So what is this village we’re missing out on…?

Humans lived in hunter-gatherer groups for most of our existence as a species. It's estimated that our hunter-gatherer ancestors began to emerge around 300,000 years ago and continued to live in this way until around 10,000 years ago, when we began to transition to agriculture and settled living. For about 290,000 years there was a village. While many things have changed since then, some aspects of our biology and behaviour are still shaped by our evolutionary history as hunter-gatherers. No wonder we feel like we’re missing something. We may have evolved, but our cells, our DNA hasn’t changed that fast and so we still have a certain expectation.

This type of community, of about 30-40 individuals, ensured that young children were always cared for, even if their parents were busy with other tasks. Children were raised by the entire village and they had the opportunity to interact with people of all ages and learn valuable skills from everyone in the community.

If you ever wonder why raising children feels so hard, it may help you to remember: because it IS hard. Because we’re doing the job of 30 people, under remarkably unnatural conditions. So I’m sending a hug to all of you and a reminder that there’s nothing wrong with us, it’s the conditions that are all wrong.