the lives of 15 newborns until the age of six begins next week, making it one of the biggest documentary-style projects of its kind undertaken in the history of RTÉ.
The purpose of 21st Century Child is to show the modern Irish family in all its complexity, says presenter and psychologist David Coleman, who also contributes to this supplement.
The families chosen for the programme are significantly different. They include single mothers, an immigrant family, a family expecting their first child, another expecting their eighth, and families with genetic abnormality.
The programme also features the birth of twins to the Redmond family in Glasnevin. There is already a set of twins in the home.
Among the issues which will be addressed in 21st Century Child will be the issue of nature versus nurture, changing family structures, and growing up in a multicultural Ireland.
The six-part series begins next Monday on RTÉ One before the birth of the children who feature in the programme.
"It is a great time to catch people and find out their expectations and hopes for their children. Everybody is wondering and hopeful and expectant of what might be. It's nice to be there at the start of all that," Mr Coleman said.
The first programme will highlight the issues of the medicalisation of birth in Ireland, with increasing interventions by doctors, coping with sleepless nights, breastfeeding and fathering.
Mr Coleman said there had been "huge interest" on the part of families who wanted to take part in the series.
"For families taking part, it is a wonderful opportunity to have a professional chronicle of your child's first six years. Some families were interested in having a professional along offering advice and guidance, some of them might just have been interested in being on television," he said.
"There are some really interesting people taking part in it and it does give a balanced view of the complexity of family life in Ireland. The different views about parenting are fascinating.
"We were interested in exploring what being in different family units means for different children. How do the children's own temperament and personalities merge with the environment they are in and how do they all develop and grow?" he said.
Mr Coleman said that, aside from complications surrounding the birth of a premature child, all the families involved had healthy children.
A similar six- part series will run for the next five years. Next year's programmes will feature one-year- olds and so on, until all the children featured in the programme reach the age of six.
• 21st Century Child begins on RTÉ One at 9.30pm on Monday, April 7th
