My new book, Under Pressure, was serialized earlier this week in the Daily Telegraph (UK). Serializations are funny things. The publicity is great, but sometimes a distorted picture of the book can emerge from all the cutting and pasting. I went out to dinner last night with some parents from our school. One mother said to me that the Telegraph series left her with the impression that I am handing down the law on parenting. I was appalled because the opposite is true. The last thing I want to do is set myself up as a parenting oracle. One of the themes of Under Pressure is that there is no single magic recipe for child-rearing and that we should distrust anybody who proffers one. Sure, there are some things that all kids need - space to explore the world without adults constantly scheduling, supervising and assessing them; our time and attention with no conditions attached - but after that the details get blurry. As parents we need to ignore the pressure and panic pushing in on us from all sides in order to work out what suits our children best. And we need to accept that self-doubt and making mistakes are a natural part of parenting. My aim in Under Pressure is to ease the pressure on parents by showing that there is no such thing as a perfect parent raising a perfect child.

All over the world, artists are making works inspired by the Slow revolution. Here is a wonderful 90-second film sent to me by someone in Montreal. It’s his entry for Biblioclip, a contest where participants submit short videos exploring the rebirth of the public library. The film is beautifully shot and crafted, dreamy yet sharp-eyed, hypnotic almost; and it features a haunting soundtrack from Radiohead. It’s narrated in French but I’m told it works for non-francophones too. Click HERE to watch it.

Parenting has also been infected by the virus of hurry, by the idea that more, earlier and faster should be the guiding principles of child-rearing. But the effect is to turn childhood into a rat race and drain the joy from family life. That is why people around the world are challenging the hurry-up approach to children. Think Slow Education, Slow Schooling, etc. And now an American expert in early parenting has launched a Slow Family movement. It’s all about applying the Slow philosophy to every aspect of family life. And it echoes a lot of what I say in my new book, Under Pressure, which is due out very soon. Find out more about the Slow Family Movement by clicking HERE.