Child returns for the next chapter of the story of all of us. Delve deep into the mind of a toddler and explore how our emotions and our selves are built through life experience.
In the final episode of the series India looks into love. From an exploration into the oxytocin driving the parent infant bond to the pressures of unconditional love and the importance of receiving love on a child’s development, this is the story of a big, beautiful, often pressurised emotion.
Presenter: India Rakusen
Producer: Charlotte Evans-Young
Series Producer: Ellie Sans
Executive Producer: Alex Hollands
Commissioning Executive: Paula McDonnell
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
Original Music: The Big Moon and Eska Mtungwazi
Sound Design: Charlie Brandon-King
A Goldhawk Production for Radio 4
24 Dec 2025TRANSCRIPT
7. Anxiety
A moment of pure panic - losing a child in a park - begins India Rakusen’s exploration of anxiety: what it is, how it begins, and how it shapes both children and parents.
Through science, history and culture, she learns how early sensory experiences, food battles, and modern parenting pressures feed our fears. And she explores how play, freedom, and the simple act of letting go might be our best cure.
A story about holding on, and learning to release, in a world that asks us to protect what we cannot contain.
Presented by India Rakusen.
Producer: Ellie Sans
Assistant Producer: Charlotte Evans-Young
Executive Producer: Alex Hollands
Commissioning Executive: Paula McDonnell
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
Original music composed and performed by The Big Moon and Eska Mtungwazi
Mix and Mastering by Charlie Brandon-King
A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4
17 Dec 2025
6. Awe
India Rakusen explores the awe-inspiring world of awe. Discover how narratives and storytelling, as well as the awesome natural world, have the power to inspire the feeling in all of us - and find out what happens when we let it into our lives.
From an increased sense of optimism and connection to prosocial tendencies and reduced anxiety and depression, join India as she reveals what we can learn from the little people in our lives who reach for awe instinctively. And let her take you on a journey that features a Maori storyteller, an expert on childhood amnesia, and a doctor trying to get the youngest in society out in nature.
Presented by: India Rakusen
Producer: Charlotte Evans-Young
Series Producer: Ellie Sans
Executive producer: Alex Hollands
Commissioning Exec: Paula McDonnell
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
Original music composed and performed by The Big Moon and Eska Mtungwazi
Sound Design by Charlie Brandon-King
A Goldhawk production for BBC Radio 4
Inside a recent episode
7. Anxiety
Published 24 Dec 2025 · Transcript excerpt
[…] Their lantern minds lighting up everything. They're kind of open and almost raw to the world at this point. Picking up on everything. So you can imagine if your child is really responsive, going to the supermarket, it's going to be a really challenging experience. The child might start making associations with bright lights or loud noises and the places where they feel overwhelmed. And this is where I think things can turn into anxiety. It's like you then understand that hand dryers make a loud noise and you start to avoid hand dryers. then maybe by avoiding them you grow more anxious about them. […]
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